Written by: Stuart "Brooks" Brooks

The following is to be part of an ongoing series of diary entries, including some good behind-the-scenes stories that you would not get from watching just the matches. EG and Begrip will also be adding their own diaries of the events unfolding, so look forward to that.

So far, the whole experience here (South Korea) has been great. You get a chance to watch the best players in the world battle it out for a chance at substantial prizes. It seems that all of the players participating in WEG2 seem to get along, and like to hang out with each other. The Human Touch Ville (where everyone is staying) is close to the hustle and bustle of downtown Seoul. Seoul itself is one of the five biggest cities in the world with, I believe, over 12 million people. Over twenty-five percent of all South Koreans live in Seoul, so there is no shortage of places to see.

The bus drive to the KMTV (Korean Music Television) studio is only about 30 minutes away, and you get a chance to see parts of the city that you would not normally get to see. The studio where the matches take place is in Busan, Korea, around a very large shopping center filled with shops and restaurants. The lounge room where all the players stay until match time is a much needed break from the humidity here in Seoul. On the fifth floor is where the actual matches take place, and there is an abundance of cameras and lighting to give it that special look and feel. The players have to adjust a little bit, as the lights are quite hot and bright. Exodus from GamerCo actually took off his sweatshirt. And it takes a lot to do make him do that.

On Saturday (match day), we all arrived at the studio at around 9:00 A.M., but the matches didn't start until 11:00 A.M., so everyone went in search of some food. On the way back from Dunkin Donuts, there was a crowd around a boxing game where you try to hit the punching bag as hard as you can. Quick from NoA was the obvious champion, but a bunch of us took our best shots at it. ShaGuar, Kolach, NoA's manager, a few others and I had a couple jabs at it. I was quite pleased as I hit second only to Quick. If you see a picture of Quick, you will know why I was happy just to get second. Matches were about to begin, so everyone headed back to the studio.

The matches went pretty flawlessly, except for a few problems with Steam before the Project/GamerCo match. I will go into more detail about the matches and what happened later tonight, but this is a diary entry.

That night, a few of us went out to a nearby bar. It was Malte (WEG Europe staff), Can (WEG Staff), the announcer for WEG, and me. If any one of you have ever consumed Soju (Korean alcohol), you will know it is an evil drink but tastes “oh-so-good.” After returning to the bar inside of the hotel, I saw the familiar faces of GamerCo, EG and NoA. As a word of advice, do not taunt element in regard to his drinking ability, as I think he gave me two bottles of Soju to drink. Much of that night is cloudy and hazy, but I do remember beating masternook in rock, paper, scissors. The rock, paper, scissors matchups are quite intense as masternook reminds me that he is the champion of the world. I found out that bar chairs and I do not mix very well as I cut my eyebrow while falling from my chair (laugh it up). While everyone debated if I was dead or if I should be taken to the hospital, I was brought back to my room. Like I said earlier, Soju is an evil drink and should not be taken lightly.

The next day was not very eventful, but I did go out to lunch with Malte and Andy, Begrip's manager, at the nearby Quizno's (I was surprised at the amount of American fast food places in Seoul). Andy is quite a character and quite British. How he got involved with a Swedish team is beyond me, but, “Cheers, mate!”

So here I am, sitting at the WEG offices typing up this diary for you guys. The WC3 matches start tomorrow and CS matches will be played Saturday and Sunday. Feel free to make fun of my stupidity for cutting myself on a harmless bar chair. Everyone here thinks it is a good joke.

Until next time,

Brooks