“Let’s not say goodbye in a bad way, even if we can’t say goodbye in a beautiful way” (Episode 23 of the Fiery Death)
It was the moment that Nam Doo-heon (Seo Hyun-woo), the prosecutor, told Kim Hong-sik (Seo Hyun-woo), the main villain of the drama, in a husky voice in the third episode of “The Fiery Death II,” which is popular on public television and OTT. There was a situation in which the word “a cruel farewell” came out, not “a beautiful farewell.”
Shortly after winning the 2024 LOL World Cup, the so-called “Zeoguke” puzzle of “Zeus” Choi Woo-je, “Oner” Moon Hyun-joon, “Gumayushi” Lee Min-hyung and “Keria” Ryu Min-seok, which opened T1’s second dynasty, was not completed in the end.
T1 released the final piece of the stove league puzzle through its official SNS channel late on Sunday night. It announced the end of the contract with “Zeus” Choi Woo-je, which was considered the last hurdle, and the joining of top liner “Doran” Choi Hyun-joon of Hanwha Life Insurance. Choi’s contract period is 1+1 year.
OSEN listened to the voices of the people who participated in the contract of “Jeus” Choi Woo-je, including a senior T1 official. It covered the detailed story line of the termination of the contract, listening in detail to the point at which the differences between the two sides began and went through the coordination process.
Immediately after winning the LOL World Cup, T1 negotiated with those eligible for renewal sequentially under the leadership of COO An Woong-ki and General Manager Chung Hoe-yoon. “Keria” Ryu Min-seok opened the door, and “Oner” Moon Hyun-joon and “Kumayushi” Lee Min-hyung agreed to renew the contract in turn.
In the process, T1 fans’ hopes were also great. In the case of goods related to T1’s victory in the 2024 LOL World Cup, which T1 recently received, the volume of orders exceeded expectations. This motivated T1 Secretariat, including Ahn Woong-ki, who is participating in renewal of contract.
COO Ahn Woong-ki also expressed his willingness to renew the contract, saying, “I felt that the interest shown to the fans about the LOL World Cup winning goods contained the desire for all the teams and players to renew their contracts.”
The renewal negotiations were not smooth, as was the biggest in the Stove League. T1 has reportedly offered three terms and conditions. The final offer amount slightly increased compared to the previous offer, but the offer period was 3+1 years. It was a period that initially reflected the intention of Choi Woo-je of “Zeus.” Considering that he signed two-year contracts with Ryu Min-seok of “Keria” and Moon Hyun-joon of “Oner” and one-year contracts with “Kumayushi” Lee Min-hyung, the offer period was exceptional, but he failed to narrow differences in the amount, ultimately leading to market evaluation.
In the end, other teams were bound to court Choi Woo-je, the biggest fish in the transfer market. As soon as the transfer market began, a large proposal came in. In line with this, negotiations between “Jeus” Choi Woo-je and the T1 secretariat were scheduled on the morning of the 19th, but the meeting was postponed due to the agent’s request for postponement on the day.
Zeus’ agent took a different stance from T1. Zeus’ agent said, “We decided to contact you in the morning, but we didn’t decide on the meeting schedule. However, we didn’t close communication with T1 at all, and communicated with T1 by wire. We delivered our final proposal to T1, and the situation continued to fail to produce positive results.” 스포츠토토
Even when the two sides were divided and the meeting schedule was postponed, non-face-to-face negotiations continued. In order to persuade players more actively, general manager Chung Hoe-yoon and COO Ahn Woong-ki were moving to directly negotiate with ‘Zeus’ Choi Woo-je, who resides in Incheon. T1 almost narrowed the difference in the amount due to the conditions of the opponent in the recruitment competition.
However, the decision was finally made before the difference in position could be narrowed. According to the report, T1 proposed a one-year or one-plus-one plan in consideration of the increase in the amount. Zeus’ side mentioned two years in response.
In response, Zeus’ agent said, “In the initial negotiations, we never made a counter-proposal on the salary. T1’s initial offer was a condition that we could not receive, and we eventually received a slight increase from this year’s salary right before the FA, but from the beginning, we continued to communicate to T1 that we would like to receive market evaluation rather than additional negotiations,” adding, “We delivered the Maginot Line to accept the offer to 3 p.m. and eventually waited for T1’s opinion until 3:40 p.m. The amount followed to a similar level, but there was a wide gap in opinions on the contract period.”
T1 said, “Even though I was unilaterally notified of the 3 o’clock Maginot Line, I ran to Incheon to continue negotiations until the end and requested additional negotiations by wire, but I was informed of my intention to reject it by the agent.”
Finally, after 3:40 p.m., ‘Zeus’ accepted an offer from somewhere other than T1. Was it because he was reluctant to the one-year offer? T1 arrived at the negotiation site after 4 p.m., but Zeus’ contract had already ended.
Of course, it is right for FA players to choose conditions that are in their favor. Unfortunately, it would have been at least a beautiful farewell if they extended their hearts a little more, which was set at 3 p.m., which was the cut-line time. I am just afraid and sad that their breakup will be remembered as a vicious one.
