Ch. 16 — 16
Cheol-jun kept stealing glances at Si-woo.
He wasn’t talking a lot or anything, but judging from his expression, it seemed his mood had lightened considerably.
Now that the situation was like this, the questions he had yesterday kept popping back into his head, and he felt like he would go crazy if he didn’t ask them.
On top of his head being completely filled with question marks, the text message he received from the teacher this morning was layered right on top, making him even more confused.
-For the time being, do your best not to talk about Go unless Si-woo brings it up first.
Every time he looked at Si-woo, he could only think about Go…
Now Si-woo’s face was even starting to look like a Go stone…
The teacher had told him not to talk about it, but Cheol-jun wanted to talk to Si-woo about that game record from yesterday right this second.
So, he was fidgeting restlessly.
“Hey! Cheol-jjjuuun! You not playing the next match?”
“Uh. Huh?”
“You’re not clicking rematch?”
“Ah…”
“What is it? Scared? Your true skills got exposed now that Si-woo is joining?”
Si-woo glanced at Cheol-jun.
For a moment their eyes met, but Cheol-jun narrowed his brow and quickly averted his gaze.
Si-woo swallowed hard.
He remembered there was still something he hadn’t finished.
‘I should apologize properly, shouldn’t I?’
While Si-woo was thinking this, Cheol-jun narrowed his brow even further and glared at the floor.
“Um, Cheol… jun?”
Cheol-jun flinched in surprise.
“Uh. Huh?”
Si-woo lowered his gaze slightly and barely managed to speak.
“I’m sorry. For hitting you yesterday…”
Cheol-jun frantically waved his hands.
“No! It’s okay! I didn’t even get hit once, and you just ended up getting hurt for no reason!”
Next to them, Min-jun and Ha-rang snickered.
“Cheol-jjjuuun! Epic teabagging!”
“Your fists could not reach me!”
“He put on a whole show by himself, tripped, and got hurt, right?”
“Wow, Cheol-jun is truly evil. Killing Si-woo twice!”
Cheol-jun shouted with a flustered face.
“No! That’s not what I meant!”
“Yeah. Didn’t ask!”
“Yeah. Don’t care!”
Si-woo’s ears grew even redder.
His mood inexplicably soured.
Just then, the teacher tapped on the desk.
“Alright, alright. Break time is over! The Korean language lesson we skipped in 1st period today is from page 20 to 26, so make sure you read through it later. Got it? 2nd period is Math! Everyone turn off your phones and go sit in your seats.”
Cheol-jun jumped up and scurried over to his seat in the very front row.
Si-woo stared blankly at Cheol-jun’s retreating back before dropping his head.
*
*
*
Cheol-jun’s head had been a mess since morning.
He shouldn’t have played internet Go yesterday.
Because as his matches against better players continued, the question mark that had appeared while looking at Si-woo’s game record grew even larger.
At first, he approached it with math.
Because to Cheol-jun, math was the method that provided the most accurate answers when reading any phenomenon.
The Go board is 19×19, a total of 361 intersections.
With black and white taking turns placing stones, the possible number of combinations is astronomical, but practically meaningful moves are extremely limited.
During the opening phase (fuseki), the moves chosen by experts were concentrated within a very narrow range of all possible cases.
Grasping that range wasn’t difficult.
From the mid-game onwards, he had to think about three things simultaneously.
Expanding his own territory, reducing the opponent’s territory, and leaving good spots to use later.
If he calculated how much each move contributed to these three things, he could roughly see which moves were efficient.
However, as the mid-game deepened, that calculation started to waver.
The three things didn’t always point in the same direction.
To expand territory, he had to extend aggressively, but if he did that, the spots he could use later would disappear, and so on.
When there was no move that satisfied all three, which one should he choose?
That was the biggest problem.
That was no longer a mathematical calculation.
Certain moves changed the very shape of the board itself, rather than just the number of points in a territory.
Stones that were playing separately would connect into a single mass, or stones that appeared connected would belatedly reveal themselves to be cut off.
The moment the shape of the board changed, the entire flow shifted.
Expressing that in numbers was truly difficult.
However, he could see which moves changed that shape.
He couldn’t explain how he came to see it.
As he kept playing Go, he just started to see it.
When he examined the game records of experts for about an hour, that sense suddenly opened up.
Among the moves the experts played, there were quite a few that couldn’t be explained by his calculations.
A move that is an immediate loss right now, but becomes a decisive pivot ten moves later.
A move that sacrifices territory to snatch away the opponent’s chance to move first.
A move that seems meaningless but completely changes the tension of the entire board.
So he created a new standard.
The tension of the board.
A tense board and a loose board are different.
On a tense board, where a stone is placed drastically flips the tide of the game.
On a loose board, playing an average move doesn’t cause a huge change.
If you occupy the most tense spot first, the opponent is always forced to follow your lead.
That was what’s known as taking the initiative.
Once he added this standard, beating 6-dans wasn’t all that difficult.
He just had to simultaneously use what he read through math and what he read through tension.
If he found a move where those two perfectly aligned, the opponent almost always crumbled.
But even as he played Go like that, the feeling that something important was missing grew stronger.
With this approach, he couldn’t properly understand the hesitation he saw in Si-woo’s game record.
Because in Si-woo’s game record, there was something that couldn’t be explained by any standard.
There were moves that weren’t mathematically the best, and there were moves that seemed to misread the tense spots.
However, it didn’t feel like he did that because he didn’t know.
It felt like he hesitated because he knew, but felt he shouldn’t go there.
The 6-dans he faced yesterday definitely played well.
They read the tension, knew efficiency, and didn’t lose the flow.
But they didn’t bring him anywhere close to the question mark he saw in Si-woo’s game record notebook.
The more he thought about it, it wasn’t a matter of playing well or poorly.
He felt like he would never be able to figure it out, no matter how much internet Go he played or how high his skill level rose.
Cheol-jun was incredibly curious about it.
During class, avoiding the teacher’s eyes, he stole glances over his shoulder at Si-woo sitting by the window.
He still saw Go stones overlapping his face.
‘What do I do?’
He was told talking about Go was forbidden, but he wanted to ask so badly.
‘Wait, it was only talking about Go that was forbidden, right?’
One of Cheol-jun’s eyebrows twitched.
Right on cue, the bell signaling the end of class rang.
He quickly grabbed his notebook and pencil.
*
*
*
Cheol-jun opened his notebook on Si-woo’s desk.
Si-woo tilted his head, wondering what he was doing.
The notebook was filled with unidentifiable scribbles.
“Ah. Not this one.”
Cheol-jun quickly flipped the page.
Two rectangles were drawn.
Si-woo narrowed his brow.
Meanwhile, Min-jun and Ha-rang approached with faces full of mischief.
“Look. This is the math we just learned.”
“…Huh?”
The moment the word ‘math’ came out of Cheol-jun’s mouth, Min-jun and Ha-rang groaned, “Ugh!” and immediately turned away, while Si-woo blinked in bewilderment.
“The areas of these two rectangles are the same!”
“……”
“But one is extremely long horizontally, and the other is perfectly balanced in width and height. Which one looks stronger?”
“Uh…”
He said it was math, but he’s asking which one looks stronger?
“…Is this math?”
“Yeah. Kind of!”
Si-woo stared blankly at the rectangles.
Cheol-jun pointed at the rectangles with his finger.
“Look closely! The rectangles are constantly increasing their areas against each other. But the rate at which the long rectangle increases its length gets faster and faster as it extends, right? But then, it might suddenly stop at a certain point. The balanced rectangle can also expand, but its speed is slow. But then, the long rectangle suddenly stops. The balanced rectangle was just sitting there, you know? It’s not a local maximum. Nothing externally interfered with it either. It just stopped. Looking at it that way, does the elongated one look stronger? Or does the square look stronger? Don’t think about things like surface tension! Just the feeling!”
Cheol-jun’s brain was spinning so incredibly fast that it was practically in an overloaded state.
He thought it would work, but once he actually started talking, there was a limit to explaining it solely with math.
As a result, his words got all tangled up.
Even while speaking, he kept thinking, ‘Is this right? Can he understand this?’ and continuously checked Si-woo’s expression.
And the result was…
“Uh… What’s a local maximum? Surface tension? Did we really learn this in class today?”
Cheol-jun panicked.
And weakly shook his head from side to side.
“Uh… No.”
“Then why are you asking me this?”
“……”
Just then, Min-jun, who had distanced himself, stealthily approached again.
He had quickly avoided them because he hated math, but listening in quietly, it seemed the conversation wouldn’t go any further in that direction.
Where did he even learn weird stuff like that…
“Hey. Stop talking about boring stuff like that. Try not to laugh challenge, down?”
Cheol-jun furrowed his brow deeply.
They were in the middle of an important conversation…
He sneaked a glance at the notebook Min-jun opened.
A square and a long rectangle were facing each other.
At a glance, it definitely looked like it represented the balance of weapons in Rivals.
“Isn’t the question which of the two is stronger?”
“…Huh?”
“This one’s an AR. Assault Rifle. It has twenty-five bullets. The delay is short, too. So even if you miss a few shots, you can juke and aim for the next one. It’s what basic guys use. It’s too safe. And this long one is a sniper! It has that one-shot potential. Because if you land a headshot, they’re instantly dead. But, it only has five bullets. The delay is long, too. So if your mechanics are bad, you’ll immediately get counterattacked. It’s really strong, but there’s some risk.”
Min-jun pointed a thumb at himself.
“That’s why snipers are what gigachads use. Real men!”
Cheol-jun blinked his round eyes.
Then, Ha-rang slipped in from the side.
“Honestly though, snipers are kinda meh to me. If you can’t get a one-shot kill, it gets dangerous. You only have five bullets anyway. What if you miss all five? You get killed while reloading! I absolutely hate that situation. Even if you miss a little with an AR, you have another chance. So I’m an AR guy.”
Min-jun chuckled and put a hand on Ha-rang’s shoulder.
“The basic guy has arrived.”
“Whenever Min-jun takes a sniper and misses his first shot, he always panics.”
“I do not?”
“Remember when you played ranked, missed all five shots, got killed by a knife, smashed the keyboard, and got scolded by the PC bang worker?”
“That was just because my form was off that day!”
Cheol-jun stared at the two of them blankly.
To think it could be explained like that?
Min-jun heavily slung an arm around Si-woo’s shoulder.
“Anyway! The way I see it, Si-woo is a real man too! I felt it right away when you talked to me about strategy earlier. That we’re the same breed. You play Go like that too, right?”
Cheol-jun was startled.
The teacher had told him not to talk about Go.
He quickly checked Si-woo’s expression.
However, he didn’t look incredibly offended.
Si-woo shook his head slightly.
“No, my style is defensive. Holding out by blocking.”
Min-jun tilted his head.
“Eh? Really?”
Cheol-jun, who had been listening to their conversation with an anxious face, jumped up.
“Min-jun is right! You find attacking more fun! That long rectangle right there… Ah…”
Si-woo’s expression hardened as he looked at Cheol-jun’s notebook.
“Was this about Go?”
“……”
Cheol-jun hesitated, then nodded.
Si-woo let out a small sigh and pulled his game record notebook out of his bag.
Then, he looked at Cheol-jun.
“I have a question, too.”
“…Huh?”
“What were you talking about yesterday?”
“……”
“Here, Black’s move 46.”
Si-woo opened the game record notebook and pointed at that spot with his finger.
Cheol-jun swallowed hard and looked at the game record.
The question mark in his head started pounding wildly.
He hesitated, then spoke.
“…Here, you pierced into the boundary your opponent had created. It was clearly an attacking move.”
“…Right.”
“You were doing so well, but at move 46, you suddenly backed off.”
“……”
“I just don’t understand why. It wasn’t a mistake. Because you did it intentionally. You had a specific picture you wanted to draw, so why did you purposely draw a different one?”
Si-woo narrowed his brow.
Thinking he was ahead of his opponent in reading the game, his old habits had unconsciously surfaced.
Still, it was only a few moves in the bottom-left corner.
So he thought he could make up for it elsewhere and backed off.
It was a common occurrence in Go.
To turn away from a battle with an uncertain outcome to a place where you can secure a stable advantage.
Though the result was a loss.
Cheol-jun pointed at the moves after 46 with his small finger, deliberately furrowing his brow.
“Why did you do it?”
Si-woo gritted his teeth.
“Shouldn’t you draw something more fun?”
“I don’t know.”
“You wanted to.”
Si-woo slammed the game record notebook shut.
And whipped his head around to stare out the window.
‘How does he know my own mind better than I do?’
Honestly, Cheol-jun was right.
It might not have necessarily ended in victory, but he had wanted to break into the area White had preempted and fight to his heart’s content.
But he was just as terrified.
He was terrified of having to explain that move to his dad during the review after losing.
Because it wasn’t a move he played after reading all the subsequent moves.
—What is the meaning of this stone?
Was he supposed to just answer, ‘Because I wanted to fight’?
It was obvious a sigh would immediately escape his dad’s lips.
Si-woo scrunched his nose.
“Oh. Cheol-jjjuuun! Epic. You totally pressed Park Si-woo’s jatta button.”
“Pretending not to hear even without headphones, huh?”
The bell signaling the start of class rang, and Min-jun and Ha-rang scurried back to their seats.
And Cheol-jun, who had been lingering hesitantly, reluctantly turned his body and walked away.
Only then did Si-woo let out a low sigh and glare at the game record notebook on his desk.
He couldn’t understand why he was so angry.
Even during the break after 3rd period ended, Cheol-jun just sat quietly in his seat.
Listening to Min-jun and Ha-rang chatter, he kept stealing glances at him, but Cheol-jun just kept glaring at his own desk, lost in thought.
‘…He must be angry, right?’
If he had come over with a bright smile again, he had planned to apologize immediately.
Approaching first was still too difficult for Si-woo.
And, after the 4th period English class ended.
“Alright, the after-school programs start next week, so anyone who hasn’t applied yet, hurry up and do so. Today, after lunch, 5th period is free study! During that time, make sure to read the Korean lesson we skipped in 1st period…”
Just then, Cheol-jun threw his hand up.
“What is it? Cheol-jun?”
Cheol-jun abruptly turned his head and looked at Si-woo.
He had quite a serious expression, as if he had firmly made up his mind about something.
“I want to play Go with Si-woo!”
The teacher looked at Si-woo with a dumbfounded face, and Si-woo let out a low sigh.
The teacher scratched his head, looking troubled.
“Uh, Cheol-jun. Si-woo is…”
Si-woo also stared straight into Cheol-jun’s round eyes.
Seeing that he knew how to read a game record, he must have learned a bit somewhere.
That’s why he kept acting like that.
There were kids like that at the Go institute occasionally.
Kids in the elementary division who thought they were pretty good would challenge him out of competitiveness.
Without even knowing the level of a research student.
Usually, if he properly crushed those kids, they never brought up Go in front of him again.
Si-woo spoke up.
“I want to play too. Teacher.”
“…Really?”
Teacher Go Chang-ho silently nodded on the outside while cheering inwardly.
Of course, he wouldn’t be a match for Si-woo, who had been a research student for years, but seeing Cheol-jun’s meaningful face, he was incredibly excited to see what would happen.
“Alright, for 5th period, head to the lower-grade playroom. Ah, those who want to stay in the classroom to study can study!”
One corner of Go Chang-ho’s mouth curled up into a smirk.