Ch. 17 — 17
Hanyoung Private Elementary School lower-grade playroom.
This space, which would have been bustling with 1st graders in the morning, was now filled with heavy air.
The atmosphere was such that even Min-jun and Ha-rang, who normally would have been full of mischief, rummaging through the toys kept in the playroom, had quieted down.
Since the other kids said they were staying in the classroom to study, only Min-jun and Ha-rang had tagged along, saying it looked fun.
But in this suffocating atmosphere, they were holding their breath.
Because it was a lower-grade playroom, there were only chairs that were a bit small for 5th graders. It looked uncomfortable for Si-woo, but the size was just right for Cheol-jun.
Si-woo, who had been staring blankly at the empty Go board without a single stone placed on it yet, spoke up.
“Are you really an amateur 6-dan?”
“Yeah!”
“On AlphaJam?”
“Yeah!”
Si-woo’s brow narrowed.
AlphaJam catches cheating almost perfectly, so it was the Go program professional players primarily used for practice.
When professional players verify their accounts, a ‘Pro’ mark is attached to their names.
Si-woo was also an amateur 7-dan on AlphaJam.
Anyway, an amateur 6-dan on AlphaJam meant a remarkably strong skill level even among the older men who frequented Go clubs.
To have that level of skill at his age and not be a research student?
It was incredibly hard to believe.
“What’s your ID?”
Si-woo pulled out his phone and opened the AlphaJam record-checking app.
Cheol-jun crossed his arms, lifted his chin, and confidently shouted.
“Immortal Fire Bat!”
Min-jun and Ha-rang, who had been listening quietly next to them, made a ‘Blech!’ face, and Go Chang-ho also let out a fake cough with a bewildered expression.
Si-woo, having searched and checked his record, tilted his head.
“It says 3-dan?”
And a recent record of 12 consecutive losses, at that.
Cheol-jun’s eyes widened.
“Huh? That can’t be right? Just yesterday I definitely…”
“It’s true. Look.”
Si-woo showed him the phone screen, and Cheol-jun scrunched his nose.
One look and he knew it was Uncle Hyung-man’s doing.
“Are you sure that’s your ID? Well, 3-dan is still good, but… If you’re a 3-dan, a four-stone handicap should do.”
Si-woo let out a low sigh.
Honestly, it wasn’t even verified if that ‘Immortal Fire Bat’ ID belonged to Cheol-jun.
But if he says it is…
Cheol-jun’s lip jutted out.
“Alright. But if I win, you have to clean up all those stones and we play again.”
“Whether we clean them all up or take away one handicap stone depends on your skill.”
“We keep playing, right?”
“Fine. If I lose, I’ll keep playing. But if I win even one game, we’re done.”
“Okay!”
Go Chang-ho smiled warmly as he watched the two.
He had thought of him as just a precocious brat entirely consumed by his ego, but sitting in front of the Go board, Si-woo was incredibly composed.
His whole aura was completely different.
He was overflowing with composure, his eyes came alive, and every single word he spoke was brimming with confidence.
‘Ah, so this is a child dreaming of becoming a professional Go player.’
In this moment, Si-woo looked more like an adult than Chang-ho himself.
Perhaps feeling it too, Min-jun and Ha-rang looked at Si-woo with wide eyes.
Whispering to each other, ‘Si-woo is freaking cool,’ ‘Did he shift gears?’
Cheol-jun picked up the black stones and placed four handicap stones on the board.
Watching him quietly, Si-woo tilted his head.
‘I thought he learned some Go, but he holds a stone like that?’
Fingers much smaller than Si-woo’s own picked up the stone, but he used four fingers, leaving only his pinky out.
Even seven-year-olds just starting to learn are taught how to place a stone using only their index and middle fingers.
Letting out a soft sigh, Si-woo picked up a white stone.
To think he’d be playing Go at school.
However, he had absolutely no intention of going easy on him.
He’d make sure he never brought up Go in front of him again.
Si-woo’s first move struck down right next to a black stone.
*
*
*
A white stone was placed next to a black stone, and Cheol-jun was in a state of hyper-focus.
Since he had a four-stone handicap, he was confident he absolutely wouldn’t lose, but he planned to win overwhelmingly no matter what.
Only then would his arguments about Go later have logical persuasive power.
Given it was a handicap game, Si-woo had to play aggressively.
Because he needed to chip away at Black’s already established influence.
To fully utilize the advantage of a handicap game, it was better to slip away from those attacks and only take profit.
Since there was a vast territory he could preempt without needing to face the fight head-on.
However, that kind of Go didn’t exist in Cheol-jun’s head.
-Clack!
He aggressively pressured the white stone Si-woo had just placed by slamming a black stone right next to it with great momentum.
Perhaps finding it an unexpected move, Si-woo tilted his head.
Then, he picked up a white stone and responded.
-Ttak!
As expected, he attacked again.
Pressuring blatantly, at that.
Si-woo was asking, ‘Are you still going to fight?’
-Clack!
Cheol-jun had absolutely no intention of backing down.
So he answered, ‘Yes!’
-Ttak!
-Clack!
-Ttak!
*
*
*
The slightly different sounds of stones being placed continued to echo in the silence.
Even Chang-ho, who only knew the basics of Go, narrowed his brow and focused.
He had played a few handicap games in the past.
Because of that, he could vaguely tell that the battle happening right now was quite deformed.
Because a novice who needed a handicap was stubbornly insisting on a head-on clash with an expert.
But the situation was quite interesting.
-Clack!
The clumsily placed black stones felt like they were properly pressuring the white stones.
-Ttak!
Glancing over, Si-woo’s brow was quite narrowed.
-Clack!
Chang-ho tilted his head.
‘…Huh?’
Si-woo kept picking up and putting down a white stone, making a clack-clack sound.
-Ttak!
-Clack!
Unlike Cheol-jun, who played instantly, the time Si-woo spent hesitating increased.
-Ttak!
-Clack!
Si-woo’s eyes swept over the black and white stones mingling on the board.
Then, he bit his lower lip slightly.
-Ttak!
-Clack!
-Ttak!
-Tik!
Clack. Clack. Clack.
After staring blankly at the Go board for a long time, Si-woo let out a small sigh and raised his head.
Then, he looked at Cheol-jun with a dumbfounded expression before glaring back at the Go board.
And he kept picking up and putting down a white stone.
He let out another low sigh.
This suffocating tension.
‘Was Go this kind of game?’
Go Chang-ho swallowed hard.
*
*
*
Even Min-jun and Ha-rang, who didn’t know Go well, could sense this atmosphere.
Even though they hadn’t played many moves, Si-woo had a troubled face, and Cheol-jun had an incredibly amused face.
The two of them wanted to tease him right this second, their lips twitching, but they were barely holding it in.
Those two troublemakers were at an age where they could read the room enough to know just how serious a match this was for Si-woo and Cheol-jun.
Both of them had a similar thought to Chang-ho.
‘Was Go this cutthroat?’
Every time a Go stone was placed, the two kids pursed their lips.
-Ttak!
Si-woo’s stones struck the board instantly, making an incredibly sharp, satisfying sound.
-Tik!
Cheol-jun’s stones landed so clumsily that even they could probably place them better.
He couldn’t even place it in the exact right spot, so after placing it, he slid it into the correct position.
But, as soon as Si-woo placed a stone, Cheol-jun placed his without hesitation.
And Si-woo would think for a long time.
Even the two kids could feel the difference in temperature.
‘Wow, sht. Cheol-jjjuuun is epic! He’s beating Si-woo?’
They thought he seemed a bit special, but they never expected this much.
The sparkling eyes of the two kids were fixed on Cheol-jun’s small hands.
*
*
*
Si-woo narrowed his brow.
And habitually clattered the Go stones.
He had lost the first battle in the bottom-right corner, the one he entered fully determined to win.
He hadn’t chipped away much of Black’s influence, and merely managed to survive by barely making two eyes in the corner.
He was completely blocked off and couldn’t extend toward the center.
He had only made the center thicker for Black for no reason.
‘Should I have played tenuki (ignored the local situation)…’
No.
In a handicap game, White couldn’t just play tenuki first without achieving any significant results.
Even if he had played tenuki and moved the battle elsewhere, the result would likely have been similar.
Black’s pressure was truly that fierce.
Only the first battle in the bottom-right corner had ended, but to Si-woo’s eyes, the entire Go board looked like Black’s territory.
Once he admitted he had completely lost the first battle, the remaining three black stones placed on the star points (hoshi) in each corner looked impossibly massive.
Clack. Clack.
Chewing on his lower lip without realizing it, Si-woo picked up a white stone and placed it down with a thud—not on the Go board, but next to it.
Then, he bowed his head.
“…I yield.”
Cheol-jun smiled radiantly.
“The loser cleans up the stones, right? How should we play the next game? An even game?”
Si-woo, who had been staring blankly at the Go board, slowly nodded after a moment.
Playing just a bit was enough to know for sure.
He’d have to play an even game to be certain if he was a 6-dan, but it was safe to assume he was a 7-dan, similar to his own level.
Then, he raised his head and looked straight into Cheol-jun’s bright, innocent face.
The look in Si-woo’s eyes had completely changed.
*
*
*
“Hah. You entrust the kid to a school teacher at such an important time?”
Park Jin-gyeom let out a low sigh at his friend’s scolding.
Honestly, he wasn’t sure if this was the right move either.
But the teacher’s eyes had been so intense back then.
For some reason, he felt like he had to trust him.
Or maybe it was just him grasping at straws.
Because Si-woo’s skills had been stagnant for quite a while.
He couldn’t figure out what went wrong or where, so he decided to trust the teacher, even if it might be a scam.
“That teacher. You said he doesn’t even know Go well?”
“Yeah. Said he only knows the basics.”
“Hmm. Don’t you know how big one week is at that age? He might have to completely rebuild his sense for the game.”
His friend, who was an instructing master at the Korea Baduk Association headquarters, shook his head and stared blankly at the research students playing Go.
Then, he spoke slowly.
“Were you feeling that frustrated?”
Park Jin-gyeom closed his eyes tightly and nodded.
When Si-woo was seven, he had shown some quite daring moves against the institute’s research students, surprising all the professional players around him.
When he overwhelmingly won a Go tournament for preschoolers, it even made internet news—albeit a small blurb—calling him a future Go genius who would lead South Korea.
If he hadn’t been the son of 8-dan Park Jin-gyeom, quite a few renowned professional players would have sent love calls wanting to train him.
Back then, everyone thought he would shatter the record for the youngest professional induction.
However, he failed the under-14 gifted induction tournament, where only two people could turn pro a year. And in the newly established under-12 induction tournament, he reached 1st place in the winner’s bracket but ultimately lost in the finals and failed to make it.
Since then, he kept slipping up by a hair’s breadth.
And time just kept passing by.
His friend let out a deep sigh.
“Hoo… It must be really hard for you too.”
“I just don’t know. What I did wrong…”
“There’s no need to blame yourself. That’s something decided by God. We saw it a lot when we were research students, didn’t we? Kids who played far better than their age slipping up in an instant.”
“……”
“A kid can play like the older guys from an early age. But there’s no guarantee they’ll play much better when they actually reach those older guys’ age. Hah, what I’m saying is just… pathetic. Truly pathetic.”
They had seen far too many research students who bet everything on Go, only to fail to turn pro and be thrown into society completely unprepared.
Therefore, his friend knew well just how hard it must be to watch his own child go through that process.
But he couldn’t find the right words to say.
Because both of them were people who had lived their lives looking only at Go.
Park Jin-gyeom clenched his trembling fists and forced the words out.
“Just until this gifted tournament…”
His friend nodded silently.
If they were going to give up, doing it quickly was the right answer.
Si-woo’s rapid growth played a large part, but his plateau had lasted too long.
Even if he had a few more chances left for the under-15 induction tournament, looking at his recent matches, it didn’t look easy.
Recently, his skills weren’t just stagnant; they were gradually declining.
No one knew the method to reverse a broken growth curve.
It required an incredibly strong will from the person themselves, and God’s help to be possible.
“I want to give up on the research student induction tournament.”
“Hoo… I see.”
He fully understood.
The headquarters’ research student induction tournament, where you have to survive a rank battle that continues all year round, was truly like hell.
Once you get there, you can’t even quit just because you want to.
In the end, it was only after turning 19 and losing their research student qualification that they were forced to give up.
And they are thrown into society with nothing.
He absolutely wouldn’t be able to bear watching his own child end up like that.
Still, it was a relief.
That he was viewing his child’s skills objectively like that.
He was so relieved he didn’t have to deliver heartbreaking words to his friend.
Park Jin-gyeom lifted his bowed head.
“That’s why I entrusted him to the teacher.”
“……”
“With the feeling of grasping at the last straw.”
“Hoo… Right. You said he’s from Harvard? There must be something we don’t know.”
As if there could be.
“Let’s trust him.”
However, he had nothing else to say.
His friend patted the back of Park Jin-gyeom, who was gritting his teeth.
*
*
*
-Ttak!
-Clack!
-Ttak!
-Clack!
-Ttak!
-Tik!
……
-Ttak!
……
For the first time, Cheol-jun hesitated.
As the suffocatingly constant sound of Go stones being placed paused, Go Chang-ho quickly checked the clock.
5 PM.
After 5th period ended, they paused the Go match, all moved to the classroom for the homeroom dismissal, and then came right back.
The match had continued uninterrupted since then.
Even Min-jun and Ha-rang, who had held out until 3 PM, had gone home. Now, only he and the two young Go players were left in this playroom.
Watching for so long, Chang-ho’s eyes could finally see the flow of the stones.
A momentum fiercely clashing, as if trying to devour each other.
Just quietly watching the two children’s concentrated faces was enough to send a chilling shiver down his spine.
This was a first for Chang-ho.
It was such a cutthroat atmosphere, yet both of their expressions were peculiar.
-Clack!
Cheol-jun curled one corner of his mouth into a smirk and placed a stone.
-Ttak!
Si-woo slammed his stone down with an incredibly excited face.
‘What on earth is going on?’
The faces of the two children looked like they were playing an incredibly fun game.
However, the air itself was sharp enough to slice flesh.
They didn’t exchange a single word.
They didn’t even meet eyes; they only looked at the Go board.
But their expressions looked as if they were conversing with each other.
-Clack!
-Ttak!
Chang-ho was overwhelmed by this wondrous sight.
So, he was even careful about swallowing his saliva.
-Clack!
……
Si-woo narrowed his brow for a long time, then bowed his head.
“I lost. Again!”
“Okay!”
As Si-woo began cleaning up the stones, Go Chang-ho quickly placed his hand on the Go board.
If not now, he felt he would never be able to stop these two children.
“Uh, shall we eat something first? You’re hungry, right?”
Cheol-jun smiled radiantly.
“Bburinkle!”
“Me too!”
“Huh? Uh. Sure.”
Chang-ho quickly tapped his phone, and…
“You should have played tenuki here! You were too obsessed with what you already lost.”
“Hmm, I thought I could gain an advantage over there.”
“No. I was already reading all of that.”
“Look. If I play here like this…”
Listening to the conversation of the two young Go players, Go Chang-ho shook his head in disbelief.