Pair Go
Having finished the early-stage framework of the game, Yu Jeon-hun 9-dan sank briefly into thought.
Every player who had lost to Ryu Seoa 2-dan shared one thing in common when he studied their game records: a lack of aggression.
The girl's style of play ran on a completely different track from conventional Go. Ryu Seoa 2-dan judged positions by a standard more advanced than any established concept.
Against an opponent like that, fighting a quiet, even game meant only one thing — inch by inch your profits would be shaved away, you would lose your rhythm to mounting anxiety, and you would destroy yourself.
Arrogance that presumed to gain an advantage through negotiation against a master negotiator was simply not tolerated.
In the end, victory against the girl demanded aggression. It required refusing every form of compromise and boring straight in with stubborn, unrelenting pressure.
As it happened, reckless, all-out attacking Go was Yu Jeon-hun 9-dan's specialty.
And so, from the very opening, Yu Jeon-hun 9-dan pushed in hard.
"..."
Trickery and disruption. From the defender's side it was a headache to deal with — but the same held true for the attacker.
That was precisely why not just anyone could imitate it. Yu Jeon-hun 9-dan simply possessed the overwhelming calculation and flashing intuition to make it real.
The most important thing in defense is setting priorities. That goes double in Go, where a single move permits only a single choice.
Weighing the weaknesses and the importance of each shape, you must decide with complete clarity where to play.
Clinging to stones that cannot be saved only multiplies unnecessary losses, while wasting moves trying to rescue stones that would survive even if abandoned means throwing away opportunities that could have been spent elsewhere.
By that conventional measure, Ryu Seoa 2-dan possessed an exceptionally firm and systematic sense of priority.
Nothing is more difficult than waging an offensive against a defender who responds with cold composure, refusing to be swayed by the attacker's feints.
Yet even trickier than that composure of hers was her tenuki judgment.
Even stones with narrow escape routes she would rescue through ingenious moves that carved out eyespace — so even when he won a battle, the spoils were meager.
The all-out offensive from Yu Jeon-hun 9-dan ignited a massive dragon fight starting in the lower-right corner that spread all the way to the center, and Ryu Seoa 2-dan, with a seasoned instinct for sacrifice plays that no one would believe belonged to a young female professional, brought it to a close and saved her group.
With the all-out war ending in an even result, the battle shifted to the center to decide the game. A ferocious game of nerve unfolded, each side fighting for every half-point of territory.
The position favored Yu Jeon-hun 9-dan, if only slightly.
"Ah..."
Trying too hard to claw back the advantage, the girl fumbled something — and committed a blunder worth two points in dansu.
The moment those two stones were captured without ceremony, the game tilted past the point of no return.
For a match that had been so fierce through the middle game, it was a hollow ending.
The blonde girl dropped the stone she had picked up listlessly from her hand, resigning.
Seeing her in person, she was something else entirely — more than she had ever seemed through a broadcast screen. After spending hours badgering acquaintances for a way to reach her and canceling every dinner engagement he had, Yu Jeon-hun had found it well worth the effort: as a partner, Ryu Seoa 2-dan left nothing to be desired.
"I learned a great deal, Master Ryu."
Yu Jeon-hun 9-dan bowed his head in genuine respect for a girl barely past ten who had reached this level of mastery.
"...Hkk."
Hearing no reply, he lifted his head and studied her face — she wore a contorted expression, visibly struggling to hold back tears.
"...Hk, I'm sorry... hnn."
Before long, tears spilled over and soaked the girl's eyes. Was it a competitive pride stronger than her delicate appearance suggested? Or was it heartache over that one fatal mistake?
Either way, it was surely the driving force that had carried her to her current heights.
"By any chance... do you like beef?"
Combining his apology for having made the girl cry with an effort to work out their schedule, Yu Jeon-hun 9-dan asked.
"Hoooh."
I let out a deep sigh, rubbing my puffy, swollen eyes.
After bawling my head off in the most embarrassing way imaginable, I had somehow managed to stuff myself silly with the beef, and now my stomach was bloated and round.
Yu Jeon-hun 9-dan — who had taken me, sobbing miserably with tears streaming down my nose, straight to a restaurant, fed me a solid hearty meal, and driven me all the way home — had left with a farewell: that I would be in his care for a while to come.
I had truly made an unbearable spectacle of myself.
I'd known my odds were slim, but when that became reality, I couldn't hold my emotions in check.
By being reborn, I had enjoyed the privilege of extra time and knowledge of the future — things no one else was ever given.
And even so, I had felt it down to my bones: my skill still fell short of the top-tier professionals in the main field.
A cowardly thought even crossed my mind — that with this body and my current pathetic level, maybe staying on the women's circuit wasn't such a bad idea after all.
"Damn it."
I took my frustration out on an innocent plastic water bottle, trying to purge the negative thoughts. Thanks to the wretched grip strength of this weak little body, the bottle barely dented even halfway. I gave up and meekly tossed it into the trash.
Yu Jeon-hun 9-dan and I had agreed to meet at least twice a week to build our rhythm as a pair.
The tournament was set to begin in roughly a month, so until then we would be sharing our philosophies and perspectives on the game.
Not that it mattered much — in my current state, it would be Yu Jeon-hun 9-dan dragging me along, rather than the other way around.
I went to the study and powered on the computer.
"Ugh."
It had been a while since I last checked my brokerage account.
The returns on the stocks I'd been pouring my prize money — and every scrap of allowance — into had skyrocketed to absurd heights.
Investing with partial foreknowledge and zero risk, gains were only natural — but I hadn't expected them to climb this steeply.
The temptation surged to sell off the soaring stocks and buy deeper into the ones that had dipped. But money, for me, was nothing more than a means to an end.
I had no intention of losing myself to greed, wandering down a side path, and forgetting my true calling.
Deciding to leave the stock market alone for a while, I closed every browser window.
Then I opened the online Go client sitting in one corner of my nearly bare desktop and created a new account.
fbtjdk0216
'Ryu Seoa' typed phonetically on a QWERTY keyboard, plus my birthday — the exact same naming scheme as tlsckdah1021.
The product of a total absence of imagination mixed with pure laziness.
With no tournament schedule for a while, keeping my competitive edge sharp on internet Go was the only option left.
I searched out accounts with decent records and sent game requests — but perhaps because my own account had no history at all, I was refused again and again.
Someone had suddenly typed in the server chat.
Before long, the game requests came flooding in — this time toward me.
I politely declined a few of them and accepted a request from a worthy opponent.
The moment the game was set, a handful of spectators trickled in.
Most of them cried imposter, fake, fraud — but I paid it little mind.
My practical sense had climbed considerably by now. tlsckdah1021 had served its purpose.
This was the point where what I needed was no longer review, but challenge.
An anonymous, faceless space. The perfect environment for trying whatever my heart desired.
I cranked my chair up to its maximum height and gripped the mouse in a comfortable posture.
One win. Two wins. Five wins.
With each victory the spectator count grew, and the game room's chat window buzzed in proportion.
Sleep was crashing down on me and I'd been about to log off for the night — but the instant I saw that message, I felt my drowsiness vanish completely. I hit the accept button.