The Weight of the Finals
Rest time passed in the blink of an eye.
My body had cooled slightly, but my mind remained in a state of readiness.
I rose from my chair five minutes earlier than scheduled.
The branch manager immediately fixed his gaze on me.
“You’re heading down already? Take a little more rest.”
His words were casual, yet worry laced his tone.
This was the Biryong Tournament finals.
Best of three, first to two wins.
Time limit: thirty minutes.
After one game ended, the next began immediately.
Moreover, I had just completed the Candidates Tournament.
The branch manager knew that resting now was part of the match itself.
“More than resting, it would be better to go down early and prepare. I think it helps concentration.”
I answered with a short laugh.
The branch manager shook his head in disbelief.
“Kim-jnim, how can a person not be careless?”
There was a mix of jest and sincerity in his words.
I offered no reply.
Instead, I swallowed it inwardly.
I don’t want to lose.
Baduk is a strange game.
The word “absolute” does not apply.
A single game does not prove skill.
It is the world where a 1-dan can defeat a 9-dan.
That is baduk.
I left the waiting room and walked down the corridor.
When I stopped before the elevator, Jeong Soo-yeon, the team leader, was the first to speak to me.
“You’re in the finals—aren’t you nervous?”
When I turned my head, the camera angle captured my face.
It was slightly burdensome, but I did not avoid it.
“Nervousness is always present. It’s a match.”
Jeong Soo-yeon asked.
“Then you might make mistakes?”
I thought for a moment and shook my head briefly.
“No. It’s a perfectly good tension.”
Not anxiety, but a tremor that lifts immersion.
This feeling always elevates my concentration to its highest level.
-Ding.
The elevator door opened softly.
I entered first, followed by the branch manager, Jeong Soo-yeon, and the filming crew.
At the first floor, entering the studio, Lee Gwang-seop, the association president, approached.
“Welcome. You may take your seat.”
“Yes, President.”
I gave a nod to the branch manager standing behind me and headed toward the baduk board.
It was the same seat as thirty minutes earlier.
Yet because of the word “finals,” it no longer felt the same.
More than anything.
First-place prize money: thirty million won.
It far exceeded my salary.
I had already secured fifteen million as second place, and victory would add another fifteen million.
I must win.
Greed stirred.
Among the reasons I play baduk, money is included.
And that money is the reward given to me for winning the game.
Plus, a small car to come and go to the study group.
I could not afford to give up any of it.
At that moment.
Park Jun-soo entered the studio and sat opposite me.
“......”
Our eyes met, but we said nothing.
We exchanged only a brief, very brief greeting.
Perhaps because of the mood.
Although we knew each other, today he looked a bit different.
From his eyes, I felt the resolve to avenge his previous defeat.
“Thirty seconds later, please proceed with the game!”
After waiting a moment for the association president’s signal.
When the time was up, we placed the baduk bowls and covered the stones.
Clack.
White.
Park Jun-soo, holding black, placed a stone.
The first move was a corner at the lower right.
Tap.
I responded with a corner and pressed the clock.
Time limit: thirty minutes.
Since it was a fast game, there was no reason to waste time from the beginning.
Park Jun-soo seemed to think the same, and placed without hesitation.
The third move was a small wood.
The fourth move was a diagonal connection.
Typical AI opening.
But around the tenth move, black began to vary.
He stopped the ongoing sequence.
Without completing the shape.
Only aiming for the essence of the joseki across the entire board.
I remember this wasn’t his style…
In my memory, Park Jun-soo was a solid-based style.
Not fast nor slow.
Pressuring based on solidity, forcing the opponent into trouble.
But.
A density was felt in each move.
The will to not be dragged along and seize the flow.
Abandoning the stable feeling derived from plain joseki, and placing tightly calculated moves including subtle exchanges and rhythm.
Tap.
I removed my hand and intruded into the left upper corner three-three.
Intention to change the flowing flow.
However, Park Jun-soo calmly responded.
He retreated at an ambiguous point, creating space.
But that ambiguity made it ambiguous for me to either dig deeper or retreat.
The level itself has changed.
This moment is no different.
Tap.
I attached a stone and induced a two-space extension.
However, Park Jun-soo lightly covered and firmly blocked the flow of the stone.
Even at the point after the opening and into the middle game, there was no disturbance.
A solid and sturdy baduk.
In that short time, the strengths were further refined, and the weaknesses that were lacking were filled in other ways.
It’s threatening.
If I miss this flow, I might be dragged along instead.
But.
You are not the only one who has grown.
Tap.
My move leaned towards the lower left.
A shape of black stones that seemed harmless at first glance.
There was clearly a weakness there.
Park Jun-soo disguised it with a gentle move, but I did not miss the gap.
Tap.
A white stone sharply pierced in.
Tap.
One more, I pressed the waist of the lower left black and blocked it.
A sensitive move.
A move based on data.
Two moves that needed to be played separately organically intertwined in a cycle.
The push and pull from the lower left corner.
The insertion and deflection from the upper left side.
This wasn’t a heavy fight.
A fight of real-game sense.
A skill battle of reading.
And I, in this kind of baduk, more than anything…
I won’t lose to anyone.
I immersed myself in the highest level state I could play.
***
Amateur broadcasting is always difficult.
Even in a game that determines the strongest amateur like the Biryong Tournament finals.
From the pro’s perspective, there are many incomplete moves.
It is difficult to point them out directly and explain them.
Because if the player’s level seems low, it interferes with the viewers’ immersion.
In that regard, veteran 7-dan Yoon Jin-seok was experienced.
Based on years of experience broadcasting amateur games.
Instead of AI-centric commentary, he tried to approach humanistically to match the viewers’ eye level.
But.
Today’s baduk was a bit different.
“Black’s play looks good. The next white’s response seems a bit lacking.”
7-dan Yoon Jin-seok continued to praise Park Jun-soo, who was holding black.
A solid foundation and sense that makes one wonder why he is still an amateur.
Excellent understanding of AI moves, and adaptive play in the early opening.
Good sense. I’ll see it in the pros soon.
But.
-You play well, but the opponent is lol
-If it goes to the middle game, Mumyeong will dominate lol
-White is holding on.
-Senior Jinseok is only praising black since earlier?
-Thank you for the calm commentary.
7-dan Yoon Jin-seok glanced at the chat window and frowned.
Real-time viewers: 2,100.
More than five times the previous Biryong finals.
The organizers would definitely be happy.
But much lighter than typical baduk viewers, with emotional reactions.
Most of them seemed to have gathered here to see Mumyeong Kim In-ha.
Not just rumors of skill…
He had heard it too.
The story of Mumyeong Kim In-ha who entered the Ciel Bank Cup as an amateur and caused a sensation in Samgukji Baduk.
But that was all.
He did not particularly pay attention to Kim In-ha or Mumyeong.
It was more important to analyze AI and catch up on senior pro rankings.
So, this was the first time he had directly seen Mumyeong Kim In-ha’s baduk.
But even that game was hard to gauge skill.
Because Gang Seong-jung had collapsed on his own.
At that moment.
Tap.
A white move was placed.
As the middle game progressed, the momentum of the baduk gradually changed.
What is this?
7-dan Yoon Jin-seok felt a sense of bewilderment.
Until now, white had been dragged by black.
But.
From this move, something changed noticeably.
......It changed.
It was hard to say exactly what changed.
The move itself wasn’t flashy.
But it cut off black’s flow and opened the tide.
A solid continuous move.
A perfectly timed interlocking.
It pointed to a key point that could not be explained by a single stone.
-Came
-That person came lol
-Where did senior Yoon go?
-It seems the middle game has started lol
-Look carefully.
“A strange move. For now, it seems black’s deflection is the proper move… ”
7-dan Yoon Jin-seok trailed off.
Here, black’s next move, besides the deflection, did not come to mind.
Shape, momentum, intuition.
Not the AI’s blue spot, but anyone sitting in front of that baduk board would have deflected to respond.
Tap.
Park Jun-soo responded that way too.
That was human sense.
One move.
Tap.
White’s move was placed again.
Suddenly, 7-dan Yoon Jin-seok’s expression hardened.
“This is…”
He closed his mouth.
A moment ago, black’s deflection.
Kim In-ha, assuming the most common choice, had prepared a sharp counter.
Accurate timing.
Predictable response.
A flow that did not allow doubt.
And within it, a hidden counterattack that dug in like a sharp stinger.
-It seems caught?
-Yeah, seems so
-White’s baduk has just begun.
-If you get stuck here, you can’t hold on
-Will senior Yoon’s one-pick Park Jun-soo hold on?
7-dan Yoon Jin-seok adjusted his posture.
He reviewed the moves from earlier in his mind.
Black’s deflection.
No matter where you connect, it is cut.
No matter where you block, it collapses.
Everything… was calculated?
Black’s choice was not wrong.
But Kim In-ha had built the board assuming the move that anyone would have to play.
Inducing the most common joseki, and the sharpest way to cut.
It was not just reading.
A sense that penetrates sense and psychology and moves.
Baduk that swings the human itself…
A chill ran down the back of 7-dan Yoon Jin-seok’s neck.
Baduk that digs into the human interior.
A flow that goes against the recent baduk that accepts the joseki proposed by AI.
Tap.
The sequence progressed quickly.
Black was suppressed, white became strong.
Not particularly fast or rough.
Just steady.
But that steadiness felt like it swallowed the entire baduk board.
“AI says black should take his hand. Don’t let white drag you along.”
7-dan Yoon Jin-seok swallowed dryly.
“But will that work? Usually, people can’t play because they’re afraid. With human sense… it’s a spot you have to take.”
He did not force commentary.
As it was, admiration flowed out in words.
“Handing in here means having a strong heart to assume perfect reading. To reach that level…”
He swallowed the next words.
Whether it was appropriate to use such expression in an amateur finals, but.
Super first-class player.
Only at that level could it be possible.
To estimate the depth of the move based on perfect reading.
-Senior Jinseok’s posture change lol
-Whoa, this is Mumyeong
-Park Jun-soo’s mentality will shake?
-The viewing itself is different.
-The greatness of a normal office worker lol lol lol
The viewers’ reactions made sense.
Now, 7-dan Yoon Jin-seok had no choice but to admit it.
The sense only a super first-class player could have.
Now, Kim In-ha was dominating the baduk with that sense.
“I hope to see this person soon in the pros… no, on the world stage.”
***
Jeong Soo-yeon, the team leader, did not know baduk.
To her, baduk was just one of the common board games.
The Ciel Bank Cup was no different.
A yearly repeating event.
Obligatory promotion and marketing, just accumulating such performance.
For the team leader in charge of marketing, it was a tournament without fun or reward.
But.
This time was different.
The live of the Biryong Tournament finals was playing on her hand-held smartphone.
Although she did not know baduk, she did not look at the viewer reactions casually.
He’s enthusiastic.
Mumyeong.
From amateur.
From ordinary office worker.
People kept expecting and wanting to cheer for his success of climbing the steps.
They’re putting me in.
A kind of vicarious satisfaction.
And I hope to be able to be like that too.
Promotion and marketing is that.
Wrapping non-existent value and making people believe it.
This will definitely go through.
Her eyes were not wrong.
Still, search volume is insufficient, and public interest is lacking.
A few articles, a few interviews, no one pays attention.
But this story has just begun.
A late-bloomer baduk beginner who, in just a few months, reached the peak of amateur.
And now, crossing the pro threshold, heading towards the world tournament main stage.
Above that.
Jeong Soo-yeon had only one sentence in mind to post.
-Kim In-ha, security guard at Ciel Bank.
The completion of the narrative.