Chapter 62: Divine Move (7)
It was clearly my mistake.
Because I couldn’t think of a decent na, I ended up creating an ID as ‘Dangsari’, and that was the root of the problem.
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……
These were the ssages on the countless pop-up windows that appeared the mont I logged into Onga Baduk.
The matches I had played were even uploaded on a Baduk site under the rather grandiose title of ‘Dangsari Ga Records Collection’.
“You’re quite the celebrity. Why not slap the café na on there too, huh? Click click.”
“That would’ve been a nightmare even to imagine.”
Thankfully, there were several places called Dangsari, so it wasn’t uniquely identifiable. If this had been the only Dangsari, I might have spent several months feeling like I was sitting on a bed of nails.
“Then can’t you just keep quiet about it?”
“Headong Seonnyeo is right. Those who ca out of desperation only quietly drank their coffee and left, didn’t they? A few more might co, but that too shall pass, so just stay still.”
It was undoubtedly the best strategy. And not particularly hard to stick to.
I just didn’t feel like it.
“…….”
“Look at him silent again. Seems like he’s plotting sothing nasty.”
“I was just thinking. It bothers a little that I let our first real custor leave just like that.”
“Oh? Co to think of it, that Dohyuk who ca last ti is Jinseong’s subordinate.”
“He’s not a subordinate, he’s a colleague.”
Dohyuk had known the address and sought out deliberately, so he was an exception. That really was the first ti soone had co to the café as an actual custor.
Granted, the person with him ca for a very one-dinsional purpose.
Still, I could vaguely guess why soone would co all the way here just from seeing the ID ‘Dangsari’. When you’re lost, you want to follow even the faint light of a firefly.
Perhaps because of that desperation, he hadn’t even drunk half the coffee I served.
I didn’t know what was so special about my Baduk gas, but if it helped, I planned to keep playing whenever I had ti.
-Dding.
How many of those stacked-up recomndation pop-ups had I closed? Just when I thought I could finally play a ga, another pop-up appeared.
【2025 Onga Masters Baduk Tournant】
-Tournant Dates: June 21 (Sat) ~ June 22 (Sun), 2025
-Tournant Venue: Onga Baduk Channel (Tournant)
-Registration Period: June 2 (Mon) ~ June 13 (Fri), 2025, until 17:00 (first-co, first-served)
-Registration: Go to Page
-Tournant Details: See image below
-Prize Money:
『Champion: 20 million Won Trophy Onga VIP 3 years Offline Award Ceremony
Runner-up: 10 million Won Trophy Onga VIP 1 year Offline Award Ceremony
3rd-4th Place: 5 million Won Onga Premium 1 year Offline Award Ceremony
5th-9th Place: J-Pad Pro 12 Onga Premium 6 months』
The laid-back idea of playing now and then vanished completely at the sight of that announcent page.
An online Baduk tournant with a prize of 20 million Won.
It was an amount I’d never even considered.
Of course, there was no chance I’d win. I was barely a fledgling who had just learned the rules.
But in our café, we had literal gods of Baduk. Four of them, no less.
“I need to play more seriously. At least until the end of this month.”
The next evening.
-Ddalang.
The café door opened, right on cue with my off-work hours.
“We’re here!”
“The weather’s getting hotter by the day. Make it iced coffee today.”
“We’re here too.”
As if planned, the guests poured in all at once and each took their designated seats.
And today, there were Immortals who had ridden in on Yongman.
“Will you have ti for a ga later?”
“Yes, once I’ve served all the coffee.”
“Excellent! I’ll wait.”
Seven guests had arrived all at once.
Making seven cups of coffee didn’t take long for soone like who had reached the height of mastery.
One by one, the cups were set down from the tray loaded on the cart, and I finally arrived at the seat of the Immortals.
“Hm? Are you planning to skip us and play with soone else using that?”
Their eyes, as they looked at the laptop I brought with the coffee, were full of disappointnt.
“I didn’t bring it for to play. Rember what you promised last ti? You said you’d learn how to play Baduk using this.”
“We did say that. Though I’m not sure we’ll be able to learn since it’s so hard.”
“I’ll teach you in a way that’s easy to understand.”
They had to learn. For the sake of my grand plan.
And in truth, no knowledge beyond one particular action was necessary.
Preparing, starting, and ending a match could all be handled by when each ga began and ended, so all they really needed to learn was how to place a stone using the mouse.
Since the Immortals had watched play fifteen consecutive gas on their first day at the café, the lesson ended surprisingly quickly.
“You can start now. I’ll help again when this ga ends and the next one begins.”
“Alright. Let’s see… move the mouse like this…”
As the match began, it seed my words had already faded into the background.
I quietly stepped away and returned to the table where Elder Gumiho and Sanyi were sitting.
“But if the Gods of Baduk join the tournant, wouldn’t that be unfair?”
“It’s fine. AI will be flooding in anyway. That eased a lot of my guilt.”
“Bah, that’s just your guilt being eased. I’m sure they feel very differently.”
“I’ve already got everything planned.”
“Hm?”
The operation had already begun, in all but na.
The Immortal playing Baduk and the other three Immortals, watching and silently mouthing strategies, looked just like kids in an arcade, aimlessly hovering around the machine after running out of coins.
It was practically a cruel punishnt.
After countless years of only playing each other, they had finally found a chance to play against soone else, only to be stuck waiting their turn. For three full gas, at that.
“Are you enjoying it?”
“Hehe, I never imagined Baduk in the present world had changed like this. Blink and suddenly, territory had been ford all around the large group.”
“But isn’t it inconvenient, taking turns since there’s only one laptop?”
“Even so, to be able to play such fun Baduk, I’m happy to wait.”
“There is a way you won’t have to wait.”
“Hm? But there’s only one of these little machines. How could we not wait?”
“There’s a Baduk tournant starting soon. They’re giving out Baduk machines even better than this laptop as prizes.”
I played a prepared video on my phone screen.
“The screen showing the Baduk board is much larger and brighter. And instead of using a mouse, you just tap the glass with your finger like placing a stone, and it appears right there.”
“Oh ho.”
“They’re giving five of them, so if the four of you win one each, that should be enough.”
Any more than that would’ve been difficult for too.
Even if the rankings were high enough to earn prize money and I used it to buy J-Pads, we’d still co out ahead. But we’d also have to attend the award ceremony.
Thankfully, all four of them enjoyed Baduk, and none were obsessed with victory, so it would be enough to just land in the top five.
That was the only solution to the tearjerking situation of four Immortals taking turns to play Baduk on a single laptop.
“When did you say the tournant is?”
“I’ll help with the registration.”
“Please do.”
The fire of resolve lit up in the Immortals’ eyes when they asked about the tournant date.
Their determination for the latest Baduk board was so intense, it even startled —the one who had ignited it.
I would be the true winner of this Baduk tournant. At the very least, four J-Pads would be ours.
At the sa ti, in the Baduk classroom office, Han Kuksu and Park Gidong Sabom were waiting for a late-night delivery after finishing their final lesson.
“Ugh, they’re starting again this year too. That old coot, so stubborn even while on death’s doorstep. I told him, just cut out the AIs in the finals and hold it offline, but he never listens. Seriously. Who’s going to join like that? Even Han Kuksu got wiped out last ti.”
“They’ll figure it out. It’s not like online tournants only happen there.”
“Still, it’s the biggest Baduk gaming company in Korea. This is ridiculous. Right now, anything above 5 dan is basically just AIs, so researchers are the only ones using it to analyze ga records.”
Clearly still upset, Park Gidong Sabom handed over his enlarged phone screen to Han Kuksu.
“Look at this year’s participant list. It’s a truckload of unknown IT companies.”
“Ah, move it. I’m in the middle of a ga.”
“Ahem, sorry.”
“Wait a sec!”
Just as Park Gidong Sabom sheepishly reached to take back his phone, Han Kuksu grabbed his wrist.
“What’s wrong all of a sudden?”
-2025 Onga Masters Baduk Tournant Participant List.
『Registration No. / ID
1349 J-Pa Solution
1350 Horibiri
1351 hanjin09
…
1572 Dangsari
…』
“Park Sabom, they’re still accepting registrations for the dan division, right?”
“Yeah, it’s first co, first served. But probably no one applied.”
“I’m entering. Register .”
“Are you crazy? Why would you join that!”
-Bang.
Usually the ever-smiling Park Gidong Sabom slamd the desk and exploded with rage.
Referring to Han Kuksu as ‘you’ instead of by na was a clear sign of how furious he was.
Normally, Han Kuksu would back down in the face of such anger, but not today.
“I have to join.”
“You think the reporters will leave you alone if you do? Just because it’s online and your face isn’t shown doesn’t an anything! Rember what happened last ti? They’ll slap your photo on it and chew you out for the entire tournant! Are you pretending not to know?”
It was a twisted league with no people, only computers.
Once in a while, lucky amateurs might place in the top ten, but they were no match for the fully-evolved Baduk AIs.
The situation wasn’t much different for professional players.
Popular ones with support companies, or those who didn’t want to be known as soone who lost to AI like Han Kuksu, had essentially written off this tournant. And now, the person in question wanted to go back in.
But no matter how angry Park Gidong Sabom got, or how much they both understood what was coming, Han Kuksu’s gaze didn’t waver.
“Pfft, well, if we’re going to crash and burn, might as well go all the way. Fine, let’s get wiped out and head back to my dad’s orchard.”
‘Your family’s orchard hasn’t been profitable since the year before last…’
The words were forcibly swallowed down.
In a life with no safety net, if he had to rate who was closer to the edge, Park Gidong 9-dan’s situation seed far more precarious than his own.
But on second thought, soone with just enough notoriety to barely make it into the finals of a national tournant might not stir much controversy.
And that, too, remained unsaid.
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