Chapter 58: A Divine Move (3)
“Here’s your coffee. I hope it suits your taste.”
“This is the very tea Mago Granny used to drink. Thank you.”
-Slurp.
The Immortals’ eyes widened momentarily after taking a sip of the coffee, and then the cups began to meet their lips more and more frequently.
And so, the cups were emptied and refilled twice.
In the meantime, I got to hear how this unprecedented event—Immortals descending from the Heavenly Realm—had come about.
“So technically speaking, you’re saying you haven’t really descended to the present world, right?”
“Exactly. The Divine Tree is the bridge between the Heavenly Realm and the present world. As long as the Divine Tree’s energy extends, it’s not considered the present world.”
What sophistry.
By that logic, my café would be no different from a rest stop before a tollgate.
“Ahem! Since Mago Granny said so, we simply followed her words.”
“What? Why are you looking at me? I’m telling you, the real Mago Goddess said it.”
Yongman, sensing the untrusting gaze expecting further explanation, replied curtly.
Honestly, Yongman himself didn’t inspire much confidence.
The grand excuse about checking if the path to the Heavenly Realm was intact was quickly forgotten, and he’d been engrossed in phone games he hadn’t played in days.
That said, it wasn’t like he shamelessly used Mago Goddess’s name to descend into the present world.
“But doesn’t this teahouse have a Go board?”
“A Go board?”
Surely, he hadn’t come all the way here just to play Go? Or did he come here because he wanted to play Go?
Either option wasn’t welcome.
‘Tsk tsk, didn’t I tell you? When it comes to Go, even the Heavenly Deities can’t stop those guys.’
The eyes of the Gumiho Elder, who sat nearby with his chin resting on his hand like it was someone else’s problem, seemed to say just that.
First things first—I needed to handle the situation. In this café, there was no one I could call an ally.
“There’s no Go board, but we can still play with this.”
I hastily installed an online Go game on my laptop and showed it to them.
“This isn’t a glass board?”
“Oh ho, the Go board inside is finely drawn. Surely the work of a renowned painter.”
In that moment, I felt my mind drifting far away.
These Immortals were people from thousands of years ago.
Before teaching them how to play Go on a laptop, I had to start by teaching them how to use a laptop.
“So, this is called clicking… Actually, never mind. If you just tell me where to place your move, I’ll play it for you.”
They were Immortals who descended from the Heavenly Realm to play Go.
At this point, seating them in front of a Go board would be ideal, but I had no confidence in explaining the concept of input and output to someone who might not grasp it.
Fine, let’s just try playing a round and hope they pick it up naturally.
When people love something, they tend to figure it out on their own without anyone teaching them.
Just like me in my childhood, pressing every line of incomprehensible English on a DOS screen with the Enter key to find a game.
“So you’re saying, there’s another person inside this screen playing Go.”
Seeing is believing.
I immediately pressed the ready button.
[The match has begun.]
“If you tell me where you want to place the stone, I’ll put it down for you.”
A strange sense of déjà vu crept over me.
This situation—wasn’t it eerily similar to that comic, Ghost Go King?
As I remembered, Ghost Go King was about a Go master ghost possessing the protagonist and playing Go for him, helping him win every match. Thinking back, it had a cheeky, freeloading premise.
But that one had just a single ghost.
Behind me stood not one, but four true Gods of Go who had played for thousands of years.
I felt confident I wouldn’t lose no matter who I faced.
Granted, in reality, I was nothing more than a human mouse.
But the Immortals, who were supposed to tell me where to place the stones, instead looked at me with wide eyes and asked back,
“Hmm? Isn’t this your match?”
“Well, yes, but if I place the stones where you say, wouldn’t it be the same as you playing it yourselves?”
“If there are three hands holding stones on one Go board, one of them will have their tongue cut out and shoved into the Resounding Acupoint. Are you asking us to backseat play?”
“No, that’s not it… I’ll just play this round myself……”
Regrettably, Ghost Go King was off the table.
I needed to get through one match quickly and wrap it up.
And then morning came.
-Chirp chirp.
Sparrows flew into the sky that had seen the Immortals depart, riding on Yongman’s back.
They had played fifteen matches straight through the night. With thorough reviews after each match, no less.
-Ding-a-ling.
While taking a brief break to cool my overworked brain, the Gumiho Elder arrived.
“Don’t tell me you stayed up all night? Such stubborn old men, tsk tsk.”
“Don’t even mention it. If I hadn’t driven them away, they would’ve played Go all day again today. By the way, Elder, when did you sneak off?”
“Sneak off? I simply stepped away so I wouldn’t interrupt while you were focused on Go.”
“Ah, thank you so much.”
“Tsk tsk, I didn’t know you were so well-versed in Go.”
“Not at all. Last night was the first time I played in almost 30 years.”
“Huh? Then why did those old folks come down to the present world?”
“I have no idea. Maybe they just wanted to play Go with someone after a long time.”
“That can’t be. Anything that still clings even slightly to this world can’t even approach the threshold of the Heavenly Realm.”
“Yongman seemed to have plenty of attachments, though?”
“Ah, that rascal—you’re the one who forced him back up to the sky!”
“Still, they’re Immortals. I doubt they descended with impure intentions. Anyway, I’m going to get some sleep now.”
“Make me a cup of coffee before you do.”
“I’ll brew it after a nap. If any customers come, please serve them some water.”
“Hey, are you trying to make me your errand boy now? You could at least make a quick cup before going to bed!”
I was at my limit. I absolutely couldn’t hold out any longer.
If I didn’t get some sleep right now, I might end up slumped over the table all day. So I left the morning shift to the Elder.
Still, I gave the Immortals a firm warning when they left, so they wouldn’t come back again… right?
-Riiiiing.
A bell rang out from a messy room where empty soju bottles rolled on the floor.
A hand reached up from the floor—not the bed—grabbed a phone, and pulled it down.
The man lying on the floor answered the call and closed his eyes again.
(Han Kuksu, are you asleep?)
“No, why?”
“Don’t lie. Your voice screams hangover. If you drink and pass out until this hour, how are you going to teach the kids reeking of alcohol? This is exactly why you keep losing to Jaypha and end up in that sorry state. If Han Sewoon had kept his head straight during that match, would you have lost ten games in a row?”
“If you called just to nag, I’m hanging up.”
(No, no! Listen for a sec! Something really fun just happened.)
“What is it now, dragging it out like that?”
(Some lunatic showed up on Ongame Go today and won fifteen games in a row!)
“It’s probably another AI from the U.S. or China.”
(Ah come on, you sound just like an old man. You wouldn’t say that if you looked at the game records. Total lunatic. I’ll send you the records that were posted on the Go Gallery. Take a look.)
‘Romantic even at that age, really.’
-Dding.
[Park Gidong 9-dan: (photo)]
He said "now," but the phone buzzed a good while later. And it was an image file sent via text, so all the text was completely garbled.
“Who’s calling who an old man? Ugh, better dead than aching.”
The man called Han Kuksu frowned deeply and went straight into the Go Gallery himself to browse the posts.
-Someone who just played that guy, leave a reply. What was the vibe? [2]
-15 wins in the AI simulator room? That’s straight-up legendary [14]
-Next challenger hurry up lol viewers are gathering [6]
-Even 4-drone rush would get flamed if it looked like this… [4]
-The lunatic’s game record is out [37]
……
‘Looks like a fun one finally showed up.’
Normally, he avoided this board because it was full of blatant flaming posts aimed at him.
But if someone made this much fuss saying something happened, he had no choice but to check it out.
As he flipped through the pages, one title especially caught his eye.
Title: If you’re Park Gidong 9-dan who just got wrecked under your real game nickname, upvote lol
Content:
『What was he thinking using his real nickname lololol
Does this bastard need to retake his promotion test? lololol』
┗ ㅇㅇ: Don’t be too harsh. He’s still one of the top players in Korean Go.
┗ OP: Caught the culprit—me.
┗ GoGalleryUser1: lololololololol
┗ ㅇㅇ: Wasn’t me? I lost because of lag at move 20. Don’t assume.
┗ GoGalleryUser2: We seriously need a relegation system for Go.
‘He got wrecked and now it’s immortalized.’
Han Sewoon Kuksu chuckled as he sent the link to Park Gidong Sabom, who had texted him, then kept scrolling.
He soon found another post that had overwhelmingly more upvotes and comments than the rest.
Title: [Breaking News] A serial killer has entered Ongame Go ㄷㄷ
Content:
『Hey lolololol
Check out this guy who entered Ongame’s pro room with the nickname “Dangsari”
Look at this move formation
(photo)
He’s on a 15-game solo win streak, and none of the matches even went to endgame—just total slaughter by midgame lolol
He doesn’t even defend territory. He just charges in blindly, cuts, attacks, smashes—it’s chaos
Even live-streamers are saying, “Not even a pro could stop this”
Whoever he is, he’s at least trainee level ㄷㄷ
Funniest part is his endgames are garbage, but he finishes games way before that lol
Go check it out live in the pro room
It’s literally Street Fighter live』
┗ ㅇㅇ: That guy wrecked me just now too. 5-minute KO –_–
┗ GoGalleryUser1: His playstyle is straight up Han Sewoon 2005 level ㄹㅇ
┗ ㅇㅇ: But seeing how sloppy his endgame is, he’s probably human
┗ NotGoButOmok: If he’s not a pro, he’s a trainee. If not a trainee, then AI.
┗ ㅇㅇ: Not a trainee. If a trainee played like that, their Sabom would smash their head with a Go board
┗ GoGalleryUser2: Or maybe they already got smashed and went nuts lololol
┗ ㅇㅇ: I peed a little seeing that one move at upper left corner
┗ ㅇㅇ: If his identity gets revealed, I’m quitting the gallery for real
┗ ㅇㅇ: If his nickname is clearly “Dangsari,” can’t we just dig into the Go center there and find him?
┗ GoGalleryUser3: If someone played like that at a Go center, they’d already be famous without us searching.
……
“Crazy… what the hell is this?”
That was the first reaction of Han Sewoon Kuksu, a representative of Korean Go, holder of the record for most international titles, and thirteen-time winner of the Kuksu Championship, after seeing Jinseong’s game record.
Han Sewoon Kuksu called Park Gidong Sabom again.
(Did you see it? It’s insane.)
“You ran the radar, right? Whose trainee is this kid?”
(No idea.)
“Don’t joke around. Is it Sabom Kwon? Or Sabom Hong?”
(I really don’t know. I called around, but everyone said they had no idea. Apparently, he just popped up out of nowhere.)
“That’s a lie. This kid definitely has a teacher. I can tell by how the moves are subtly refined with each game.”
(That’s what I’m saying—who’s raising this kid! And why is he being hidden and not sent to any tournaments?)
“Find out and get back to me.”
(How am I supposed to…….)
-Click.
It had been a while since a game record was this fun to read. He didn’t want a call getting in the way any longer.