Chapter 1761
That’s why I am here. (1)
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The pale, slender fingers moved a pristine white Go stone across the board. It was an elegant and refined Go board, one that seemed entirely out of place in a battlefield.
“Hmm.”
It appeared as though he would place the stone immediately, but he hesitated for a moment. Then, as if dissatisfied with his original move, he set the stone down in a completely different spot than where he had first intended.
Though his eyes, fixed on the Go board, were utterly serious, there was a clear note of mischief in his voice.
“This is quite unexpected. You actually want to play Go?”
Jang Ilso cast a sidelong glance at Ho Gamyeong, who was seated across from him. Ho Gamyeong, however, remained absorbed in the ongoing game, his eyes never leaving the board.
“It’s not strange. We used to play like this quite often.”
“Yes, at your insistence.”
There was a time like that.
Back then, it was a time of intense struggle, yet also a time of profound boredom. Like a dragon hiding in the mud, enduring in order to ascend to the heavens, it was a time when they had to let the hours slip by in the filthy backstreets.
At that moment, Ho Gamyeong made his move.
He placed a black Go stone on the board and, without lifting his gaze from it, began to speak.
“Perhaps it was stubbornness.”
“Stubbornness?”
“There was a time when I learned Go in great detail from my teacher, who considered it a gentleman’s pastime.”
“How pointless.”
“But even so… I could never beat you, Ryeonju. Even though I was the one who taught you how to play.”
Jang Ilso chuckled lightly.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. If I had known you would take it so to heart, I would have gone easier on you.”
His words carried a subtle sting, implying that Ho Gamyeong must have been deeply troubled if he was still insisting on playing Go even in such a situation.
“It was frustrating.”
However, Ho Gamyeong continued calmly, as if the remark hadn’t fazed him at all, even though he was not someone who would fail to grasp the underlying meaning.
“Go is a conversation with your opponent, and at the same time, a mirror reflecting oneself. That’s what my teacher taught me. Therefore, one must learn to endure, to be patient, and to see beyond what is right in front of them. But… I couldn’t do that against you, Ryeonju.”
Tap.
Jang Ilso’s white stone struck the board with a sharp sound.
Watching Jang Ilso’s move as it probed for his weaknesses, Ho Gamyeong continued speaking quietly.
“Your style of play was far too free, Ryeonju. Though I was the one who taught you Go, you made moves I could never have imagined.”
“Hmm, well… could it be that you were simply too rigid?”
Jang Ilso’s teasing remark was met with a calm response from Ho Gamyeong.
“That could be,”
he said, even as he continued to place his stones with steady hands.
Receiving a reaction different from what he had expected, Jang Ilso leaned back in his chair, his excitement waning.
“So, do you wish to reminisce about old times in the midst of all this? Or… is it because of all this?”
Jang Ilso’s eyes gleamed slightly.
The truth was, Jang Ilso was only indulging Ho Gamyeong in this game because it was he who had requested it. The situation wasn’t leisurely enough to afford such a relaxed pastime.
“Gamyeong-ah.”
“It’s your turn, Ryeonju.”
Jang Ilso stared at Ho Gamyeong for a moment, who remained as composed as ever.
Ho Gamyeong was not one to waste time on meaningless things.
In fact, having spent a long time together, Ho Gamyeong valued time even more than Jang Ilso did, considering it a grave waste to spend it on frivolous things.
Jang Ilso let out a faint sigh.
“Very well, let’s see what this is all about. Let’s find out what meaning there is in this.”
Jang Ilso straightened his posture and began to focus.
For a while, the two exchanged moves in silence. The only sound that broke the quiet was the intermittent clack of Go stones being placed on the board.
Surprisingly, it was Ho Gamyeong who broke the long-standing silence.
“But lately, my thoughts have changed a bit.”
“…About what?”
“When I tried to see, I couldn’t see anything. When I tried to engage in conversation, nothing made sense. So, I dismissed all that talk about Go being a form of communication or reflection as just an excuse for idle gentlemen to pass the time.”
“…”
“But now that I think about it, perhaps it wasn’t entirely wrong.”
“Hmm. You’re talking a lot, even while playing against me.”
Tap.
Jang Ilso placed his stone right in the middle of Ho Gamyeong’s territory.
A stark white stone surrounded by black ones – it looked like a reckless move.
Yet, Ho Gamyeong’s expression grew colder.
He realized that this single move could potentially drag all of his major groups of stones [대마(大馬)] into oblivion.
“What do you think?”
Without a word, Ho Gamyeong began to defend cautiously.
However, with each move Jang Ilso made, Ho Gamyeong’s situation became increasingly dire. Jang Ilso’s forces had established themselves right in the heart of Ho Gamyeong’s territory, and the black stones surrounding the white were on the brink of being wiped out.
Jang Ilso let out a faint, mocking laugh.
“Oh dear, oh dear… things seem to be getting difficult. Should I give you a few moves back?”
Ho Gamyeong, who had been staring at the board, finally lifted his head and met Jang Ilso’s gaze.
“What about you, Ryeonju?”
“…Hmm? About what?”
“Can you see what I’m thinking right now?”
“Hmm.”
Jang Ilso narrowed his eyes slightly, scrutinizing Ho Gamyeong. Ho Gamyeong shook his head.
“You can’t, can you?”
“…”
“In the past, every time I faced you, I felt completely exposed. Even without me revealing anything, it seemed like you could see right through my thoughts. But not anymore.”
Jang Ilso’s expression subtly hardened.
“…What exactly are you trying to say?”
“The Ryeonju you were back then was like that. You did things that ordinary people couldn’t even imagine, whether on the battlefield or at the Go board.”
Tap.
Ho Gamyeong placed his stone with a casual touch. Jang Ilso’s expression changed subtly. The previously tense face was briefly marked by a displeased smile, which then turned into something more sinister.
“This is…”
The situation on the board had shifted before he realized it.
While it was true that Jang Ilso had captured Ho Gamyeong’s major group of stones, a large force had formed in a completely different area of the board.
The stones that had been floundering, trying desperately to survive like slippery eels, had somehow established a solid presence.
Even with the capture of the major group, Jang Ilso could no longer secure a victory.
‘Bait?’
Had he used that major group as bait?
But what pushed Jang Ilso beyond confusion to a cold fury was not the unexpected method of his loss.
“Gamyeong-ah…”
“Do you remember?”
Ho Gamyeong spoke calmly, as if determined to say what he intended.
“This… is a game we once played before. But back then, our positions were reversed.”
“…”
He remembered.
The strategy of sacrificing a major group to build strength elsewhere on the board was one Jang Ilso himself had used in the past.
And now, the present Jang Ilso had fallen prey to the very tactic he had once employed. It was as if he had been enchanted.
“Back then, I was quite shocked. Offering up a major group as bait to claim new territory for oneself wasn’t a strategy that existed in the Go I knew. But what surprised me even more wasn’t just that it defied conventional Go principles. It’s not easy to use something you’ve painstakingly built as bait. Ordinary people wouldn’t do that.”
Ho Gamyeong’s eyes were cold and calm.
“But at least the Ryeonju you were back then could make such a move without hesitation. You were someone who would use whatever you had if it served your purpose, and discard it without a second thought if necessary. You were the kind of person who could tear off his own arm if it meant defeating the enemy.”
“…”
“But the Ryeonju you are now hesitates to let go of what’s in his hand. And so… you’ve fallen to the very strategy you once used.”
“Gamyeong-ah.”
“Are you enjoying this, Ryeonju?”
“…”
“To the Ryeonju of that time, everything was just a game. Gaining something, losing something, even your very fate – it was all just amusement. But what about now? Are you still enjoying it?”
“That’s enough.”
“Or have you started to feel the weight? Do you hesitate because you think one failure could take everything away?”
“You’re crossing the line. Even you…”
“I’m curious. Would the Ryeonju who once roamed the back alleys of Guizhou see the current you as a person, or just as…”
Bang!
The Go board between them was suddenly flung into the air.
Clatter.
The Go stones that had been suspended in midair rained down onto the floor. Jang Ilso slowly withdrew the hand that had struck the board away.
A chilling smile spread across his face.
“Not as a person… but as a bloated pig, is that what you’re saying?”
Instead of responding, Ho Gamyeong stood up. He then began to silently pick up the Go stones scattered across the floor.
“Ho Gamyeong.”
“They’ve entrenched themselves at Wudang. Facing an enemy in such a fortified position won’t be easy. That’s likely why you’re hesitating to make your move, Ryeonju.”
The corner of Jang Ilso’s mouth twitched slightly.
“So?”
“Patience and inaction are not the same. We no longer have the luxury of time. Instead of waiting aimlessly, we need to draw them out.”
“Draw them out, you say…”
Jang Ilso tapped his knee slowly with his fingertips.
“I have no desire to challenge your ideals, Ryeonju. I understand that you see no reason for the ignorant masses to get involved in this war, and I don’t entirely disagree.”
But then, Ho Gamyeong fixed Jang Ilso with a resolute stare.
“But wasn’t it you, Ryeonju, who said that in war, neither aesthetics nor values have any place?”
Jang Ilso’s pale eyes began to flicker. The rising killing intent was so vivid that it seemed it could slice through Ho Gamyeong’s throat at any moment.
However, Ho Gamyeong remained calm, as if his own life meant nothing to him.
“Give the order. I will slaughter the commoners and force them out. If you won’t give the order, at least grant me the authority to command. Then…”
His voice, low and measured yet resolute, continued.
“I will deliver this Central Plains to you, Ryeonju.”
Jang Ilso was silent.
“Ryeonju.”
“…In the past, now, and even in the future.”
“…”
“The only one who would dare speak to me like that is you.”
Ho Gamyeong nodded as if hearing something entirely obvious.
“That’s why I am here.”
“…Indeed…”
Jang Ilso leaned back heavily in his chair, letting out a long sigh.
“Fine, do as you will. But make sure you achieve the results you promised. Understand?”
“With my life, I will.”
Ho Gamyeong bowed deeply, then turned and walked out without hesitation.
Jang Ilso watched his retreating figure intently before his gaze fell to the floor. There, he noticed the Go stones that Ho Gamyeong had not managed to pick up.
Jang Ilso had not been idly wasting time without a plan. Of course, he had a strategy. But precisely because of that, he couldn’t help but question himself.
Is my plan truly better than the one Ho Gamyeong just proposed?
Why was I making things more complicated when there was a simpler, more straightforward way to throw the enemy into chaos, a method even a three-year-old could understand?
Was it really because of the aesthetics Ho Gamyeong spoke of? Had I unknowingly been shackled by some half-baked principle?
Or…
Was it as Ho Gamyeong suggested? Was I truly afraid? Afraid of witnessing the outcome of all this with my own eyes?
Swish.
Jang Ilso brushed his hand through his bangs, but then let it fall. His long hair cascaded down his pale face.
“Amusement, huh…”
A dry laugh tinged with emptiness, one that was uncharacteristic of him, escaped his lips.
He was already aware that he had changed from the person he once was. Even though he knew it, he had resigned himself to the fact, thinking it was something he had to accept.
But Ho Gamyeong had said he shouldn’t. He had told him to simply enjoy everything as he once did, to mock and manipulate everything as a game.
“If that’s the case, then I…”
Jang Ilso’s gaze darkened.
It grew darker still, until even the usual gleam of mischief in his eyes vanished. In its place, something profoundly deep and ominous began to slowly fill the void in his now desolate eyes.
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