A Boy: Part VI

Nalle's response to Keum's first play at Chun-won (Tengen) was a long pause. He didn't play the move. Instead, Nalle studied Keum's face for good 15 minutes like he was searching for the right answer from Keum asking "Friend, are you serious or are you joking?" Taking 15 minutes for the second move at Sok-ki (blitz) was almost fatal, he knew, but he couldn't help himself. Nalle placed his second stone at Hwa-jum, Keum followed his at Hwa-jum diagonally at no time. It was 17th move that Nalle realized Keum was playing mirror-Go. Nell spent more than 40 minutes already, while Keum spent mere 30 seconds of his time. Nalle's face glowed in bright red and he suddenly exploded with a burst of laughter. He knew that he couldn't beat Keum by skill only by the experience he had from the first game. He took another 7 minutes before attaching his stone to the Chun-won, which was one of the moves he could come up with to break the Mirror-Go. Keum and Nalle both knew, then, the game was over. If you play a move to just avoid your opponent's strategy, the move becomes a failure. Immediately after the move, Nalle resigned.

The third game which was played the following morning was somewhat entertaining for both players. They agreed to play on no time setting this time. Keum played White. The play was relaxed, and friendly. Nalle talked a lot in heavy accented Korean, and Keum nodded and smiled a lot. Nalle said he wanted to be a friend of Keum, and at one point he jokingly said that he wanted to be a student of Keum. It seemed that Nalle didn't care about winning or losing, nor did Keum. The final game lasted for more than three hours and at the end, Keum won by 18 points. There was no Deum (Komi). Before they parted, Nalle gave him a piece of paper with his private phone number and his address back home in Finland. While the pro and the two in black suits settled the betting money at the corner of the room, Nalle said in whisper to Keum that he wasn't supposed to give out the informations to anyone, especially to his opponent, but he was making an exception for Keum.

A year and half passed, and during that time, Keum's games were simply brilliant. Not a single loss. Master Yi's opponents went crazy to look for better players to beat Keum.
Some of them got real angry, and the stake got higher and higher after each game played. Keum met many players; few of them were brought from Japan and China, and one of them was even borrowed from prison cell after bribing the warden. He was the champion of inter-prison tournaments for many years. (In Korea, Baduk became the most popular game inside of prison system) None of them were strong enough to win against Keum.

One of the oddest players Keum met was a blind man. He became blind at age 12 after a terrible car accident. He was a prodigy and one of the Yun-Gu-Saeng (Insei) of HanKook Ghiwon (Korean Go Association) at the time of the accident. Knowing that he had to live as a blind for the rest of his life, but couldn't trash the love for Baduk, he kept studying Baduk by memorizing the coordinates of the board with help from his father. He calls his move and his father would place the stone. After his opponent's move, his father calls the move by alphabet and the number. His play style was extremely aggressive obviously showing his inner anger through the tool of Baduk. It was odd sight that his father was acting like a servant, didn't say a word except calling moves. It seemed that the blind son was abusing his father. Later Keum heard that at the time of car accident, the father was driving drunk with his son at the back seat and his wife at the passenger seat. The mother died at the scene, the son lost his eyes, and the father came out with no scratches. The blind man was no match to Keum though.

It was at the end of the year, around Christmas, when the pro came into Keum's room without knocking.
At the time, Keum was looking out the window where he could see the tree branches curved with heavy snow from previous night. He was thinking of his mother, his hometown and the strange man who gave him the dictionary at the graduation. It was rare that the pro came to visit Keum's room without sending the butler Seung first. Keum sensed something very important was about to happen. The pro approached Keum with two large steps, and said that they had to leave for Kwang-Joo immediately.

He said that the biggest Baduk Gambling in Korea's history was about to begin. There would be 32 players from 32 masters and crime family bosses, the tournament would be held in Kwang-Joo for the entire week between Christmas and New Year. The betting money was set at 20-Eok-Won (about 2 million US dollars), and the winner would get all. He said there was no time to delay, and the car was ready to drive them to Kwang-Joo at that moment. The pro took Keum's arm and led to the car, engine running at the back door. It was a large black limousine this time and the butler Seung was driving.

After four hours of driving through heavy snow, they arrived in Kwng-Joo. The city's streets were full of cars and people busy shopping for Christmas. They looked strangely far away to Keum's eyes. The car parked at a basement garage after passing a gate where the pro showed his identification card. There was a large sign by the gate and the sign said in red bold letters: "The entire hotel is closed from Christmas and New Year for Renovation"
They took the elevator from the garage to the top floor penthouse suite and there, they were greeted by the same two with black suits Keum met at the games he played with Little Uncle and Nalle. The pro said to Keum in whisper that the whole tournament was arranged by the same mob boss while they were being led to one of the rooms.

After the shower and brief snacks, the pro and Keum went down to 57th floor. It was the biggest hotel in Kwang-Joo, and owned by the mob boss, Keum was told. The fact that the mob boss shut down the entire hotel for the tournament showed how angry he became.

On the 57th floor, there was a large conference room full with people talking and drinking. They were players, body guards, sponsors, and gamblers who were making bets their own money. There were 32 floor boards set in four rows in the middle. Keum went to see the boards and found that all of them were genuine Biza-Mok boards (Kaya boards). "Pretty impressive, huh?" A husky voice came from Keum back. When Keum turned around, he saw a man of mid forties wearing crisp white Hanbok (traditional Korean costume) smiling a broad smile. He extended his left arm and said,"I am Ku Joong-Su. I own this hotel. Please accept my sincere apology about offering my left arm, but my right became useless long time ago. I heard lot about you for last two years and I am so glad that we met." After Keum shook Ku's hand, Ku abruptly left without saying anything.

A short man with a pink neck-tie came up to a make shift stage and made an announcement for the tournament and the rules. The tournament would be single knock down, and the betting money would be handed to the hotel's bank until the end. The winner would get all 68-Eok-Won (68 million dollars) and wished good luck to all players.
After the announcement, the short man told all to go down to 12th floor to enjoy the real party.
People immediately formed a line to leave.

Keum was standing at the end of the line, and he saw someone whom he never expected to meet again in his life.

The strange man who gave Keum a dictionary at the graduation was in the middle of the line talking to a woman next to him. He had more gray hair and looked thinner than few years ago, but Keum was sure that was him.