Chronicles of the Lazy Sovereign Novel - Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Tak!

A white stone flew abruptly over Go’s board.

“Hmm!”

Cho Man-pyeong’s face, widely known in the academic world as the Shameless Go Player, became black as the pitch, and soon a cold sweat began to sprout profusely.

Cho Man-pyeong stared at the board for a while with his face soaked in sweat, then soon lifted his head with a embarrassed smile all over his face.

“Well…”

Wei Yan-ho frowned hard.

“What?”

Cho Man-pyeong looked like an unparalleled benevolent smile. His expression made him look like a saint who helped those in need. He babbled with a tone full of compassion and kindness:

“N-can’t you just let me undo one move?”

“Are you kidding me?”

“No, I must have lost my mind for a moment…”

If you can’t quit, you better get up.

“Look, I…”

Suddenly, several loud voices were heard from behind.

If you lost, get up!

Don’t you see people waiting?

Good-bye to the brazen Go player, really shameless, you should be called a brazen Go player!

Cho Man-pyeong turned around with an expression of disgust.

People with a red face stared at Cho Man-pyeong as if they wanted to devour him.

“Puaj…”

“If only one movement could go back, it seems that it could do it…” But in that atmosphere, if he complained of going back one more movement, it would not be his game of Go but his life that would be taken away.

Cho Man-pyeong took a stone and placed it on the board.

“I lost.”

Unlike Cho Man-pyeong, who was full of dejection, Wei Yan-ho sighed with a face full of annoyance and shook his hand with disdain.

“Next person.”

“Then I’m coming!”

“I came first!”

What are you talking about? I’ve been waiting here since yesterday!

I’ve been waiting here since morning!

– Then why didn’t you come yesterday too?

What, are you saying we should figure it out now?

“Look at this person’s attitude!”

In the end, a fight broke out.

Wei Yan-ho watched the scene and sighed deeply.

‘How did I end up like this…’

It was all a mistake of Wei Yan-ho for failing to accurately understand the meaning of what Moon Yu-hwan had said at the beginning.

“Instead, I would like you to talk to me or the guests visiting this mansion from time to time.”

He thought they were literally just asking him to play Go with people who came to visit, but who could have imagined that Moon Yu-hwan would invite people directly?

While Wei Yan-ho was lying around, Moon Yu-hwan quietly sent cards to Go players on all the central plains.

It was a simple letter that said that a strong player with a unique Go style would stay at his home, so if they had time, they should come see him for themselves.

Seeing this alone, one might think it was just a simple courtesy, but the problem was that these Go players were people who liked to play Go more than eat, and they were people who would not hesitate to travel a thousand li for a tense game of Go. [TL/N: Li is a traditional unit of distance, approximately equal to 500 meters or a third of a mile].

More than half of those who received Moon Yu-hwan’s letter went to the Hanrim Grand Mansion, and even those who did not take it seriously and did not go to the mansion finally had to pack their bags because of the spread of rumors.

— A Saint of the Go has appeared in the Great Hanrim Mansion!

The Hanrim Grand Mansion was already famous for being the place where a National Master resided, but now there was a strong player recognized by Moon Yu-hwan there; people who would jump even from the dream before the mention of Go could not bear it.

Eventually, the Great Hanrim Mansion began to be filled with unexpected guests.

From the perspective of Moon Eun-ji and Moon Yu-hwan, it was a very welcome result. Guests who came during their economic hardships were of great help to the Hanrim Grand Mansion.

Moon Yu-hwan said he could not accept money from the guests, but even people staying in other people’s homes playing Go and receiving meals had some sense of ownership.

Although there was no direct exchange of money, several items were delivered under the name of gifts.

Unlike chess, Go was still virtually exclusive to the upper class.

There is no poor man among those who play Go well.

Of course, to play Go well, you have to spend a lot of time on it. Those who make a living cannot spend much time on it, which can take up to two days for a single game at most.

Even Cho Man-pyeong, who had just played Go with Wei Yan-ho, was a descendant of a family that had served as ministers for generations.

The gifts these people brought could not be cheap items.

Expensive items began to accumulate as game rates disguised under the property name, and Moon Eun-ji, seeing the gifts that began to fill the warehouse, let escape screams of happiness.

But on the contrary, Wei Yan-ho was going through an absolutely miserable moment.

He thought he’d just play a game or two of Go’s games with business guests, but who could have imagined there would be so many people in the world who would travel a thousand li just to play Go?

Thanks to this, Wei Yan-ho had to play Go from waking up in the morning until the sun went down.

At first, without knowing anything, he was completely absorbed in the Go, except in the moments of food.

Finally, the method Wei Yan-ho devised was to limit the number of games per day to five.

Of course, the faster he finished Go games, the more rest time he would have, and thanks to this, Wei Yan-ho was able to play Go with fire in his eyes for the first time in a long time, like when he used to play Go with Baek Mu-han in the cave.

Here!

Go’s stone fell on the board like lightning.

“Mmm…”

Ma Jeok, the leader of the Swift Horse Trading Company who held the black stones, grabbed the stone tightly in his hand.

The time had not yet come for the struggle to break out, but the Wei Yan-ho stone crossed the territory of Ma Jeok without hesitation. If it withdrew, its territory would be divided and inevitably lost.

Normally, Ma Jeok would have quietly devastated the black stone that jumped without fear of its territory.

He would have given him life or death options as long as he seemed to capture him, expanded his territory and then ended the game by cutting his head off.

But now I couldn’t do it.

First, I could not understand the intention behind jumping to what was clearly a dead position.

Moreover, the person holding the white stones was none other than the Holy One of Go of Hanrim, who was defeating renowned Go players throughout the kingdom one after another.

A person like that wouldn’t have thrown himself without thinking twice.

But he couldn’t find that hidden movement at all.

And finally…

Ma Jeok raised her head slightly to look at the face of the Holy Go.

‘Spink…’

A young man with annoyance written all over his face stared at the board with an impetus that seemed to devour someone.

No, what I was looking at wasn’t the board.

His eyes were fixed precisely on the right hand of Ma Jeok holding the stone.

‘What did I do wrong?’

Ma Jeok shuddered involuntarily.

Once intimidated, a cold sweat strangely kept flowing and felt as if I had to place a stone quickly.

“A-ehem!”

Ma Jeok had no choice but to step back one step.

In a situation where he could not properly understand his opponent’s intention, fighting carelessly could result in a great disaster.

Even though this territory was divided, we were not yet on the level of discussing a defeat, so withdrawing seemed the right thing for now.

“This…”

Grrr.

Suddenly, the sound of gnashing teeth pierced his ears.

Ma Jeok looked at the face of the Go Saint by clenching her teeth as she looked at the board and became convinced.

“Surely if I had fought there, I would have lost! There must have been some movement I didn’t see! Yes! I retired well! I certainly retired well!”

But Wei Yan-ho was thinking something completely different.

‘Why!’

Wei Yan-ho stared at Ma Jeok.

Why? Why? Why do you retire from there? Why?

Wei Yan-ho felt he wanted to grab and throw Ma Jeok in front of him immediately.

He had made a move against which even someone who had learned Go for three days could win.

But these people, called the strongest under the sky, were engaged in lengthy deliberations one after the other, and then their movements were to pull their tails and retreat.

From Wei Yan-ho’s perspective, winning or losing was of no use.

So, even if I lost, it was better for Go’s game to end quickly.

That’s why he deliberately threw stones to lose, but all these gentlemen would burst into cold sweats and be eager to retreat.

As much as I was looking for a fight, it was useless if they didn’t fight.

However, if he lost flatly, rumors would clearly spread that he had played Go sloppyly.

This was not just a Wei Yan-ho problem.

It was a matter of Moon Yu-hwan’s reputation, who had invited them.

In a position where he was loitering without a single coin, he could do nothing that could damage the reputation of his host.

Wei Yan-ho was a lazy man but he knew the decorum.

In the worst case scenario, if Moon Yu-hwan’s mood worsened, Wei Yan-ho could be expelled from that good place where he could get free food and accommodation.

That absolutely couldn’t happen.

Wei Yan-ho’s stone drilled back in.

‘ Bite!’

Wei Yan-ho looked at Ma Jeok with flaming eyes.

Bite, I tell you, bite, I’ll lose in ten moves, so fight!

But this time too, Ma Jeok burst into cold sweat, stuck her tail in and retired.

“Puaj…”

A white vapor rose from Wei Yan-ho’s head.

Wei Yan-ho placed a stone on the board with trembling hands.

That’s how it was every time.

Wei Yan-ho continued to launch unreasonable moves to lose, and his opponent was intimidated and did not accept them as such. So, those unreasonable movements became good, and contrary to his intentions, Wei Yan-ho continued to win.

The reputation Wei Yan-ho had built without knowing it.

The pressure felt by those who faced Wei Yan-ho directly.

And it was the result of the impulse that Wei Yan-ho unknowingly exuded by pressuring his opponents.

If he lost moderately and rumors ran that he lacked skill, the people gathered there would also return home, but contrary to his intentions, he continued to win, so the number of people continued to increase.

‘I have to lose!’

In the end, Wei Yan-ho managed to lose by barely one point by deliberately making consecutive mistakes.

“You played well.”

Ma Jeok smiled and bowed.

I know it wasn’t your real skill. If you had played well, I should have gotten rid of my problems a long time ago. With such an open mind, it seems like it was a game with a lot to learn.

“No, that’s not…”

“I will not forget the consideration of the Holy One of Go! However, next time, please treat me well. This Ma Jeok is not so intolerant!”

“…yes.”

It was crazy.

In the end, Wei Yan-ho had to play five games of Go with tears in his eyes, and only after four complete shijin had passed could he escape the game room.

“Puaj…”

Wei Yan-ho massaged his legs and sighed.

“It would be a hundred times easier to wash clothes or cut firewood! What disaster is this?”

Wei Yan-ho felt like crying.

But today the sky was irritably clear.

“Then why did the teacher tell me to go to the academic world?”

When you think about it, it was all Baek Mu-han’s fault.

And it was because of Baek Mu-han’s inner core embedded in his belly.

“Bad old man.”

Wei Yan-ho grumbled as he walked into his chambers.

Still, today he had finished all his work, so now he could get some rest.

At that moment, a loud cry came into the ears of Wei Yan-ho.

“I said no!”