The work of the Go master

I thought someone like Ke Zhiguang, who still considers himself a high school student, would get up early and arrive early to report for duty, but I didn't expect him to be here so late.

Is education for young people this lenient these days?

“No, in my opinion, today is the first day of summer vacation. Even if cram schools open for business, they should at least wait a few days… yawn,” Koji Hikaru’s reasoning was quite convincing, leaving Sasahara Noriyuki speechless for a moment.

The rules at the Go academy are quite lenient for professional Go players. As long as they stay there for a full 8 hours and play one game a day, it counts as attendance. They get their weekends off as usual, and if they maintain perfect attendance for a month, they can receive a guaranteed minimum wage. For first or second dan players who do not yet have other income, this is the most valuable thing.

Yamaoka said to Koji Mitsuaki, "You seemed to have gone to bed early last night. Are you that tired today?"

In Yamaoka's memory, he rarely saw Koji Hikaru get sleepy. Although he often yawned, it was mostly bored yawns.

It is said that in previous years, those who moved into 336 gradually became tired, their eyes became darker, their cheeks became thinner, and their hair became sparser. But Ke Zhiguang was the complete opposite. When I first met him, he had some dark circles under his eyes, but after a period of high-intensity sprint before the final stage, his appearance improved, and his hair became shiny and showed no signs of falling out.

Thinking about this, Yamaoka subconsciously touched his hair, pondering that he needed to start thinking about hair care recently. He was no longer a student, but a working professional, and he needed to pay attention to his appearance.

“I did go to bed a bit late yesterday. Yes, Minister, is really good, and Humphrey is so handsome,” Ke Zhiguang said.

He got so engrossed in this amazing show yesterday that he watched the entire first season. Only after he finished did he realize that it was already daylight outside.

As a result, he only slept for two hours. No matter how quickly the cozy little house recovered, it couldn't fully restore his current mental state in a short time.

What show is that?

"A political comedy that also teaches people how to handle public relations crises. Basically, it's a four-step process. First step... I forgot, I need to go back and look it up."

"Well, as expected of you, even studying political public relations crises, brilliant, brilliant." Yamaoka clapped twice with a "sparashi" sound.

Last night, Ke Zhiguang went through all the items he had casually taken from the audio-visual store and found nothing unusual. There were no suddenly flickering or unsettling images, nor any unexpected noises.

In fact, Ke Zhiguang had anticipated that when these videotapes were halfway through, the scene would suddenly change, showing a well in front of it, and then a woman in a white coat would climb out of the well and onto the television.

But none of that happened; the picture ran perfectly at 480P resolution, and the sound was also smooth.

To further verify this, he even disassembled a Godzilla to see if there were any unusual things inside, but there were none.

Including that "Demon King," it's quite normal. After I took it out of that music store, the dark aura on it started to dissipate. By the time I brought it home, the dark aura had completely disappeared, and it had become full of sunshine.

It seems that this approach won't be effective for the time being.

Right now, finding the treasure map is more important.

"Senior Seven Dan, may I practice with you today?" Koji asked Narita Shunji.

“Sure, but you look so tired right now, why don’t you go buy a cup of coffee to calm down? It’s on me,” said Narita Shunji, and Kazumitsu agreed.

After passing through the corridor, we arrived at a place resembling an upscale restaurant. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows were green lawns and open-air terraces, where many foreign tourists were chatting and laughing under the parasols.

Although Ke Zhiguang had visited the Go Academy a few times before, it was always a brief visit, such as when he investigated Sugimoto Teikyu's game records and materials. He had never noticed that the place was so colorful and resembled a large shopping mall.

"This is the restaurant, and over there is a gym. On the next floor, we also have small rooms for resting and staying overnight. If you're so engrossed in your work that you forget to eat and sleep, you can consider spending the night here," Narita Shunji explained like a tour guide.

"I think if I had that kind of time, I'd rather go back to Peach Blossom Studio and lie down, since it's close by anyway."

“That’s true, but not everyone is as lucky as you to live so close to the Go Institute. Many migrant workers come to Tokyo to work, their workplaces are in the central area, but due to financial constraints, they can only live in the more peripheral areas. Every day they have to get up very early to squeeze onto the hellish morning rush hour trains to get to work, and then squeeze back home after get off work... To be honest, I also lived like that for a while, but thankfully things are different now. At least I have a car.” Narita Shunji said in the tone of a successful senior, with a hint of reminiscing about the past and appreciating the present.

“I’ve squeezed through crowds too, from my home in Suginami Ward to school,” said Koji Mitsuaki.

"Okay, it seems I was being narcissistic and wanted to show off my suffering, but I didn't expect to run into the same person."

"Are you... really not just showing off your hard work?"

Narita paused for a moment, then said, "Okay, so you're just showing off your hard work. This is a kind of hard work, but I just want to tell you that our current life is hard-won and we should cherish it."

“I definitely will.” Ke Zhiguang suddenly started talking to the man about life.

"Actually, when it comes to life, each level has its own characteristics. For example, we once joked that if you want to find a level 9 person, you have to look on the beaches of Hawaii; level 8 people have to look in various high-end senior health and wellness centers; level 7 and level 6 people have to look in nightclubs; and level 4 and level 5 people have to look in barbecue restaurants."

"What about someone like me, who's at level three?"

“You can’t see the second or third dan anywhere except in the training room,” Narita Shunji said jokingly.

"It seems that even after reaching a certain rank, we're still stuck in the sea of ​​academic struggles," Ke Zhiguang said with a smirk.

Narita Shunji chuckled and said, "Just treat it as a shameless joke in the Go world. Using jokes to introduce others to unfamiliar territory and unspoken rules is the most effective method."

Arriving at the coffee shop, I successfully obtained a cup of coffee.

【Pure coffee】

[Restores 50% of stamina]

Remember to return it when you go to sleep.

The items at the chess academy are just different; everything you buy comes with special effects.

After downing his coffee in one gulp, Ke Zhiguang felt as if he had come back to life.

"Then shall we begin, senior?"

Chapter Seventy-Two: The Calculator

"They're really active. Are they challenging high-ranking players again? Yesterday it was sixth dan, today it's seventh dan."

“Young people these days are really on a roll. Remember Bamboo Knife Forging last year? He was just like Ke Zhiguang now, riding on everyone he met.”

"Now that you mention it, it really comes back to me. But there's something I'm curious about: he just recently reached the seventh dan, so why did he suddenly go silent? Did he suffer some kind of shock?"

"I don't know. He didn't have any matches during that period, so we first ruled out the possibility that he was upset after losing a game and chose to rest to change his mood."

"Let's just assume he's heartbroken." In the spacious gaming hall facing the elegant atrium, someone whispered a few words from afar.

Narita Shunji was already sitting opposite Kazuhiro.

I don't know who started betting money on it, and then incited a group of people to put their money on it.

This amount of money is a drop in the ocean for everyone here, far less than what they spend on a late-night snack.

The money was mainly used for having fun, which also shows that they were interested in the game.

After the coin toss, Ke Zhiguang got to play black.

A somber atmosphere permeated the chessboard, and even the leaves dared not ride the wind, as if touching this area would turn them to ashes.

Narita Shunji's symbolic spirit manifested—[The Fortune Teller]

Behind him, a humanoid symbolic spirit appeared, specifically a masked civil official dressed in the fine robes of a nobleman, holding an abacus in his hand, with the character "算" (calculate) written on the mask.

Human-shaped spirits often appear in professional capacities and always wear masks; this is not the first time Ke Zhiguang has seen this.

In addition, there are all sorts of medals and honors.

The most ridiculous one is a gold medal called "Host Club Cup Champion," which rewards players with "Endurance +20."

this.....

What aspect of endurance are you referring to?

Or, to put it another way, where do I register for this competition?

[It was only held once.]

Oh, so it's a discontinued competition.

The description of the "Calculator" is quite brief: "Accurately locating the eyes."

This doesn't sound like an explanation; it sounds more like a skill or specialty.

The "precise assessment" mentioned here doesn't refer to the accuracy of the assessment itself, but rather to the speed and precision of the assessment. For example, it means being able to accurately assess the situation, determine the current advantages and disadvantages, and then take appropriate countermeasures in just a few seconds of counting down.

I see. Once you reach this level, things that are similar to superpowers start to appear. I guess this will become the norm in the future.

The game progressed slowly, and Narita Shunji easily completed the Mini Chinese Opening with Koji Shiki, making inroads, sharp attacks, small jumps, and splits... At the very beginning of the opening, a close-quarters battle broke out at the right star point on the board.

The exchange continued until move 26, when White solidly established a strong position on the side, forming a very solid shape.

However, having made a mistake, Black's position on both the top and bottom sides has expanded significantly.

It felt like everything went very smoothly.

The strategy was designed from the very beginning in a way that Ke Zhiguang was most comfortable with, much like playing a MOBA game and getting the hero you're good at.

Continuing downwards, the patterns in the lower left and upper left corners are established, and then the lower left corner continues to be the battleground. The overall situation remains in a state of combat with a certain intensity, but not too intense.

The pressure is less than it was during yesterday's match against Sasahara Kikyo, much less.

While rank difference doesn't necessarily reflect skill, if both players climb the ranks through promotion matches without skipping ranks by winning championships, then that rank can be quite indicative of their skill level.

Ke Zhiguang glanced at the [Calculator] and indeed found traces of every step from the first dan to the seventh dan, indicating that he was the kind of person who diligently climbed up dan level by level.

Yesterday's Sasahara Kikyu was the same; these two, both holding the sixth or seventh dan, are very representative of their strength.

However, Ke Zhiguang didn't seem to care much that the intensity of the matches was lower than yesterday. Perhaps he wasn't in good form today, or perhaps he was playing very relaxed and wasn't putting in much effort into the practice matches.

But this does not affect Ke Zhiguang's intention to win this game.

In short, it's all about the treasure map!

Ke Zhiguang pulled out a chess piece and slammed a ko threat down below, his sword blade choking a piece worth nearly thirty points.

Eliminate the ko – kill the pieces!

The balance of power collapsed instantly!

"Narita got rid of this calamity too early."

"I lost a lot of money."

As the ko fight ended, Narita Shunji's eyes widened in confusion before he continued playing.

The game ended after 135 moves, with Black winning by resignation.

"Thank you for your guidance." Ke Zhiguang nodded.

"Hmm, not bad."

“Narita-senpai, you don’t seem to be giving it your all,” said Koji Mitsuaki.

Since Narita's special ability is "precise spotting," there shouldn't be any problem with converting profits or losses in robbery battles.

"If you put it that way, it's hard for me to refute you, since I really did play terribly in this game today... right, Sasahara?" Narita smiled, trying to save face.

Noriyuki Sasahara nodded: "So you noticed too."

“As you know, adjusting my form has always been my weakness… Just consider it as caring for the younger generation. For those of us whose upward potential is already locked, it’s okay to accidentally lose a few matches to the younger generation in training sessions,” Narita Shunji said casually. “The future still depends on young people like you who are burdened with great talent.”

Although Narita Shunji speaks very maturely, he is actually not even 30 years old and is still in his prime.