I Have Too Many Money-Making Talents - Chapter 140

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Too Many Lucrative Talents — Chapter 140
‘What will I do?’
Capture the queen, or avoid it.
Now the choice was his alone.
Black’s inherent disadvantage meant nothing. White’s advantage meant nothing either.
What mattered was continuing to pose questions, forcing decisions.
Invisible momentum and control—chess played by seizing the initiative and leading.
Intuition and instinct woven together with calculation, creating flow.
That was the chess I wanted to play.

* * *
ChessTalk.
An official channel operated by the Domestic Chess Association.
Subscriber count: 110,000.
It chased mass appeal with global tournament news, basic theory lectures, and short-form videos.
The channel’s main producer and public face was Do Hyeon-sin.
He browsed foreign chess news daily, and that day, an unfamiliar name caught his eye.
‘…Kim In-ha?’
An article about an East Asian player winning the Czech Open.
He’d heard In-ha was participating in the Netflix production Checkmate, but he never expected him to actually compete in a real tournament and win it.
He immediately searched for Kim In-ha’s account on the International Chess Federation website and confirmed his entry in the London Open as well.
Then he saw a name in the pairings that made him doubt his own eyes.
‘Wait—he’s playing Hyeon-sang!?’
Korea’s chess flagship, International Master Ryu Hyeon-sang.
And Kim In-ha, the 9-dan professional Baduk player who’d revealed prodigious genius and reached the world’s summit in just six months.
The two of them were facing off in Round 7 of the London Open.
Better still, the game was already confirmed as one of the top boards with live broadcast coverage.
So he hastily went live.
He’d thought 500 viewers would be a success.
“Wh—what?”
Do Hyeon-sin felt his mind go blank.
The screen scrolled uncontrollably through the relentless barrage of chat, leaving him dizzy.
-Rooks move straight, bishops diagonal, queens both ways, right?
-Which is harder, Baduk or Chess?
-Came to see In-ha.
-Chess is kind of simple, can’t beat Baduk.
-Nah, Chess is way more fun.
-Is that the chess player who didn’t read the room? Hyeon-sang’s opponent?
-Yeah, that arrogant guy.
-Underestimated Master In-ha, didn’t he.
-Haven’t you watched the show? A pro Baduk player who sets his mind to it will crush Poker, Chess, and Janggi alike.
-The host just checked out lol
Instantaneously, live viewership hit 7,563.
His fingertips tingled, and the number was dizzying enough to make his head spin.
Only then did he grasp the weight and fame of the name Kim In-ha.
Over half the viewers were Baduk users.
The rest were the general public who didn’t know much about Chess but had flocked to watch In-ha’s game.
Either way, it was a scale Do Hyeon-sin had never experienced before.
‘Get a grip.’
He gave up on engaging with the chat.
He couldn’t read it, and he didn’t have time to try.
All he could do was provide commentary.
To make up for his limited Chess skill, he fired up the artificial intelligence DeepZero and brought up its evaluation window.
“So White’s chosen the King’s Gambit here. A very aggressive opening.”
A faint tremor ran through his voice over the microphone.
Even following the AI’s evaluation while commentating felt overwhelming.
“And Black responds with the Forchuk Defense? It’s a major defense, technically sound, but the theory is vast and it’s anything but simple—is it really the right call against Ryu Hyeon-sang? It’s quite a double-edged sword.”
A mundane concern any Chess player might voice.
But the moment his words ended, the chat exploded.
-Who are you worried for? Lol
—This person doesn’t seem to grasp the situation.
—Ah, this is why our Yuna should have done the commentary.
—Once you watch, you’ll understand who Kim is.
—He doesn’t lose until he’s lost.
Do Hyeon-sin stared blankly at the monitor.
‘No, what kind of fanatic is this guy?’
He wasn’t ignorant of the legend that Kim In-ha had built in Baduk.
But Chess and Baduk were different games.
No matter how exceptional Kim In-ha was, beating an International Master like Ryu Hyeon-sang in such a short time was practically impossible.
‘I know, I know…….’
Yet somehow, he couldn’t shake a creeping unease.
Even knowing it shouldn’t happen, the thought kept swelling like a balloon—’what if.’
Then.
Snap.
The black queen drove deep into white’s territory.
“Wait, wait—you’re sacrificing your queen here?”
Do Hyeon-sin doubted his eyes.
It was bold—more than bold, it was revolutionary.
He couldn’t begin to fathom such a move.
Frantically, he pulled up the AI analysis board on the monitor.
But then.
?!
In that instant, Do Hyeon-sin’s breath caught.
The symbol that appeared on the chessboard.
The fact that the AI hadn’t marked this absurd move as the worst possible choice—that was what stopped him cold.
The chat exploded at his reaction.
—What does that symbol mean?
—Is it something like Bluespot?
—Man, this is killing me. Someone explain already!
Do Hyeon-sin gathered himself and explained.
“An interesting move, the evaluation says. Not necessarily the best move, but provocative and creative…… the kind that can reshape the position at any moment.”
—What? So it’s Destabilization, basically.
—Oh, it is Destabilization lmao
—Haha! In Chess, Destabilization from In-ha continues.
—Look at the commentator’s face, he has no idea what’s happening.
—lmao
—Once you watch, you understand.
Do Hyeon-sin fell silent for a moment.
The viewers had accepted without hesitation what even the AI couldn’t decisively judge—treating it as Kim In-ha’s intentional Destabilization.
‘No, it carries a more negative connotation than…….’
He couldn’t bring himself to say it aloud.
The moment those words left his mouth, he knew exactly what thousands of viewers would say in response.
Snap.
After nearly twenty minutes of deliberation, white finally withdrew without capturing the queen.
“Ah, white has retreated! I think they judged that taking the queen would collapse their position.”
And then.
Black’s bishop, without a moment’s hesitation, sliced along the diagonal and claimed its square.
A brief piece exchange followed.
And then, black’s queen advanced once more.
To any observer, a reckless march into danger.
“The queen charges forward again!”
Ryu Hyeon-sang paused, thinking.
But this time, he didn’t deliberate long.
Snap.
Finally, he moved his rook and captured the queen.
“He finally took it!”
Do Hyeon-sin’s voice rose.
But immediately after.
Bxf5.
Black’s bishop moved like lightning, drawing a new line of attack.
A chess notation floated above the reference board.
-!!
Two exclamation marks.
Do Hyeon-sin’s voice burst out.
“This, this is a Brilliant Move!”
A very strong move on the chessboard, a Brilliant Move.
One exclamation mark means an objectively good move.
Two exclamation marks mean a very strong move—a Brilliant Move.
In Baduk terms, it would be equivalent to a Bluespot.
Sacrifice and counterattack, precise calculation meshing into one perfect move.
“The, the knight advance…… two, two consecutive Brilliant Moves.”
Do Hyeon-sin felt goosebumps rising on his forearms.
But that was only the beginning.
A Brilliant Move.
Then another Brilliant Move.
Four consecutive Brilliant Moves at this point.
Despite surrendering the queen, the position was flowing toward a Winning Sequence.
He explained while showing the reference board.
“Because of Black’s knight, the king has no choice but to flee. But…….”
In that moment, a development no one could have imagined unfolded.
An artistic Checkmate Combination completed through consecutive sacrifices.
“It, it wasn’t just a queen sacrifice. Kim In-ha was…… seeing all the way to this point!”
An exclamation tinged with shock escaped.
Existing chess fans subscribed to ChessTalk also couldn’t hide their surprise.
But the reaction from most of the newly influxed Baduk fans—or rather, Kim In-ha fans—was entirely different.
-Look at this guy’s blank expression lol
-I couldn’t even imagine Ryu Hyeon-sang losing…….
-What? That’s natural, isn’t it?
-Doubting In-ha lol
-Kim is a world-class master. Mastery transcends disciplines.
‘Why are they accepting this so easily!’
Do Hyeon-sin protested inwardly as if shouting.
He could only think they spoke so carelessly because they didn’t understand chess.
Anyone with even a passing knowledge of chess could never react that way.
A sequence so precise and artistic as that.
‘How is this even possible?’
The masterpiece games of world-class Grandmasters he’d only ever seen in video.
Game records he could never understand without AI assistance.
Those moments were becoming reality now, under Kim In-ha’s fingertips.
In the end, White was driven to the edge of the cliff.
The moment further resistance became meaningless.
“C, Checkmate Combination.”
It was over.
Queen, rook, knight—all were already neutralized, and the position had completely tilted.
An impossible development from the start.
And yet now, that impossibility was becoming reality before his eyes.
Do Hyeon-sin’s throat went dry.
Without thinking, the true feeling he’d been holding back slipped from his lips.
“Why didn’t this person play chess from the beginning, and played Baduk instead?”

* * *
Raising one’s chess Rating to a certain level domestically is virtually impossible.
There simply aren’t enough chess players to begin with, and there aren’t many official classical tournaments.
Moreover, there aren’t even participants in the 1800 rating range, let alone the 2000s.
In the end, there’s only one way.
To board a plane and travel to Europe or the United States to participate in local open tournaments.
But from that moment on, enormous expenses follow.
For an ordinary person, it’s practically unthinkable.
It was nearly a miracle that Ryu Hyeon-sang managed to earn his International Master title under such circumstances.
He was selected as a national representative, building his record on the stages of the Chess Olympiad and the East Asian Games, and in the process even acquired his Norm.
‘If only I’d had the money…….’
He was certain of it.
Given the right circumstances, he could recover a rating of 2400 right now, claim his Grandmaster title—he had no doubt.
And then came the invitation to the London Open.
An opportunity.
A chance to defeat the International Masters and local grandmasters, push past a 2500 rating, and earn his Grandmaster norm.
Kim In-ha?
He hadn’t even factored him in.
And yet.
Now he was crumbling helplessly against Kim In-ha—the man he hadn’t bothered to worry about at all.
‘This much of a deficit?’
He couldn’t tear his eyes from the board.
Cold sweat trickled down his spine.
He was trying hard not to show it, but half his mind had already left him.
The sequence that followed the queen sacrifice.
A snare.
No matter what move he made, no matter how he resisted, there was no escaping the trap he’d been driven into.
‘……I should have pulled the bishop back, or delayed the Castling by a move…… No, wait. Maybe I should have just pushed the pawn to the last rank and gone for promotion.’
A hundred variations flashed through his mind, but he couldn’t find an answer.
The thought that everything was blocked wouldn’t leave his head.
He lifted his eyes quietly to look across the board.
Kim In-ha.
A genius who had made his mark as a professional Baduk player near thirty years old.
‘I’ll grant him the talent.’
That was possible.
Monsters existed everywhere.
Even current world chess champion Lars Ellingsen had remained at the top for fifteen years.
It wasn’t strange for a talented player, a good player, to keep playing well.
But.
‘Chess…… improving this quickly? That’s…… possible?’
It was hard to believe.
Or rather, he didn’t want to believe it.
Chess was half his life.
Though he’d balanced a day job alongside it, he’d been selected for the national team and was committed enough to write and publish a book on chess himself.
And now he was collapsing.
Absurdly. Devastatingly.
Playing white, no less—so thoroughly dismantled that any excuse felt pathetic.
‘……So this was what it felt like.’
A sudden, unbidden realization.
Now he understood.
An overwhelming talent that crumbled walls built through effort and resolve as if they were nothing.
The weight of despair that professional Baduk players must have felt when they faced Kim In-ha.
‘……He was just a different order of being.’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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