I Have Too Many Money-Making Talents - Chapter 28

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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 Talents Worth Money · Episode 28
‘A rematch.’
The corner of my mouth lifted slightly.
Back then, I’d just acquired the talent.
A time when I had neither confidence nor belief in my own strength.
But now was different.
It was a good opportunity to see how much I’d changed since then.
‘I should use the restroom.’
I slipped out of the Preliminary Round Tournament Hall, stopped by the men’s restroom, and came back out.
At the far end of the corridor,
two amateur participants who’d been eliminated in the preliminary round were talking.
“Hey, wasn’t that Yuzuha, the Professional, just now?”
“Yeah. Wow, she was really pretty. Like a walking doll.”
I paused for a moment at those words.
Yuzuha?
Was that the name of the woman I’d seen earlier?
“But why did she come here?”
“How should I know?”
“She looked like she was watching someone’s game……”
“Never mind. Since we’ve been knocked out anyway, let’s be satisfied with seeing Yuzuha in person and head home.”
The two who’d been chatting put on their coats and descended the staircase.
Japanese.
And a Professional Go Player at that.
Now I finally understood why she could move freely in and out of the Preliminary Round Tournament Hall.
To replenish my energy,
I poured myself a cup of the complimentary Instant Coffee.
‘The manager comes to mind.’
After each game, she’d always make sure to bring me a tonic or a drink.
With her gone, I found myself thinking of her more than usual.
Back in the Preliminary Round Tournament Hall.
The place was emptier than before.
Half the participants—thirty-six people—had packed up and left.
When I returned to my table, Kim Tae-hyun was already sitting there.
With his arms crossed, he glanced at me once, then fixed his gaze back on the Go Board.
“Hi.”
I greeted him while taking a sip of coffee.
A nod.
Kim Tae-hyun answered with a slight bow, then turned his attention back to the board.
His lips pressed tight.
There was something wary in his expression.
‘……He’s on guard.’
I took another sip of coffee and slowly settled into my seat.
After collecting myself and waiting a moment,
Im Dong-won took the podium and began the preliminary match.
“Please take your seats. We will now begin Game Two of the CielBank Cup World Masters Amateur Selection Round.”
Click.
We both opened our Go Stone containers and drew our stones.
Black.
Now that I thought about it—
‘I had black back then too.’
When I first created my account at Amateur 2-dan.
My opponent, PePe, was Amateur 3-dan.
It was an Even Game due to the rank difference.
But now, time having passed, it was a Handicap Game.
Aside from the komi, it was an identical setup to back then.
Tap.
I slowly placed my first stone.
The 3-3 Point on the right.
Kim Tae-hyun answered with a stone at the 3-3 Point across from me.
‘This flow is the same too.’
That day’s memory.
My fingers found it naturally.
A weighty move, even in the opening.
No concession to the obvious large territories—only subtle control.
A solidity that did not waver.
“……!”
A slight pause.
Kim Tae-hyun lifted his head and looked at me.
His eyes held the faint trace of that day’s game coming back to him.
No certainty, but a familiar sensation that seemed to make him hesitate.
‘He remembers.’
I kept my gaze fixed on the board.
Until now, the same opening formation as that day.
But.
From this point forward, it was a completely different story.
Tap!
In that first game.
At this juncture, I’d split the position and forced a fight.
This time, however, I chose otherwise.
I took the approach of solidifying the 3-4 Point in a straight line.
Actual territory over influence.
That day, I had deliberately chosen combat.
My very nature thrived on it.
And I had a burning desire to test my own strength.
But now.
I was playing a different kind of Go—preserving the flow, controlling it, tightening it slowly.
Kim Tae-hyun’s eyes flickered slightly.
It seemed he’d expected an aggressive shift.
It had been the same against PePe.
A combative playing style.
But my moves now showed no haste.
Each stone drawing the flow toward me, move by move, unhurried.
Soft, yet unyielding.
Finally, unable to bear it, Kim Tae-hyun bit his lip and attempted a change.
Just as I had done in our first game.
This time White made the split first.
‘Too late.’
That fight was already a prepared board.
I wrapped White naturally.
Neither too tight nor too loose a pace.
Drawing the flow inch by inch, decisively, toward myself.
As we entered the middle game.
Kim Tae-hyun’s fingers slowed.
Deep consideration.
His hand grew heavy as he placed each stone.
The moves came one after another, as if he were searching for something that refused to emerge.
That day.
My first game against PePe.
Under the condition that it was a handicap game, not an even game.
When I calculated the score including the handicap stones.
‘Only a three-and-a-half stone victory.’
But now.
According to position assessment.
‘I’m ahead by six and a half stones, handicap included.’
A gap far wider than that day.
Three stones is not merely a number.
‘Thrilling.’
More than the fact of winning.
Confirming how far my Go had grown hit me harder than anything.
“…….”
Kim Tae-hyun’s breathing had grown ragged enough to feel it even across the board.
His hand trembled as he set down a stone.
The final move.
I placed my stone.
Click.
Kim Tae-hyun’s shoulders flinched slightly.
Still bowed over the board, he bit his lip.
“I’ve lost.”
I lowered my head in acknowledgment.
“You played well.”
“Sir, I was wondering…”
Kim Tae-hyun hesitated, opening his mouth.
His head still bowed, he glanced at me sideways.
There was something he wanted to ask.
But uncertainty flickered in his eyes.
And then.
“Oh, never mind.”
He mumbled to himself and shook his head.
He shouldered his bag and fled the tournament hall like a man escaping.
‘Was I too harsh?’
No.
If you’re caught stumbling in a game like that, it means you weren’t ready. That’s skill too.
The world of competition is always unforgiving—that’s the law of it.
Then.
‘Hmm?’
A slender woman with a high ponytail followed Kim Tae-hyun out.
Yuzuha.
I was certain.
I’d noticed late, consumed by the game.
But until just now.
‘She’d been standing behind me.’
Which meant.
Not someone else.
She’d been watching my Go.
But why?
A Professional Go Player.
Why would she be watching my game?
‘I’ll ask her if I get the chance later.’
I rose from my seat and reported the result to the referee.
At the top of the tournament bracket mounted on the wall.
My name went up.
‘One more game.’
Just one more game until I advance to the Unified Preliminary Round.
‘Soon I’ll be competing against top-tier players.’
The Unified Preliminary Round is no longer an amateur stage.
It’s where every Professional Go Player in the world who didn’t receive a main-draw seed participates.
And in a place like that.
Not only will I see my name on the bracket.
I’ll have the chance to prove something.
‘Whether I have what it takes to become a professional.’
I felt heat bloom in my chest as I stepped into the corridor and caught my breath.
One deep breath.
I stretched, rolling my shoulders.
“Good.”
After relaxing properly.
I turned back toward the tournament hall.
My opponent was already seated.
Posture rigidly straight.
Eyes sharp and composed.
Shaggy hair and a youthful face, somewhere around high school age.
‘Park Sang-mo.’
Everything about him screamed Research Student.
“Please take good care of me.”
I bowed lightly.
“Likewise.”
He nodded curtly in return.
Whoosh.
The stones were covered.
‘Black.’
The AI evaluates White as superior to Black, precisely because the compensation carries that much weight.
But that wasn’t my assessment.
‘Not for me.’
I preferred Black.
Initiative-based.
Move Reading. Pressure.
Disruption.
It suits my Go—my playing style.
The 3-4 Point, the 3-3 Point.
The early game held nothing remarkable.
‘Textbook Research Student style.’
An Opening Formation rooted in AI.
There was a time when I’d start at a disadvantage against Joseki variations.
Not anymore.
I’d studied AI openings through DeepStone myself.
The early Formation unfolded evenly enough.
But in the middlegame, the tempo tilted decisively in my favor.
White had built Influence, seeking dominance in the center fight.
Yet in the gaps between that Influence—
I systematically erased them.
As White began to fall behind in territory,
he pushed desperately to capture my Large Group.
‘As if.’
A fissure opened.
I seized his White stones and harassed them relentlessly.
He couldn’t capture my group—he could barely manage his own.
Grip. Bite. Grind.
Park Sang-mo’s lips pressed hard together.
He fell into Deep Consideration, but too late.
The Position was beyond recovery.
Then.
‘…Again.’
I felt a gaze.
Not from across the board—from behind me.
‘Focus.’
I was in a game now.
Accepting even such a gaze without wavering—that, too, was strength.
I picked up another stone.
Blocking the Escape Route, the suffocating White stones wandered without sanctuary.
The final move.
Click.
The White Large Group was engulfed by Black.
His head bowed deeply.
“…I’ve lost.”
I bowed in acknowledgment.
“Well played.”
Breaking through the Amateur Preliminary Round,
securing advancement to the CielBank Cup World Masters Unified Preliminary Round.
-Ding!
A system notification chimed.
[Talent: Go (A)]
[Career]
-7th Joong-buk Regional Association Cup Go Tournament Champion (1 title)
-17th National Amateur Go Championship ‘Gyeonggi Province Strongest Division’ Champion (1 title)
-Obtained official rank certificate ‘Amateur 5-dan’.
-9th Chunhyang Cup ‘Chunhyang Division’ Champion (1 title)
-11th Presidential Cup National Go Tournament ‘Strongest Division’ Champion (1 title)
-Obtained official rank certificate ‘Amateur 7-dan’.
-30th CielBank Cup World Masters Unified Preliminary Round qualified
‘Unexpected.’
Not even championships or official rank certificates.
Breaking through the amateur preliminaries.
Just qualifying for the Unified Preliminary Round was enough to add an achievement.
That much.
‘So professional Go gets rated higher?’
While I was lost in thought for a moment.
Park Sang-mo pointed at the Go board with a self-deprecating tone.
“This move was a blunder.”
I looked down at the Go board.
“I should have escaped more carefully here, but I got greedy and it fell apart.”
Park Sang-mo continued his replay earnestly.
Picking up stones one by one, he traced the flow of the game.
I nodded as I watched, but.
Truth was, none of it was really registering.
…….
My gaze drifted sideways of its own accord.
The entrance outside the tournament hall.
That presence that had been behind me just moments ago.
There.
Yuzuha was quietly slipping out.
My body reacted before my mind caught up.
“Hey, sorry, but… give me just a moment.”
Park Sang-mo looked a little taken aback, but nodded soon enough.
I pushed my chair back quietly and stood up.
Several games were still in progress, so I slipped out of the tournament hall carefully, trying not to make a sound.
‘I need to ask.’
I stepped into the hallway and looked around.
No one was there.
Faint footsteps below the staircase.
As I moved toward them, I caught sight of Yuzuha turning the landing a half-floor down.
“Excuse me!”
She startled at my call and went very still.
She turned around slowly, a bit flustered.
I headed down the stairs.
As I drew closer.
Confusion flickered across Yuzuha’s wide, deer-like eyes.
“S-sumimasen. No, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Japanese spilled out, and she quickly bowed her head.
Several times, like a folding paper fan.
“I was trying not to bother you at all… I’m really sorry. Sumimasen. Sumimasen.”
Faced with her rapid-fire apologies, I was the one who felt caught off guard.
Up close, she looked even younger and more delicate.
I felt like I’d become the one doing the tormenting.
“Hey, just calm down for a second. You’re Professional Yuzuha, right?”
She nodded quietly.
I took a breath. Then, unable to contain my curiosity, I asked.
“I was just wondering why you watched all my games. That’s all….”
Three in a row, no less.
And a professional watching amateur matches, at that.
Yuzuha looked flustered, clasped her hands lightly together, and took a breath.
“Th-that’s… I’m not a strange person, really. You shouldn’t misunderstand me….”
She hesitated for a moment.
Her small lips trembled as she continued.
“I wanted to see you.”
“Pardon?”
“And… I fell for you.”
I stared at her blankly.
Something about what she said felt off.
The subject seemed to be missing.
But her words stirred up unnecessary imagination.
Yuzuha caught the look in my eyes and glanced at me.
She added more earnestly.
“It’s your Go, Inha—I mean, it’s your Go!”
For a moment, I couldn’t find words.
Not just the way she’d addressed me.
But also that she’d fallen for an Amateur’s Go.
None of it made sense.
Yuzuha turned crimson after letting those words out.
But.
Her eyes held no wavering when they met mine.
As if to say she meant every word.
‘How… how am I supposed to take this?’
Amid my bewilderment.
Yuzuha, who’d been hesitating with quivering lips, screwed up her courage and forced the words out.
“So… could you tell me your ID so I can send you a direct message?”
“…!”
My mind went blank.
Am I right now.
being hit on?

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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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