Free Web Novel“Will you not place your stone?”
“......”
“It is the ‘final match,’ is it not? Shouldn’t we play it out?”
Unhwi let out a small chuckle and picked up a white stone.
Then he placed it down.
On the center point—the place that would become the center of the world.
The place Seol Jungcheon had deliberately yielded to him.
Not only that, but everything Seol Jungcheon had said implied many things.
And Unhwi had no intention of accepting all of it as it was.
There was only one thing.
Something he wished to deny.
“This is not our final match.”
“Is that so.”
“Yes. I am not going off to die, and Father will remain alive at least until the day I die.”
Seol Jungcheon burst into hearty laughter.
“Would it not be unfilial for a child to die before his parent?”
“I agree. Then I shall live exactly one day longer than you, Father.”
Seol Jungcheon shook his head.
“Live longer than that. Build a family, have children, and watch how a child who resembles you walks through the world. It is more entertaining than you would think. Just as it is for me now.”
With those words, Seol Jungcheon placed a stone on a star point.
Tak.
The sound echoed softly.
Unhwi placed his own stone.
Tak.
The game of Go began.
Only the sound of stones being placed echoed through the silence.
Tak.
Tak.
Tak.
How much time had passed?
Seol Jungcheon finally spoke.
“Go resembles life.”
“It does.”
“A single stone can change the entire board.”
Tak.
He placed another stone.
“And at times, several stones must move together before they gain meaning.”
As Unhwi placed his own stone, he answered,
“All things are connected.”
Seol Jungcheon nodded.
“That is correct. One affects the whole, and the whole defines the one.”
“......”
“Perhaps because you are a player more talented than I, you already understand that.”
Unhwi smiled faintly.
“I suppose that also means it was no coincidence that I raised you to the pinnacle.”
“Hohoho......”
Unhwi looked quietly at the board for a moment.
Black and white.
They were tangled together.
It looked as though they were fighting.
Yet they were also in harmony.
“Father.”
“Speak.”
“There is no correct answer in Go.”
“There is not.”
“No matter what move one makes, it may become either the best move or the worst move.”
Tak.
He placed a stone.
“The result depends on the moves that follow.”
Seol Jungcheon smirked.
“You have become a philosopher.”
“No.”
“No, you have. A martial artist is, by nature, a philosopher.”
Tak.
Seol Jungcheon placed another stone.
“What is martiality? Is it strength? Technique?”
“......”
“No. Martiality is the Way. A path.”
Seol Jungcheon’s voice deepened.
“The one who walks that path is a martial artist, and the one who seeks to understand it is a philosopher.”
Unhwi looked at Seol Jungcheon.
Then the man spoke.
“My son. You are already upon that path.”
“You are as well, Father.”
“Indeed.”
Martial artist against martial artist.
Father and son.
There was no correct answer to how one defined oneself. One simply walked the road one believed to be right.
That was why Seol Jungcheon had not stopped Unhwi.
And because Unhwi understood his father’s heart, he accepted it.
Nowhere upon the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Mountain did the cold ever truly disappear.
The detached residence on the eastern outskirts where he had spent his childhood was no exception.
Yet here, at this moment, all coldness had vanished.
Their conversation as they placed the stones.
All of it was will, expression, and result.
Unhwi picked up a stone.
He hesitated briefly.
Where should he place it?
Several choices appeared before him.
All held meaning.
All possessed possibility.
But he had to choose one.
Tak.
He placed the stone.
“Choices are always difficult.”
Unhwi spoke quietly.
“There are many times when one cannot know what {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} is right and what is wrong.”
“And what do you do in such moments?”
“I trust.”
“In what?”
“Myself.”
Unhwi gazed at the Go board.
“The path I have walked. The choices I have made. The self created by all of them piled together.”
Seol Jungcheon nodded slowly.
“A good answer.”
Tak.
He placed a stone.
“But trusting oneself is separated from arrogance by nothing more than a sheet of paper.”
“I know.”
“Then how does one distinguish the two?”
Unhwi fell silent for a moment.
He thought.
Then he answered.
“I continue to doubt.”
“Doubt?”
“Yes. I constantly question and verify whether my choices are right and whether my path is correct.”
Tak.
He placed another stone.
“But doubting does not mean stopping. Even while doubting, I continue forward.”
Seol Jungcheon looked at Unhwi.
For a long time.
Then, eventually, he smiled.
“You truly have... grown so much that even I would struggle to guide you now.”
“......”
“When did you become this large?”
Emotion filled Seol Jungcheon’s voice.
“It feels as though only yesterday you were sitting on my knee.”
Tak.
He placed a stone.
“And now you speak to me from the same height... no, from a place even higher than mine.”
Unhwi lowered his head.
“I apologize.”
“Why are you apologizing?”
“For growing up too quickly.”
Seol Jungcheon snorted softly.
“Do not say such foolish things. What parent grieves over their child growing up?”
“......”
“I am proud of you. Truly.”
Tak.
Unhwi placed another stone.
Territories were forming upon the board.
Black territory.
White territory.
Each contested the other’s domain.
Yet amid that conflict, balance was gradually taking shape.
“Father.”
“Mm.”
“I had choices before me.”
“Choices?”
“It would be more accurate to classify it as a previous life, but for convenience, I will refer to it as regression. When I first became aware of my regression, I could have recreated my childhood and shown myself slowly growing little by little.”
“That is true.”
“But I did not.”
That was also true.
Unhwi had not done so.
“Part of it was simply incompatible with my personality, but more than that, I did not wish to exhaust myself pretending ignorance when I already knew exactly what would happen.”
“I understand.”
“And because of that, I must have seemed extremely unfamiliar to you, Father.”
“I will not deny it.”
“Thank you. For understanding everything and overlooking it.”
Seol Jungcheon smirked.
“Even if you experienced regression, you are still younger than I am. Should not the elder be the one to overlook such things?”
Seol Jungcheon said it lightly, but from his perspective, it could not have been easy.
Out of nowhere, Unhwi had begun using the martial arts of the Blood Heaven Sect and used them to create an entirely new technique called Heavenly Snow Force.
That could not be categorized as ordinary genius.
There existed something beyond genius.
It merely made him appear to be one.
“There is someone I met at Windwall.”
“I already know through listening ears. You speak of Zhuge Xian.”
“Yes.”
Unhwi looked down at the board.
“That man was trapped there for five hundred years. All to preserve his conviction.”
“......”
“And while watching him, I thought about what a martial artist truly is.”
Tak.
He placed a stone.
“A person who is strong? Someone with superior martial arts? No.”
“Then what is it?”
“A martial artist is someone who protects their conviction. Someone willing to stake their life upon what they believe is right.”
As Unhwi had said countless times, the ideal martial artist in his eyes was someone like Zhuge Xian.
Seol Jungcheon nodded.
“That is correct.”
Tak.
“A martial artist is a being of conviction. At times that conviction becomes poison, but even so, a martial artist without conviction is nothing more than a swordsman.”
Unhwi picked up another stone.
He pondered for a long time.
Where should he place it?
This single move would change the board.
Tak.
He set it down.
Seol Jungcheon’s eyes narrowed.
“......An aggressive move.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it feels as though there will be no opportunity later if not now.”
Seol Jungcheon looked at the board.
For a long time.
Then.
Tak.
He placed a stone.
“I shall answer it.”
Their eyes met.
Across the board.
“Father.”
“Speak.”
“I will soon depart.”
As though he had expected it, Seol Jungcheon did not react in the slightest.
“For the Blood Heaven Sect?”
“Yes. There are still things I must do.”
Unhwi’s voice was firm.
“The Heaven’s Will Alliance, the Murim Alliance, and the Sichuan Alliance currently exist in perfect balance.”
“Because of you.”
“Yes. But as is always the case where people live, such balance will not last forever.”
“Even so, would it not endure for several decades?”
“If no ‘problem’ erupts during those decades, then perhaps.”
Seol Jungcheon realized something.
“Is the Blood Heaven Sect in even greater disorder than the Snow Palace once was?”
Unhwi thought briefly.
How should he describe it?
Mm.
“At the very least, the center remains firm, but the surrounding edges are wavering.”
“Wavering......”
“The Blood Heaven Sect does not move without the Heavenly Wayfarer’s permission. But even he cannot ignore certain things.”
“And what are those?” frёeωebɳovel.com
“The will of the people.”
“The will of the people?”
“The population living upon the One-Origin Plateau exceeds tens of thousands. And the surrounding forces, though not officially part of the Blood Heaven Sect, number in the hundreds as well. From what I know, voices have already begun to rise internally—not only now, but long before.”
“Voices......?”
“The unification of the Central Plains.”
At those words, Seol Jungcheon’s hand stopped.
“......A grand ambition.”
Unhwi shook his head.
“It is not an ambition. If the Blood Heaven Sect’s true strength were to emerge into the world, the martial world would indeed be unified.”
“......To that extent?”
“The Heavenly Wayfarer alone can face every martial artist at the pinnacle throughout the Central Plains. What more needs to be said?”
“It is difficult. Truly difficult.”
“There are matters I must resolve with him as well. In the end, I must go.”
“I will not stop you. But.”
Seol Jungcheon’s eyes became resolute.
“Promise me.”
“What do you mean?”
“That you will survive no matter what.”
Unhwi nodded.
“I promise.”
Tak.
He placed another stone.
“I will return alive without fail, Father.”
Seol Jungcheon looked down at the board.
The game was nearly over now.
Black and white.
Perfectly balanced.
No one could tell who would win.
But that was the beauty of Go.
“Do your utmost until the very end. I too shall do my utmost from my own place.”
He paused briefly before continuing.
“In Go as well.”
Tak.
“And in life.”
Unhwi smiled.
“I shall.”
Tak.
He placed his stone.
The two continued playing in silence.
Tak.
Tak.
Tak.
Only the sound of stones being placed echoed through the room.
Time passed.
How long had it been?
The game finally ended.
A difference of two territories.
Unhwi had won.
“I have won.”
“Mm...... Yes. It was a fine game.”
Seol Jungcheon cleared the stones from the board.
“Well now, I truly thought I might win this time.”
“You may win next time.”
Seol Jungcheon smirked.
“You will return alive.”
“And Father and I will play Go together again.”
“Then I shall have to train harder if I wish to win next time.”
Unhwi smiled.
“I will not go easy on you. Please give it your all.”
“Hohoho.”
The two men stood.
They faced one another.
Father and son.
Seol Jungcheon extended his hand.
Toward Unhwi’s head.
And gently patted it.
Just as he had when Unhwi was a child.
