I Really Didn’t Mean to Play Go!
Chapter 109: Confident Enough to Fight

As autumn faded into winter and January arrived, bringing the approach of winter break, Yu Shao finally reached Amateur 5-Dan.

At the same time, the long-awaited registration for this year’s Go Promotion Tournament officially opened.

Early in the morning, Yu Shao took his rank certificate and caught a taxi to the Jiangling Go Academy—or rather, the Jiangling Go Association.

Although registration was open for three months until April, allowing players to sign up at any time, Yu Shao was still surprised to see a large crowd gathered to register.

Men and women, young and old—people of all ages were here.

"Even with three whole months to sign up, you can still run into so many people registering on just a random day?"

Seeing this, Yu Shao couldn’t help but be amazed.

In this world, the number of Go players was exponentially larger than in his past life. Yet, the number of professional slots remained just as limited—meaning the competition was far more brutal.

As Yu Shao walked toward the registration counter, two young men passed by, chatting.

“If I don’t rank up this year, I’m leaving the dojo,” one of them said.

The other, called Dingzi, was visibly surprised. “Why? You’ve been in the dojo for ten years.”

“That’s exactly why.”

The first young man sighed, his expression dim. “I started learning Go at five, entered the dojo at nine… and ten years later, I still haven’t become a professional. Next year, I’ll be twenty.”

“If I can’t make it, there’s no point in staying. I’d just be wasting time—I need to find a new path.”

He exhaled deeply and said, “I love Go. But… Go doesn’t love me back.”

“I’ve worked hard. I’ve fought for it. But now…”

He hesitated before finishing, “It’s time to let go.”

Dingzi quickly tried to reassure him. “Come on, don’t say that—like you’ve already lost this year! You never know, maybe this will be the year you make it.”

“I won’t.”

The young man shook his head. “I know my own strength. This year isn’t about one last gamble—it’s about facing reality.”

“I need to fail—so I can finally let go without regrets.”

Dingzi fell silent, unable to find the right words.

Yu Shao, overhearing their conversation, felt a strange mix of emotions.

This wasn’t the first time he’d witnessed a scene like this.

In his past life, he had seen it happen countless times.

He was fortunate—he had just enough talent to make it, reaching professional status at twelve.

But far more people failed than succeeded. Their dreams shattered beneath the weight of reality, becoming nothing more than stepping stones for others.

And in this world? The fallen would only be more numerous.

Yu Shao exhaled softly, shaking his head, before stepping forward to the registration counter.

He handed his rank certificate and ID to the staff member—a man in his forties.

The man opened the documents and glanced at them before looking up.

“Yu Shao, right?”

“Yes.”

Yu Shao nodded. “I’d like to register for this year’s Go Promotion Tournament. Thank you.”

“Alright, give me a moment to verify your information.”

The staff member entered the rank certificate number into the system. Within seconds, Yu Shao’s ranking history and match records appeared on the screen.

“Got it, you’re a—”

The man paused mid-sentence, his eyes widening slightly as he processed the information.

On the screen, it showed that Yu Shao had progressed from Unranked to Amateur 5-Dan in just six months.

And in every single Amateur Promotion Tournament he had played, he had placed first.

“…You must have been playing Go for years but just never took the ranking exams, right?” The staff member asked, a bit skeptical.

“Yes.”

Yu Shao smiled. “I’ve been playing for a long time.”

Hearing this, the staff member let out a deep breath, looking relieved.

For a moment, he had thought Yu Shao had only started playing Go six months ago and had still managed to reach Amateur 5-Dan—while winning every single tournament.

That would have been monstrously terrifying.

But if Yu Shao had simply never bothered taking the exams before? That made way more sense.

“Why did you wait so long to get ranked?” The staff member asked, curious.

“If you could rank up so quickly, you probably could have joined the Promotion Tournament years ago.”

“Well, Zheng Qin didn’t join until he was nineteen,” Yu Shao said with a grin.

“Zheng Qin? He’s already 2-Dan now!”

The staff member chuckled. “And besides, he’s an exception—most players can’t just join the Promotion Tournament once and immediately go pro. Do you really think you can pass in one go?”

Zheng Qin is already 2-Dan?

That was a bit surprising, but Yu Shao didn’t dwell on it.

“Maybe,” he said with a smile.

“Hah! I like that confidence.”

The staff member laughed, glancing at Yu Shao’s file again.

“You’re sixteen—almost seventeen. If you pass this year, you’ll be about the same age as most newly-ranked professionals.”

“But if you wait too long, you might be at a disadvantage. The players who make a name for themselves usually go pro by sixteen. Some even earlier. Zheng Qin was late—but he’s an outlier.”

The staff member hesitated before adding, “Even though you ranked up quickly in the amateur scene, I should warn you… The Promotion Tournament and Amateur Promotion Matches?”

He paused before emphasizing,

“They’re completely different beasts.”

“I know.”

Yu Shao nodded.

“Good. As long as you’re mentally prepared.”

The staff member nodded and pulled up the registration screen. “The fee is 200 yuan. Cash or QR code?”

“QR code.”

Yu Shao took out his phone and quickly completed the payment.

“The Preliminary Round will be a round-robin points system. Our province is divided into ten groups, and the top ten players from each group will advance to the Main Tournament—a total of 100 qualifiers.”

“The Main Tournament and Finals will include players from across the entire competition region. Both of those rounds will be double-elimination.”

Yu Shao nodded. He was already familiar with the format.

In this world, the number of players in the Promotion Tournament was massive.

Because of this, the competition structure was very different from his past life.

Back then, everyone entered the tournament at once, since the number of participants was relatively small.

But here?

Even a single province had more participants than an entire year’s worth of players in his previous world’s Promotion Tournament.

And yet, the number of professional slots remained just as limited.

In this world, each province had a set number of spots for the Main Tournament. Players first had to survive the Preliminary Round to secure their ticket to the main event—an incredibly brutal process.

In other words, the Preliminary Round would eliminate 90% of the participants, allowing only the top 10% to enter the Main Tournament. From there, only 1% would successfully become professional players.

Calling it a one-in-a-thousand battle was no exaggeration.

“The Preliminary Round will probably start in early May. We’ll notify you by phone in advance,” the staff member said.

“Thank you.”

Yu Shao nodded politely, then turned and left.

Not long after Yu Shao walked out of the Go Academy, a young, sharp-looking man stepped inside.

“Zheng Qin, 2-Dan.”

The staff member at the registration desk immediately greeted him with a wave.

Zheng Qin glanced over and chuckled. “Brother Li, why are you calling me so formally? Just call me Little Zheng like always.”

“You’re a professional player now—I have to address you properly, especially since you just got promoted to 2-Dan! Otherwise, I’d look disrespectful.”

The staff member grinned. “So, what brings you here today? Let me guess… you’re asking about the Fangyuan Cup?”

“Bingo! The Fangyuan Cup is starting again soon, isn’t it?” Zheng Qin said with a smile.

“Hah! Knew it.”

The staff member laughed, then suddenly remembered something.

“Funny coincidence—I was just talking about you with a kid who’s signing up for this year’s Promotion Tournament.”

“Oh?” Zheng Qin raised an eyebrow. “What’d he say about me?”

“He hadn’t taken any ranking exams before. Then, last year, he took all of them at once and jumped straight to Amateur 5-Dan—and he won every amateur promotion tournament he played.”

The staff member shook his head, amused. “I asked him why he didn’t join the Promotion Tournament earlier, since he was obviously strong enough. You know what he said?”

“He said, ‘Didn’t Zheng Qin wait a long time too?’”

“His name’s Yu Shao, I think?”

Hearing that name, Zheng Qin froze.

The staff member kept talking, oblivious to Zheng Qin’s reaction.

“Winning every amateur promotion match is impressive, sure—but amateur games are nothing compared to the Promotion Tournament, right?”

“Not everyone can be like you, passing on the first try. Most players need both skill and luck. If they get a bad bracket, there’s nothing they can do—they just fail.”

Noticing that Zheng Qin hadn’t responded for a while, the staff member looked up in confusion.

“…Zheng Qin, 2-Dan? What’s wrong?”

“…Nothing.”

Zheng Qin let out a long breath, shaking his head. Then, with a smile, he said,

“So… he’s finally here.”

“He?”

The staff member blinked.

“Yu Shao.”

Zheng Qin chuckled. “I knew he’d be here sooner or later.”

The staff member was completely lost. “Wait… you know him?”

“Of course.”

Zheng Qin’s smile deepened.

“I’ve spent every day training, honing my skills, playing game after game… all for this moment.”

“The moment he steps into the professional world—so that when I finally face him…”

“I’ll have the confidence to fight him head-on.”

Hearing this, the staff member was utterly stunned.

Confidence… to fight him?

Confidence?