I Really Didn’t Mean to Play Go!
Chapter 302: China, Japan, and Korea

Higashiyama Kaoru?

Yu Shao looked at Higashiyama Kaoru with some surprise. He hadn’t expected to run into him here—let alone hear him speak Chinese, and fluently at that.

“I studied Chinese deliberately for a few years,”

Higashiyama Kaoru seemed to have picked up on what Yu Shao was thinking and offered an explanation.

Yu Shao nodded, reached out and shook hands with him. “Yu Shao, main player for the Chinese team in this tournament.”

“I’ve studied many of your game records. Every one of your matches has left a deep impression on me,”

Higashiyama Kaoru said, looking at him. “I’m really looking forward to our face-off on the board.”

“So am I,” Yu Shao replied.

Higashiyama smiled at that and finally let go of his hand. “We’re heading to dinner now. See you at the venue.”

With that, Higashiyama walked out through the hotel’s main doors. The other young players gave Yu Shao a long, penetrating look before finally withdrawing their gazes and following him out.

“That was Higashiyama Kaoru?”

Wu Zhixuan looked curiously at his retreating back. “Doesn’t seem that special. All that hype about ‘after Higashiyama, there will be no more geniuses’—sounds overblown.”

“Maybe he’s different when he’s at the board?”

Yu Shao withdrew his gaze and started walking toward the elevator in the hotel lobby. “A Go player is never the same person on the board as off it. Isn’t that true for you too?”

“Me?”

Wu Zhixuan was surprised. “I change when I’m at the board?”

“You do.”

Yu Shao stepped into the elevator. “You just don’t notice it yourself.”

“Really?”

Wu Zhixuan looked thoughtful as she followed him into the elevator, sneaking a glance at him.

She couldn’t help but recall the times she’d watched him play live. Every time he sat down at the board, he seemed like a completely different person.

Lots of players have little habits when they’re playing—frowning, tugging their hair, covering their face—but Yu Shao was different.

Calm.

Only calm.

Every time Yu Shao played, his expression was utterly composed and intensely focused, as if he radiated a kind of invisible pressure. He always seemed a little distant.

And yet, when he was at the board, he looked as if he was glowing.

“They say a player reflects their personality. But Yu Shao on the board is nothing like Yu Shao in daily life.”

Wu Zhixuan suddenly found herself wondering:

“So which one is the real him—his everyday self, or his board self?”

Not long after, the elevator arrived.

Wu Zhi stepped out, only to see Qin Lang still standing outside in a daze, looking like he was lost in thought. She asked, “He went back to the room?”

“Huh? Y-yeah, he did!”

Wu Zhixuan snapped back to reality and hurried out of the elevator.

The two of them walked together for a while and soon reached a corner, about to part ways.

“Yu Shao.”

Wu Zhixuan suddenly called out.

Yu Shao turned to look at her, just as she raised a little fist and cheered him on. “Good luck in the team tournament!”

---

The next two days, with the team tournament just around the corner, the five of them obviously couldn’t go out and have fun like the others. They spent both days in the hotel’s game review room, playing practice games.

As the tournament approached, the number of people in the hotel visibly increased day by day. Reporters from all over the world swarmed in—after all, the China-Japan-Korea Team Tournament was a major annual event, always a huge draw for traffic.

And for good reason—almost every year, the tournament produced brilliant matches. The level of play was so high that even the top professionals would watch with genuine admiration.

In fact, some of the players in this tournament, while young, were already performing at a top-tier level.

That’s exactly why people paid so much attention to these players’ futures. Many of them who participated in this tournament would go on to shine brightly on the international stage.

Players like An Hongshi, Zhuang Weisheng, and Honinbo Shinwa—all names every Go fan knows—had all taken part in this tournament when they were young!

This year’s team tournament drew even more global attention than usual.

It wasn’t just Korea and Japan this time. Even the Chinese team, which had struggled in recent years, was now capturing worldwide interest.

Korea had 15-year-old prodigy Lee Junhyuk, already in a title match. Japan had Higashiyama Kaoru, known as “the last genius.” And China had Yu Shao, who had recently shocked the Go world by winning Ten Straight Wins in the Challenge Match.

And it wasn’t just the main players. Korea had vice player Park Jichang, Japan had Fujiwara Terashima, and China had Su Yiming. Even the third, fourth, and fifth players from all three countries were no pushovers—each had an impressive track record.

This year’s China-Japan-Korea Team Tournament was destined to be a pure showdown of talent.

The pre-tournament buzz was so overwhelming that reporters were going wild with coverage. Every country’s media was throwing out endless predictions about who would win.

Yu Shao and the others came down to the hotel lobby, ready to go out for dinner.

Seeing the dense crowd inside, Gu Chuan visibly tensed up. “The opening ceremony’s tonight... and the games start tomorrow.”

Hearing this, Le Haoqiang and Qin Lang’s expressions grew heavy too. The pressure was clearly getting to them.

Just then, two European reporters in their thirties or forties came walking toward them while chatting in English.

“This tournament’s hype is way beyond what I expected. Looks like we’re in for an epic showdown. No idea who’s going to come out on top,” said the tall man with a sigh.

“In terms of overall strength, Korea’s still the favorite, right? Last year’s results pretty much confirmed that.”

The shorter, chubbier woman chimed in. “Even if Higashiyama beat Su Yiming, they still lost overall, didn’t they? And if Moon Songhwan stretched himself too thin just for that rematch, can Higashiyama really win this year? I doubt it.”

“That’s fair… what about China?”

The shorter woman asked. “The Chinese team’s getting a lot of attention this year. That little French coach Louis had some pretty harsh things to say about Wu Zhi.”

“China still feels weak overall,”

The chubby man paused for a moment, then slowly shook his head. “I think they’ll probably come in last.”

“Oh? But they have Yu Shao and Su Yiming!”

The tall man seemed surprised.

“They are strong, no question. But they’re too strong—there’s a huge drop-off after them. The other three players just don’t stack up against Korea and Japan’s lineup.”

The chubby man shook his head again. “If this were the team from four years ago, maybe Yu Shao and Su Yiming could carry them. But this year is different.”

“This year, you’ve got Higashiyama Kaoru and Lee Junhyuk as main players, Fujiwara Terashima and Park Jichang as vice players, and then third, fourth, and fifth boards... the lineup is just stacked.”

“The only standout match Yu Shao has is the one in the Hero’s Pride Cup. But Lee and Higashiyama? They’re on another level. Yu Shao might not win against them. Same for Su Yiming.”

“Even if Yu Shao and Su Yiming both win their matches, the team still needs at least one more win from the other three boards.”

The chubby man laughed. “Unless they swapped out Qin Lang, Le Haoqiang, and Gu Chuan for Zhu Huaian, Li You, and Dai Tianxiang, then yeah, I’d say China had a real shot at the title.”

Hearing that, the tall man couldn’t help laughing too. “Why stop there? Why not swap them out for Zhuang Weisheng, Zhang Dongchen, and Jiang Changdong?”

“Might as well just hand China the trophy then.”

The chubby man snorted. “Even if the main and vice players lost, the 3-4-5 boards would win.”

Hearing all that, Qin Lang, Le Haoqiang, and Gu Chuan all looked furious. Qin Lang clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white.

At that moment, the two European reporters finally noticed Yu Shao and his team walking toward them. Their faces turned beet red, and they quickly shut up.

Qin Lang stared them down for a moment, then bit his back teeth hard and walked off without a word.

The five of them soon left the hotel and found a Korean BBQ place nearby for lunch.

After what they’d just overheard, Le Haoqiang, Qin Lang, and Gu Chuan were all noticeably quiet, just sullenly eating.

“I’m going to win.”

Qin Lang picked up a piece of grilled meat with his chopsticks, but just as he was about to put it in his mouth, he stopped, dropped it into his bowl, and said:

“No matter what, I’m going to win.”

Hearing that, Yu Shao, Le Haoqiang, Su Yiming, and Gu Chuan all looked up at him.

Qin Lang gripped his chopsticks tightly, veins showing on his face. “I’m going to face off against Korea and Japan, and I’m going to win—to prove it to all of them!”

Gu Chuan stared at him, a wave of shame washing over him. He bit his lip.

“Qin Lang heard those comments and thought, ‘No matter what, I’ve got to win.’”

“But me... I actually thought they were right. I even felt like I probably couldn’t win.”

“In my heart, I’ve always believed... I only got into the team by luck. This spot should’ve gone to Che Wenyu. His Go strength is better than mine!”

Gu Chuan instinctively tightened his grip on his chopsticks. In his mind, the game records of the fifth-board players from Korea and Japan started flashing again.

He’d studied those records dozens of times over the past few days.

Sure, you can’t fully judge someone’s level just from records without playing them, but even so, both fifth-board players from Japan and Korea seemed incredibly strong to him.

“But since I made it into the team, I’ve got to win. I’m going to win—and make it a beautiful win they’ll all remember!”