Go with the Flow Read online

  “I had no idea that a human body contained so much moistures. I cried all day but tears never seem to dry up.”

  When Minsu returned to the U.S., he had nothing but 18 dollars in his pocket. He played Go for 20 dollars per round until he scraped together 1,600 dollars. Minsu took this money and ran to a casino where his real games began. He buckled down with clenched teeth and gambled to stay alive. Minsu wanted to get his life back and little by little, he regained hope. Along the way, he met his second wife and settled down to start a family.

  Minsu is a versatile man; he now coaches the national Go team in Korea while still playing professional Go, in addition to managing his casino business. People are envious of his huge success. But they often forget how life used to be an ordeal for him before his breakthrough came. When asked how he endured his darkest moments, he said, “After much contemplation, I realized that it was not the worst. True, I lost everything, but at least I was healthy. I knew how to gamble for a living, and I had people who had faith in me. I convinced myself that I had enough resources to be on my feet again. If I were too caught up with the fact that I had failed, I would have rather died. But I realized that I still had a shot when I took a step back and looked at my situation. I pulled myself together and started to work intensely.”

  I was able to relate to Minsu right away because I was in the same place as him. I had lost every single title I had, but I had not lost any of my fingers nor was my brain seriously injured. The fact that there was nothing to keep helped to take things easy.

  Life works in unpredictable ways. One can start out with nothing, but ends up with everything the next day. If one succumbs to grief and despair, the game ends there. But the game continues as long as one has the will to stay in it.

  The world beneath our feet is a huge Go board. The moment we place those two stones on the board, the game is over. What a shame, when we have not yet used up all of our chances. One may be in distressed, believing that one has exhausted every means to get back in the game. But those onlookers watching over our shoulders think otherwise. There are enough stones to make one’s moves. So the game must go on.

  Life works in unpredictable ways. One can start out with nothing, but ends up with everything the next day. If one succumbs to grief and despair, the game ends there. But the game continues as long as one has the will to stay in it.

  Dreams Come at a Cost

  One day, as I was getting ready to head to the Go club, I asked my mother for some money for transportation. I noticed a sense of embarrassment flashed across her face. “Wait a moment,” she said.

  I saw my mom run next door to borrow some money. I used to take a cab then because I didn’t know my way around Seoul. I had a strange feeling while riding the taxi to the Go club that soon translated into a sense of responsibility. It dawned on me that it was about time that I started to make money for a living.

  I had never really thought about earning money up to that time. My family was poor but I never had to worry about money. I knew that my parents tried to make ends meet selling vegetables in the market, but I was not worried about being poor. Being poor was not something to be concerned about because everyone was poor in Korea back then. Besides, I was able to study in Japan and finish my training with little difficulty because individuals and organizations who appreciated my talent sponsored me. Chosun Daily Newspaper paid for the round trip airfare and many Koreans living in Japan took care of me.

  But, to me, Master Segoe was the most generous sponsor and supporter. In theory, studying under someone’s tutelage was supposed to be free but in practice, students were sometimes asked to pay for food and accommodation. Those who could not afford to pay in advance, or who were not obliged to pay for anything, would come back years later after they have become successful to pay back in a symbolic amount. But Master Segoe never asked a single penny from me nor my parents during the 9 years I lived with him.

  “You will study under me starting today,” was all he said to allow me to become his student. Instead of asking me for compensation, Master Segoe asked Mama zzang, his daughter-in-law, to give me a few thousand yen of allowance every month.

  My life in Japan was better off than in Korea; I lived in a better house with plenty of food to eat and was never short of anything. Most of all, I did not feel the pinch because there was no need to pay anything myself. I had been spoiled with a comfortable life in Japan that even at 20, I did not comprehend what being poor or earning for a living meant. I was briefly surprised by the humble house my family lived in and their shabby cloths when I returned to Korea, but I assumed it was because of the difference in the living standards between the two countries. I was not able to make the connection between what I saw and the financial situation my family was in. I snapped out of a superficial life upon seeing my mother borrow money for something so trifling as transportation.

  ‘We are really poor. I should earn money to help out my family,’ I thought.

  It is often said that a boy becomes a man only when he starts to worry about making money for a living. I had a moment of epiphany. I realized that playing Go was my job and that I had to make money from it.

  A few months later, just before I joined the Air Force, I won the Choegowi Title Match sponsored by the Busan Daily Newspaper. Not only did I win, but I also earned prize money for the first time in my life. 300,000 won in prize money was worth a significant amount back then. I gave the money to my mother. The timing could not have been more right. My sister had just been accepted to an art program at a university which meant my mother could really use some money to pay for my sister’s college and art supplies.

  Since that day, I never forgot that I was playing Go to put food on the table. It was more so because my parents and siblings had made sacrifices for me. The sense of responsibility grew stronger when I got married and the children were born. The more championship titles I won, the more things we were able to afford. I was able to pay for my children’s school which kept rising with grade. We also moved to a better and larger house. There were times when I was too exhausted and felt like squatting down to let things take its own course. But I could not allow myself to do so because I had a family to support. I believe anyone who has children would understand the weight of life weighing on my shoulders. Sometimes money is a powerful motivation.

  How would one feel if the reward at the end of a strenuous climbing is trifling? In the world of professional Go, reward is all the more important. Prize money, in particular, is the real tangible reward for all the hard work. Why is annual salary negotiation a sensitive issue in professional sports? The reason is because value is placed on the achievement- or the perceived achievement- of the athlete. Higher salary and favorable terms and conditions are direct reflections of how much the athlete is worth. If hard work is not paid off with actual reward, who would be interested in working hard to make their dreams come true? When the rewards are clearly defined, the motivation becomes stronger to set specific goals and work towards accomplishing it. ‘I shall work hard to rise and shine and make my family happy.’

  The game of Go was everything to me; it was the very means of making a living, my dream, and my path to self-fulfillment. I appreciated and enjoyed the rewards of breaking my back. I realized that a dream and a job are not necessarily the same for many people. In this respect, I felt very lucky that I loved what I did for a living. For those whose jobs are not necessarily their passion, there is still room to have a dream. Our parents did their best every single day because they replaced their original dreams with new one that was to provide a brighter future for their children so that they have much more chance to realize what their parents dreamed about. Hard work can be rewarded in this way.

  Having a dream that is different from one’s job, therefore, is not something to agonize over. It is not too late to start dreaming now doing what one does for a living. In fact, there is nothing more important than paying the bills because basic needs have to be met for anyone to afford a
dream. In this sense, having a job could be a dream, too. It may not sound like an exciting dream, relatively speaking, but that is not the reason to feel small about it. So, take it from there. Anyone is entitled to have a dream, to endeavor to make it come true, and rightfully expect the rewards of devotion. Hard work will accrue until one day, one finds doing what one has always dreamed of doing.

  Take it from the Master

  There is a famous story retold among Go players. Ten 9 Kyu players are sitting around the Go board deep in thought. Where can the stones be placed to avoid trouble? They have been thinking over carefully for about an hour but to no avail. Suddenly, a 1 Kyu player comes along, takes a look at the board for a brief 10 seconds and says, “Hey, put this stone over here and you are safe.”

  The difference between each Kyu is significant. Someone who plays at a higher level is capable of finding the empty spot right away. The same goes for someone who is a professional and someone who is an amateur. What is the difference between amateurs and professionals? Simply put, the levels of their knowledge, theories, and skills are the key differences. But the fundamental difference lies in their ability to ‘read the game, or the situation.’ The ability to read the game improves in precision progressively with each level of Go.

  The ability to read the situation accurately becomes much more critical in the battlefield. A 16th century Korean naval commander who lived in the age of Joseon Dynasty, Admiral Yi Sunshin, was never defeated while fighting as many as 45 battles during the Imjin War, the 1592-1598 Japanese Invasion of Korea. Despite being outnumbered in ships, 13 to 130, Yi Sunshin destroyed Japanese warships without losing a single one of his own at the Battle of Myeongnyang. His victory was attributable to his near-perfect strategy which was based on his deep insight into everything relevant in the battle, including the geographic features, the weather conditions, and the enemy’s tactics.

  Hence, the leader in charge is called the ‘general.’ The word ‘general’ is widely used to mean ‘ordinary’ or ‘common,’ but it also means to ‘have a comprehensive knowledge and perspective.’ In other words, the general of an armed forces is called a ‘general’ because that individual has the outstanding ability to read the situation and anticipate how events would unfold at the battlefield.

  Such ‘general’ approach is much needed in every corner of our society. A politician should keep a balance between economic growth and wealth distribution between the haves and the have-nots. A diplomat should not be preoccupied by a side issue with a single country. A strategically meaningful, informed decision must be made after factoring in all relevant aspects that affect diplomatic relationships, such as international political situation, and the dynamics between stakeholders and neighbors. Entrepreneurs must be abreast with the political, social, economic, and cultural trends in the world and quickly adapt to those changes to not only survive but to stay ahead of others.

  Beginners fall short in this particular ability to do a comprehensive reading of the situation. They are engrossed in a frivolous Ko fight or a stone group fight that they often fail to see the big picture. Anybody who plays Go knows very well the board is larger than it appears. It can accommodate limitless combinations of variables and territories. When fierce attacks are made in one corner, there is a desperate attempt to resist in another, while in another corner, the decision must be made either to retrieve now to reclaim the point later, or to hold one’s position until the end. Each area looks independent and disconnected but they will eventually become connected influencing each other. Being a master means understanding the intricate invisible links between the territories and being able to build new links. Every stone on the board serves a purpose, which is why they need to be organically connected to each other and accounted for in the decision-making process.

  The ability to coordinate the moves of each stone could be ‘leadership.’ A master must be in control of the stones on the board while a beginner is likely to move the stones around in confusion until things become totally out of control. The primary reason is because a beginner has not yet developed a strong sense of judgement and leadership to manage a crisis in the overall context of what is happening on the board. Beginners who are aware of this shortcoming push themselves to analyze game records, know theories by heart, and play as many games as possible to qualify for higher level. Furthermore, they understand very well that the fast track to hone their skills is to play against someone at a higher level and learn from losing. As such, in the world of Go, regardless of age and gender, anyone above one’s level deserves to be respected.

  What about in the real world? Do beginners listen to the experienced and show respect to them? I have seen many who have lost their respect for the expert; students who are disrespectful to their teachers, children who never listen to their parents, employees who talk behind their employers, and juniors who think they know better than their seniors.

  The mindset and the behavior of the older generation may appear outdated to the eyes of the young. Prioritizing formalities over substance, process over the end result, or adamant adherence to the old way of doing things may cause frustration. Repeated disappointment eats away the initial respect and gradually turns into disregard. Unfortunately, the eagerness and the willingness to learn everything and anything diminish at the same time. New recruits are all ears to their managers, writing down every single word spoken they hear. 2 to 3 years into their job, they become overconfident and start dismissing the advice of their managers as annoying interference.

  When new young managers take over the positions years later, they finally realize what their predecessors have been trying to say. One is capable of understanding only what one can see. One also makes the mistake of believing that one sees everything, hence, knows it all. Such conviction is the culprit of diminished modesty and failure to remember one’s humble beginning.

  A piece of advice from someone with more experience, however, is worth listening. Their advice has been attested by repeated experiences. A junior, in an organization, is simply assigned to do a job. But a teacher or a manager are the ones with the bird’s eye view of the organization, capable of seeing further and wider. They see everyone in the organization and have a clear idea of what is happening. They see the situation as a whole, and can put events in context. They can be trusted; there is always a good reason when they choose to do things in a certain way. As an old Korean saying puts it, advice given by one’s senior is never wrong. An arrogant individual could never become a master. Only those who are eager to learn will become masters.

  A master is someone who has already walked the numerous paths a beginner has not yet seen. A beginner panics when trying to put out the fire on his feet whereas a master could do so in a calm way and still be able to make other plans and decisions. Anyone who wants to become a master must acknowledge this difference and strive to learn from the master with the consistent willingness to acquire more. That day will eventually come when one is called the master.

  Give it Up

  The ‘Ten Commandments’ in Go was compiled by Wang Jeoksin, a Kidaejo, or a servant designated to play Go with the emperor, to Emperor Xuanzong of Qing Dynasty, China. The 5th commandment says, ‘one shall not trade a dollar for a penny,’ meaning one shall enjoy bigger benefit by giving up small gain. There is also a four-character idiom related to Go that has the same message; ‘penny-wise and pound-foolish,’ which means ‘to incur a great loss by pursuing a small profit’.

  If a respected individual advises people not to trade a dollar for a penny, everyone would say, “Of course, I will listen to you.” However, easier said than done. Giving up can be harder than expected when a small benefit comes into sight within a reachable distance. It is a shame that one may even lose the opportunity to gain larger profit by being caught up on a small one. How ‘penny-wise and pound-foolish!’

  One must read the game as accurately as possible to avoid making such mistakes. Beginners often indulge in the fun of catching the opponent
’s stones that they let the opponent to capture their large stone groups and conquer their territories. Such disposition maybe used by experienced players. Master players may let the beginners catch a few of their stones as a bait, the most common one being distracting them with the pleasure of Ponnuki, capturing the opponent’s stones with four stones. They will then quietly expand their territories while the beginners are still lost in Ponnuki.

  The Ten Commandments primarily talks about the 6th commandment, ‘when in danger, abandon the stone’ tells one to give up the stones when at risk, and the 10th, ‘seek harmony when isolated’’ tells one to pursue a peaceful engagement rather than resisting and risking annihilation. The Ten Commandments sound like riddles and are too abstract even for me to have a thorough understanding of them, but time and again I find them to be very relevant in real life, too. The Ten Commandments taught me the wisdom of life, to let go trivial matters. There are times when surrendering or relinquishing bring unintended advantages and benefits in the future.

  People have come to me making offers in unexpected ways; business proposals, appearance in commercial advertisement, and even a high-ranking position in an organization. All of them sounded great and promised significant benefits. But it did not feel right to willingly accept them because of the possible consequences they could have on my professional career and my reputation. I rejected most of them out of concern for their impact on my life-long achievement.