Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Chapter 56 A Divine Move (1)

Time flies like an arrow when you're not paying attention.

Like when you hear that a celebrity has already finished his military service, or that a friend's son or daughter, whose first birthday party you attended, is starting school.

The same was true of the new building being constructed beside the coffeehouse, which I'd wondered would ever be finished.

As I went about my busy life dealing with one thing after another, the basic framework had gone up, and even the exterior finishing was almost complete.

With a floor area of twenty-five pyeong per story, the building had two rooms, a basement storage area, and another small room on the second floor. It stood right against the coffeehouse, making the two look as though they'd originally been one building.

Its original purpose was to provide Lia with a room.

Since my bedroom and study were on the second floor, I'd set aside a room and bathroom on the same floor for her.

Although, with the bare concrete still exposed, it was difficult to imagine it as a little girl's bedroom.

I intended to turn the two rooms on the first floor into a guest room for anyone who might stay overnight and a proper study, rather than another bedroom.

The interior finishing would take a month at most. That plan was finally within reach.

"Pretty amazing, isn't it? It's not easy getting all our best workers together like this. We even brought in electricians and plumbers who normally won't budge unless you pay them extra."

"Don't know if it'll quite meet your expectations, though."

"I'm very pleased. It's much better than I imagined. You even matched the bricks."

"Ha! That's what makes it worth showing off to a property owner with such a sharp eye! We took photographs of all the bricks and matched them perfectly to that aged color."

"Good grief, anyone listening would think Worker Choi built the whole thing himself."

"I supervised the work, didn't I? Supervised it!"

I slowly toured the building while listening to the foreman and Worker Choi explain everything.

To be honest, I'd paid almost no attention to the construction while it was underway.

I'd read accounts online of people personally carrying measuring tapes and spirit levels around to inspect the work, or even hiring separate construction supervision companies, but I hadn't felt inclined to do that.

Nothing could ever be perfect. Especially when constructing a building.

Even skilled craftsmen were bound to make small mistakes, and I'd intended to overlook any errors that didn't cause serious problems.

Nevertheless, whenever I came to deliver coffee in the mornings, they always gave me a detailed briefing like this.

Without missing a single day.

"Once the interior people come in for the wallpaper, flooring, and tiles, that'll be the end of it. We'll finish up the site today and be on our way."

"Thank you for everything. It isn't much, but I'd appreciate it if you used this for a meal together."

After finishing my tour, I handed the foreman a white envelope. It was what people called bath money.

"Oh, we'll put it to good use."

"Boss, you ought to refuse money like that once in a while. You're always going on about standards and principles, but when I watch you, you're the quickest one to pocket a little extra cash."

"Then don't come to the team dinner tonight, Worker Choi."

"Aw, that's not what I meant."

The two walked away bickering, but suddenly Worker Choi seemed to remember something. He turned around and hurried back.

"Oh, right. Property owner, could you do me a favor?"

"Yes?"

I'd just handed over an envelope, and now another envelope was placed in my hand.

"Well... I heard last time that you could send letters to Yongman, so I tried writing one. But I'm no good with words..."

Worker Choi scratched his head awkwardly and trailed off.

"Ah, forget it! It's embarrassing. I'll just tell him when he comes back to Korea!"

When Worker Choi hurriedly reached for the envelope again, I quickly pulled my hand away.

"I'll deliver it for you. I'm sure Yongman is waiting to hear from everyone too."

"Oh, stop troubling the property owner and hurry over here."

"Then I'm counting on you!"

__________________

"Well, I've accepted it, but..."

After returning to the coffeehouse, I found myself facing another dilemma before I even had time to enjoy the fact that the building was nearly finished.

It was because of this envelope.

Going to the Celestial Realm and delivering it to Yongman was something I could do right now.

Driving to the Celestial Realm wasn't particularly difficult.

The problem was what might happen to Yongman afterward.

I could vaguely imagine what this letter would mean to someone who had returned to the Celestial Realm with such a longing for the mortal world.

In the worst case, he might even desert his post(?).

Games, the internet, MeTube, and so on.

Wasn't he living proof that a thousand years of waiting to become a dragon and ascend meant nothing as long as one had a mobile phone?

And above all, I wasn't confident I could face Yongman's expression again. He'd looked like a grandmother seeing off her child after a rare visit home to the countryside.

I was beginning to wonder whether helping him ascend had been a mistake if it was going to leave me feeling this guilty.

As my deliberation dragged on,

"I'm done!"

Lia, who had been concentrating on her homework beside me, shouted.

"Already? It's only Friday evening."

"Yes! I finished my homework, review, preparation for next week's lessons, and even my picture diaries through Sunday!"

At that moment, I felt a sense of distance from Lia for the first time as she spoke so proudly.

Lia was not the same kind of person as me.

When I was her age, I was the sort of child who put off homework and diaries until the last possible moment, only to rush through them carelessly in the morning.

A weekend spent enjoying myself with a clear conscience after finishing everything I had to do was something I'd only managed to experience when I reached the higher grades, where we no longer had to write diaries, and the teacher happened to forget to assign homework.

I'd never imagined that the fact we didn't share a single drop of blood could feel so painfully obvious.

But wait, she'd written her diaries too?

"How did you write your picture diaries in advance?"

"Hmm, tomorrow Sister Haedong Divine Maiden is coming, so I'll read storybooks, and on Sunday I'm going to practice jumping rope with Sani!"

"Ah."

It was a kind of premeditated murder announcement.

Well, I supposed it was better than putting things off.

Once my thoughts reached that point, I couldn't keep procrastinating either.

That's right. It was better to get an unpleasant task over with.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to visit the Celestial Realm for a little while. You can stay by yourself, right?"

"Yes!"

Time in the mortal world stopped whenever I entered the Celestial Realm. The whole trip would take less than five minutes here.

I picked up a thermos and the letter, then got into my car.

And following the familiar road where cherry blossom, azalea, and forsythia petals fluttered through the air, I arrived in the Celestial Realm.

But there were no familiar faces in sight.

Yongman, whose enormous body made him impossible to miss even from a distance, and Goddess Mago both seemed to be away today.

Would it be all right to go down below?

Although I'd been granted permission to enter the Celestial Realm, this was my first time going down into the fields below.

I wandered around looking for Yongman among the scattered thatched cottages of the village, until my steps stopped at an elegant old pavilion standing beside a pond filled with blooming lotus flowers.

Four immortals were playing Go in the pavilion, gently waving their fans.

"Hello."

"Hm? You're Old Woman Mago's honored guest. What brings you all the way here?"

I could say that I had met these four immortals before.

Whenever our eyes met from a distance while they were on the hill, I always made sure to bow in greeting.

Thanks to that, much of the awkwardness that might have accompanied our meeting was gone.

"I'm looking for Yongman. I have some news to deliver to him."

"Oh, that's unfortunate. Yongman went to the village farther down to distribute cabbages and radishes today."

"I see. Thank you for telling me."

"He should be back soon. Would you like to come up and wait?"

"Thank you for the kind offer. I wouldn't want to interrupt your game, so I'll come back another time."

"What a polite young man. I heard you were Yongman's friend, yet your dispositions couldn't be more different."

"Yongman lived alone for so long that he still isn't accustomed to proper manners. I hope you'll be generous with him."

They say a leaky bucket leaks wherever you take it.

I could picture exactly how Yongman must have behaved here, as though watching a video.

I'd told him to keep his temper under control once he got here. Honestly.

"Then I'll be going."

"How about playing a game with us instead?"

"Pardon?"

"Hoho, there's no need to look so surprised. We're simply lonely fellows passing the time together. Isn't this a connection brought about by fate?"

Once he brought up fate, refusing became difficult.

Time in the mortal world stopped the moment I entered the Celestial Realm, so I couldn't even claim I had something urgent to attend to.

Even if I returned to my car to wait, the pavilion was clearly visible from there, which would make things just as uncomfortable.

And since they looked like kindly old grandfathers whose ages were impossible to guess, it was difficult to keep refusing.

I was completely trapped.

"It's been a long time since I played Go, so I'm not sure my skill will be good enough."

"We'll know your skill once we see it. Come, hurry up. There are refreshments here too, so help yourself."

The last time I'd played Go was with my grandfather when I was little, so it had truly been thirty years.

But I was certain such excuses wouldn't work on these immortals.

From the moment I admitted knowing how to play Go, all four immortals had looked at me with eyes that suggested no argument would change their minds.

The kindly old grandfathers from a moment ago were nowhere to be seen.

_________________

-Tap.

A jade Go stone was placed on a polished juniper-wood board that gleamed with a glossy sheen.

Jinseong, playing black, made his first move on the upper-right star point.

'Excellent! At least this young man understands the basics.'

In a face-to-face game of Go, playing on the upper-right star point was considered one of the greatest courtesies toward one's opponent.

It was a position that did not obstruct the opponent's reaching hand and allowed both players to focus on each other's stones.

Simply knowing about star points would have been enough to be grateful for, as it meant he'd played Go before. Yet he'd opened courteously in the upper-right corner.

His claim that it had been a long time since he'd played was no lie, either. Even the stone held between his index and middle fingers looked somewhat unsteady.

'Just as expected of someone Old Woman Mago would cherish.'

Having finished assessing Jinseong after a single move, the four immortals bit their lips to suppress the laughter threatening to burst forth.

To them, Jinseong was the perfect prospect: someone who knew the basics but had no deep understanding of Go.

After dealing with Yongman, who had flatly declared that Go was boring when they suggested he learn, they'd already begun regarding Jinseong as their foremost disciple.

That was, until Jinseong made his very next move.

-Tap.

"..."

The immortals' mouths, which they'd been biting to hide their smiles, fell open.

○●

They hadn't seen it wrong.

It was only the second move, so there was even less chance that he'd placed the stone by mistake.

It was unmistakably an attachment.

Despite having secured two star points with black and being able to develop a sufficiently advantageous position, he'd built a pitiful little enclosure and then charged straight into enemy territory.

A terrible move among terrible moves.

The exceptionally polite young man had bowed respectfully, risen to his feet, and slapped his opponent across the cheek.

It was a degree of rudeness they'd never encountered, either in the mortal world or after ascending to the Celestial Realm, where the four self-proclaimed masters had played thousands upon tens of thousands of games together.

'Had we expected too much?'

-Tap.

-Tap.

As the immortal continued making moves with a bitter aftertaste in his mouth, he belatedly realized that something was going wrong.

'Hm? What is this...'

There was no opening strategy to Jinseong's stones.

Like a finely sharpened dagger, there was nothing but relentless offense.

And before even twenty moves had been played, the Go board looked as though a child had scattered stones across it for amusement.