LOL: Can’t I play other games professionally?

Chapter 381 The Heated China-South Korea Showdown

After reviewing and analyzing the game between Lin Ruo and Fang Tianfeng 8-dan, Park Young-hoon was somewhat alarmed to discover a rather serious problem.

That is, the game is not unfolding as he had previously imagined.

Fang Tianfeng, an 8th Dan, did not make a fundamental mistake due to underestimating his opponent, which led to his complete exhaustion and defeat at the hands of a novice 1st Dan.

There is only one reason why they lost the second round: they couldn't match their opponents in terms of both offense and defense.

in short.

What Park Young-hoon saw in this game was a significant gap in strength, not just that Black's mistake of making a wrong move in the forty-oddth move that ruined the whole game.

Rather, it was all the preceding layout, including White's well-organized attack in the middle game after Black's disadvantageous turn, that Lin Ruo did much better than Fang Tianfeng, an 8-dan player, which led to the spectacular 100-move dragon-slaying scene.

So what appears to be an upset is actually more of a complete and overwhelming victory.

The outcome of a hundred hands slaying a dragon can only occur if either the difference in strength between the two sides is too great, or if one side makes a fatal mistake.

Park Young-hoon saw the former: White did not make even the slightest mistake throughout the entire game. If this is not a difference in skill, then there is no difference.

Park Young-hoon, who usually prioritizes stability, was so engrossed in tapping the chessboard that he had no appetite for even kimchi.

The pressure on him is immense when his opponent is young and skilled, especially when that opponent has never received professional advanced Go training.

If I make history and become the first professional 9-dan to be eliminated in the preliminaries, then I can really hold a retirement ceremony when I get back.

Park Young-hoon, who had originally planned to relax tomorrow, decided to continue his studies in preparation for the match.

He still believes he is 100% certain of advancing to the main tournament of the Mlily Cup, but he cannot afford to relax at all before then.

Lin Ruo, on the other hand, did not rest after finishing the review. Instead, he continued to play chess on Wild Fox. Playing chess on Watch is just for fun; he would never dare to use it as training to prepare for the competition the day after tomorrow.

Park Young-hoon 9-dan is different from others; he is a true world-class player, so serious and responsible preparation is still necessary.

However, while the two were preparing for the final round of the qualifiers, the online buzz surrounding their duel suddenly surged again with the release of a news article.

That was the interview Lin Ruo gave to CCTV after the competition ended. CCTV compiled the interview overnight and released it online early the next morning.

The content was very simple; it was just asking Lin Ruo about her experience and opinions on Go, as well as information about the Mengbaihe Cup preliminary rounds.

However, the conclusions drawn were somewhat outrageous.

A League of Legends world champion, he spent half a year learning Go on his own in his spare time, without any professional guidance from experienced players, treating Go purely as a hobby.

However, this person achieved a perfect record and won the championship in the National Games, defeating professional players while representing the Shanghai team. Now, he has won three consecutive high-level matches in the Mengbaihe Cup and advanced to the final round.

These words together are absolutely explosive, or rather, is it even possible for these words to be put together?
After reading the interview, viewers felt compelled to ask if the article was written in Chinese characters. They had never imagined that Chinese characters could be combined in this way, and wondered if they had wasted their time learning Chinese.

If this is true, is Lin Ruo a human or a ghost?
Many people in the Go community and Go players already knew about Lin Ruo's experiences in Go, but that doesn't mean that most viewers from other fields knew about it.

And after that, everyone knew about it.

However, most netizens who have just learned about this find it hard to believe that such a person doesn't have a teacher and plays Go as a side job.

And... after only half a year of learning, buddy, are you treating Go like Gomoku?

It's normal for the audience not to believe it; after all, someone who can believe something so easily is probably a savvy buyer of health supplements.

Improving one's Go skills requires long-term investment and persistent effort. Whether it's learning solid basic knowledge or accumulating practical experience, it all depends on the player's hard work.

Only through continuous effort can one go further on this path. There are no shortcuts. Even if you are a genius, you still need to hone your skills through years of accumulation.

However, this view has been overturned today. Lin Ruo only needed half a year to shine in the field of Go and defeat a number of high-ranking players.

If this gets out, how will other Go players who have been in the game for over a decade and are now younger than Lin Ruo feel?

And more importantly, this is a side job, no, it should be called a hobby.

Is Go a hobby or even a side job? This game, widely recognized as one of the most complex in the world, consumes countless brain cells every second.

However, Lin Ruo treated it as a hobby, playing it occasionally in his spare time. In just six months, he was able to defeat professional players, even those at the eighth dan level...

Even training courses wouldn't dare to boast like that, yet some people have actually done it effortlessly in reality.

Is it normal?
Normal my ass!
It's one thing to learn it in half a year, but at least have a world champion or something similar as a teacher to cover it up. Otherwise, how can you do it just by self-study?
Netizens are eager to dig up the truth right now and find out Lin Ruo's Go teacher, a world-renowned master who is over 100 years old and living in seclusion in the mountains.

Look at how he trained such a genius and unparalleled disciple.

But the fact is.

The internet has been searched thoroughly, but netizens cannot find any record of Lin Ruo ever seeking advice on Go from anyone.

Wait, I actually found it.

How exactly did Lin Ruo learn Go and get started, leading to his current level of skill?

Oh, so it turns out that when Lin Ruo first started playing Go, she opened Bilibili in front of the viewers in the live stream and patiently watched a ten-minute introductory Go tutorial video.

Then, after struggling with Go on QQ for an afternoon, Lin Ruo inexplicably learned how to play Go and even started teaching the viewers in the live stream how to play...

So what's the difference between this and self-study?
Netizens prefer to believe that Lin Ruo is pretending to be weak while actually being strong, otherwise how could someone really learn Go by watching a ten-minute short video introduction and then reach the terrifying level of a professional player in just six months?

Are you sure it's not some kind of legitimate master like Sun Wukong who caused trouble and told others not to reveal his master's identity?

Unable to find the answer, netizens fueled their enthusiasm through active discussions, and in less than half a day, the interview with Lin Ruo caused an unprecedented sensation.

Park Young-hoon, as his opponent, didn't pay much attention to the series of events unfolding on Chinese social media, but the Korean internet, which routinely monitors Chinese developments, was well aware of it.

On the afternoon before the start of the match, the Chosun Ilbo, one of South Korea's most prominent media outlets, published a news report summarizing the interview with Lin Ruo.

In short, it's all about questioning, questioning again and again. To paraphrase Mr. Cao, it's impossible, absolutely impossible.

How could such geniuses exist in the world? Is this the world as they perceive it?
Therefore, the Chosun Ilbo criticized the Chinese media for fabricating information from beginning to end, attempting to put psychological pressure on their national athlete Park Young-hoon.

He bluntly stated that the reason Lin Ruo was able to defeat professional 8-dan player Fang Tianfeng was most likely because Tianfeng was careless and negligent during the match.

Furthermore, even if Lin Ruo is indeed a genius, he could not possibly be a match for Park Young-hoon 9-dan, let alone have such a miraculous experience of becoming invincible after only half a year of learning Go.

The Chosun Ilbo concluded definitively that Park Young-hoon 6-dan would easily advance to the main tournament of the Mlily Cup in June.

Their national team player could never possibly lose to a first-dan player who is virtually unknown in the professional arena. This news release received strong support from the Go-loving public in South Korea.

[Why do the Chinese always resort to these underhanded tactics? When they can't win a fight, they create momentum and put pressure on the enemy?]

Learning Go really takes time; six months is completely impossible. Anyone who does that is either a monster or a monster.

It's really tough for Park Young-hoon 9-dan to compete in a foreign country. To prevent him from advancing to the main tournament, the Chinese organizers have put him in a "group of death," and now they've brought out a fake player who supposedly learned Go in just six months to scare people. So we must give our full support to our national player.

[It's useless; Park Young-hoon, 9th Dan, has a level of endurance they can't even imagine.]

No, you didn't understand the organizers' meaning. This is clearly an attempt to save face for their players beforehand. They're saying things like, "Look, I've only been learning Go for six months; your victory isn't anything to brag about."

[That's right. On the contrary, if that Lin Ruo player could actually compete with Park Young-hoon 9-dan, they could boast about how incredibly talented and amazing their player is afterward, regardless of the outcome, making it seem like we lost.]

Oh, so that's what they were thinking. How malicious!

Amid the expanding discussion, some of the opinions expressed on Korean online forums differed somewhat from those on League of Legends esports forums.

Korean League of Legends viewers, while supporting their own country's players, also don't believe that such a talented Go player truly exists.

But if it's Lin Ruo... then this matter really needs to be considered carefully.

After all, just like LPL viewers, they had been thoroughly impressed by this 17-year-old player who suddenly appeared out of nowhere last year.

[He learned Go in just six months? Wow, I really can't believe it! But it's an undeniable fact that Lin Ruo, a newcomer, has already demoted us to the second-best region.]

[If Lin Ruo wants to play Go, he should go ahead and do it; please stop playing League of Legends.]

[This is truly insane! I absolutely refuse to believe that a genius can become proficient in just six months.]

[I don't believe it either, but Lin Ruo has achieved top rankings in Overwatch, PUBG, and Dota 2 as an amateur player... This shows that he is indeed a smart and versatile player.]

Yes, this is really making me conflicted. Is it really true that it will take six months to learn?

[I think it's true. I think I saw similar news circulating on LPL forums last year, but he couldn't possibly be a match for Park Young-hoon, a 9-dan player. We should have faith in our national team players.]

[Sigh, they just ruined our League of Legends, and now they want to ruin Go? That kid, Park Young-hoon, really needs to teach him a lesson. Thank you.]

[Yes, we can take him down with Go, then get revenge at MSI, and shatter his resolve.]

If that's the case, then I have a reason to watch this game.

Amidst the flurry of public opinion, CCTV dropped another bombshell online.

Tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM, CCTV will broadcast live the fourth round of the preliminary rounds match between Lin Ruo, 1-dan, and Park Young-hoon, 9-dan.

The commentators will be Nie Weiping, a living legend in the field of Go, and Chen Ying, the host of the Go program.

The announcement of this news demonstrates CCTV's emphasis on this match. They even sent their best commentators to the qualifiers. Perhaps this is related to the explicit doubts raised by South Korean media, which made CCTV particularly attentive to the interview content.

Before the interview, the CCTV reporter expressed shock at the words Lin Ruo revealed, and only released the news after confirming the authenticity with the contestants.

The best proof against these sudden doubts is watching Lin Ruo demonstrate her outstanding skills in her match against Park Young-hoon.

Winning or losing doesn't matter, as long as Lin Ruo performs well, the live broadcast will be fine.

Based on Lin Ruo's performance in the first three preliminary rounds, as well as the National Games and the professional ranking tournament, it is clear that the officials still have a lot of confidence in him.

The public outcry continued until the next day, April 18th, the day of the final round of the Mengbaihe Cup qualifiers.

After getting up early and washing up, Lin Ruo went to a nearby restaurant for breakfast as usual, and then took a taxi to the chess academy at a leisurely pace during the 8:30 break.

"Young man, are you going to the chess academy? You wouldn't happen to be that Lin Ruo, would you? You look a lot like him." As soon as Lin Ruo got into the car, the driver excitedly spoke in his not-so-standard Mandarin.

"Um, it should be me."

Lin Ruo chose to smile. He never expected that Go would make him famous throughout the country.

League of Legends' reach in other fields is indeed hard to match that of Go, after all, Go has a unique charm in the hearts of Chinese people.

This qualifying tournament has made the Mlily Cup organizers incredibly wealthy, and it seems like they've also made a fortune.

Of course, it would be even better if we could win today's game.

Once confirmed, the driver skillfully stepped on the gas, speeding towards the Go Academy at 80 miles per hour. Then he started chatting about trivial things: "It really is you! Wow, you absolutely have to take down that guy named Park something-or-other. That's bringing glory to the country, young man."

Lin Ruoruo nodded thoughtfully. He could understand. The people of South Korea got excited when they attacked the South Koreans, but if they attacked the Japanese who were living a relatively comfortable life, they would be even more excited.

However, the hope is slim, since nowadays very few people participate in other international Go tournaments.

no way.

Japan has numerous domestic Go tournaments, with the seven major title matches and round-robin tournaments taking up a significant amount of players' time, and the prize money is substantial. As a result, it is quite normal for many players to focus on domestic events and have little interest in international tournaments.

Moreover, Xiao Rizi knows how to work behind closed doors. Since it can't compete with China and South Korea when it goes out, it decisively chooses to lock itself in and do its own thing.

High pay, low workload, close to home, and able to maintain the fine tradition of Go.
They appreciate elegance and art, are passionate about the ancient game of Go, and can spend two days on a single game. They have no interest in engaging in modern AI battles of wits and strength.

Therefore, it is a normal result that they gradually withdrew from world Go tournaments.

"Keep it up, young man, I'll be watching your live stream." The driver's incessant chatter interrupted Lin Ruo's thoughts, and the latter could only nod repeatedly.

Upon arriving at the chess academy, the driver, who hadn't taken any money, said something about winning glory for the country and that he didn't want any money, and then quickly drove off.

Lin Ruo, who had just completed a six-kilometer free ride, breathed a sigh of relief and slowly turned to walk into the chess academy.

To be honest, he really didn't expect that a single game in the preliminary rounds would have such a big impact, which has inevitably put him under some pressure.

This kind of pressure is something I've never experienced even when I played in the League of Legends World Championship last year.

Perhaps because Lin Ruo was 100% confident of winning the LOL championship, he made a rough calculation when facing Park Young-hoon, the South Korean national team player and world champion in Go.

Having only recently begun learning Go and not even having maxed out his Deep Blue skill, he has at most a 99.9% chance of winning a game. Therefore, Park Young-hoon has a 0.01% chance of defeating him.

It's normal to feel a bit stressed in this situation. Lin Ruo felt she needed to calm down, perhaps by going to the restroom, since she had just drunk too much soy milk.

(End of this chapter)