(The original article was published on Monthly JoongAng, 201407 on June 17 2014. http://jmagazine.joins.com/monthly/view/302309 I extracted some paragraphs from the article.)



“It was winter when I became master Segoe’s pupil. In the first winter, I remember it snowed a lot. My morning chore was sweep the snow in the yard, which had nothing to do with baduk. In the big house, there were only three people, the old teacher, his daughter-in-law who took care of him, and me, the only student-in-residence. The teacher was intimidating, and seeing him was uncomfortable. I depended on his daughter-in-law who fed me and took care of me with strong motherhood. I called her ‘Mamajjang’. It was like a ‘period of servantship.’ All I did was sweep the yard and do small chores. “

At the same time, master Segoe enjoyed relaxed and satisfying days having Hun-hyun under him. He was respected as the giant of the baduk community, and his pupils, Wu Qingyuan and Hashimoto, raised Segoe’s reputation being his right and left wings. He enjoyed having conversations with his close friend, the Nobel laureate novelist Kawabata Yasunari[1] about baduk and literature. He fully enjoyed his old age with his noble elegance. To him, Hun-hyun was like the last asset and hope.

“It was tough days for an eleven-year-old boy. The teacher did not play any game with me. In Seoul, I was raised like a prince catching all the attention and love, but all I could do [in Segoe’s house] was to obey the teacher. It was not like Segoe was always so strict. He cared about me and intentionally brought a puppy ‘Benkei’ to relieve my loneliness. To summarize, he thought that I needed to learn something spiritually deep and essential before learning baduk, but it was hard for me to understand his intention being too young.”

[1] The Japanese novelist who is well-known for the novel “Snow Country”. He also wrote Meijin (Master of Go).