[Stones and Stories] Life Lessons Entwined with the ‘Pae’ of Go

The Tuition of Life Paid for Immediate Gains
If You Learn to Distinguish When to Step Forward and When to Endure
You May Be Reborn as a True Competitor in Life

‘Pae, Kkotnori Pae, Cheonjidae Pae, Manpae Bulcheong….’

The Go term ‘Pae (覇)’ is something you might have heard somewhere before. However, not many people truly understand its meaning. Terms like Cheonjidae Pae or Manpae Bulcheong feel even more difficult.

Among them, Kkotnori Pae is relatively familiar. It is often used in daily life to mean something good. So, what does Pae mean? Pae is a rule in Go that prevents endless capturing sequences at a specific point on the board by forbidding placing stones repeatedly in the same spot consecutively.

For example, if black and white stones are both in a capturing situation, and if one player captures the opponent’s stones and the opponent immediately recaptures, the game could theoretically continue forever. Therefore, the Pae rule was created, requiring players to play elsewhere once before returning to recapture the stones in question.

Pae is basically equal. After giving black a chance, the opportunity returns to white. But in actual games, it is not an equal contest. A player with many capturing opportunities (patgam) can use them as a card to overturn the outcome. On the other hand, a player with few capturing chances feels uneasy no matter how favorable the position is, because they never know when the opponent will initiate a Pae fight.

A Pae fight is a small battle within the larger war of a Go match. It can occur multiple times in a single game. If you hold a Kkotnori Pae, Pae fights become enjoyable. The opponent faces great risk, while you have little to lose. The opponent feels desperate, wanting to escape the crisis quickly but having to accept huge losses to do so.

In stock investing, if losses are unavoidable, it is important to find the right timing for a stop-loss to minimize damage. The same applies to the opponent in a Kkotnori Pae. Rather than fighting a losing battle with passion, it is better for mental health to consider ways to resolve the situation with minimal loss.

Cheonjidae Pae and Manpae Bulcheong (萬覇不聽) are relatively unfamiliar terms but often appear as current affairs expressions. For example, the SM acquisition battle was described as Cheonjidae Pae. Cheonjidae Pae refers to a large Pae directly linked to winning or losing.

There are even huge losses exceeding 100 points. Considering that Go games can be decided by half or one and a half points, 100 points is an enormous scale. Cheonjidae Pae is somewhat similar to a second chance in life. Even those who have lived through years of frustration can become the protagonist of a dramatic turnaround if they seize the opportunity of Cheonjidae Pae.

Manpae Bulcheong refers to a situation where the opponent refuses to accept any Pae move. When this happens, the Pae fight ends abruptly. Manpae Bulcheong often occurs in Cheonjidae Pae situations but can also appear in Pae fights involving small gains.

This happens when the focus is on securing immediate victory without considering the overall impact on the match. Winning such a Pae fight feels good at first, but the problem lies in the aftermath. It is the error of seeing the trees but not the forest. Isn’t this a common scene in our lives? After suffering harshly, we try to pull ourselves together, but when the same situation arises again, we repeat the mistake...

How much life’s tuition have we paid before realizing that yielding and retreating are not signs of defeat but strategic moves to prepare for the future? However, there is no need to regret paying this tuition too much.

If through this process you can develop the ability to distinguish when to advance and when to endure, wouldn’t you be reborn as a true competitor in life?