Big Manga

On the second day in Tokyo, Meng Huo was visited by a special guest.

"Director Muto, I haven't seen you for a long time..." While receiving the guest from the Go world in the office, Meng Huo guessed in his heart the purpose of his visit - the manga of "Soul of Go" is still being serialized, but there should be nothing serious about it recently right.

Mu Teng smiled and greeted Meng Huo. He hadn't seen Meng Huo for a long time, but this time he came here not to reminisce, but to invite Meng Huo as a guest to the Juvenile Amateur Go Competition in the Far East.

"Junior Amateur Go Competition?" Meng Huo was unfamiliar with this competition.

"Yes, although it is an amateur competition, there are a lot of applicants this year. I just heard that Mr. He Xi, you have come to Tokyo, how about going to see it?" Muto said with a smile: "If you are a guest, this competition will It's getting more lively."

Go tournament—Actually, Meng Huo is not very interested in this kind of activity, but adding some more experience may be helpful to "Soul of Chess". If it does not hinder his work, he is not unable to consider it.

"When?" Meng Huo asked.

"This Saturday." The time Muto said happened to be the time when Meng Huo planned to return to Ninghai, but he would only go to work after a day off after returning to Ninghai, so it was no problem to participate in this amateur Go competition.

He nodded and agreed, and on Saturday morning, Takashima Eiji dropped his holiday break and drove Meng Huo to the Go game in person—after hearing about it, he also wanted to see it.

Wu Teng had already been waiting for them outside the gate of the competition hall. But when Meng Huo got out of the car, he was surrounded by the surrounding children before he could say hello to him.

"These are the contestants?" Eiji Takashima, who had parked his car, stood beside Director Muto and asked in surprise. Most of the people around Meng Huo were young children, and there were also many boys and girls who looked like junior high school students and elementary school students, all of them had pale faces and looked very excited.

"Yes, they are the contestants." Director Muto said cheerfully, "And they are all fans of "Soul of Chess"."

He was not at all surprised by Meng Huo's support. In fact, in the past years, the amateur Go games of teenagers were very deserted, and there was often a strange phenomenon that there were more Go boards than players. But this year the number of applicants has skyrocketed. As a last resort, the Far East District Go Association has set up Go competition venues in three major cities, but the number of people at the Tokyo competition venue has doubled compared to previous years.

The reason for this phenomenon is undoubtedly the appearance of "Soul of Chess". Since the serialization of this comic, the number of Go lovers all over China has grown rapidly.

Not only in the Far East, events held in other regions are also very lively.

And as the source of all this, He Xi, the original author of "Soul of Chess". That will naturally be enthusiastically sought after.

Eiji Takashima smiled: "The president is welcome everywhere, but Director Muto..." He frowned again, and said, "Should you separate these people?"

There were more and more people around Meng Huo. People from farther away rushed over after seeing his appearance. Among them were many contestants' parents and elders, as well as some reporters. These people surrounded Meng Huo. Shima Eiji noticed the confusion on his president's face.

"I know." Mu Teng also noticed that it was not good for the situation to develop like this, so he quickly asked someone to help isolate the crowd and protect Meng Huo. Then lead him into the hall.

The competition time started at nine o'clock in the morning. As a guest, Meng Huo didn't have much work, so he gave a very short speech and encouragement before nine o'clock. Then just sit and watch the boys play.

"Although it is a juvenile competition, why are primary school students the main ones?" After the competition started, Meng Huo asked Director Muto. There were hundreds of people competing in the entire hall, but Meng Huo found that two-thirds of them were playing chess. Everyone is elementary school students—junior high school students are rare, and high school students are even rarer.

"Because these children are the main applicants." Muto said with a smile. Most of the people who signed up for this competition were children under the age of fourteen. In fact, the younger you are, the more likely you are to be influenced by "Soul of Chess". And parents are more forgiving.

Older students face greater academic pressure. Take high school students as an example. Many parents are reluctant to let their children participate in this kind of competition-because although this juvenile Go competition is amateur in name, it is Traditionally, it is also the place where professional chess players choose disciples.

In the Go industry, in the past, teachers chose students, and amateur Go games among teenagers were the key places for players to select potential students. This also leads to the fact that this kind of game is not a purely entertainment game in the minds of the participants, but a platform that can enter the Go world.

"Among the children here, more than 70% have the desire to be favored by professional chess players." Muto glanced at the children all over the clubhouse who were nervously playing chess, and said, "And those parents, perhaps the bottom of their hearts They all expect their children to have this kind of talent.”

Meng Huo understood a little bit. This is the same as learning piano and dancing. Because the children are young, parents are more willing to let them try different directions. But when the child grows up, the parents' behavior will become more conservative.

"However, to be able to have so many children sign up, to be honest... we didn't even dare to think about it before." Wu Teng continued, and he glanced at Meng Huo: "All this is thanks to you, Mr. He Xi."

The success of the game comes from the success of "Soul of Go", and Muto knows this very well. In the past, the society generally did not recognize Go. Even if some parents found that their children had talents in this area, they would not let their children try it.

But the situation is different now. With the success of "Soul of Chess", the impression of all aspects of the Go industry has changed, the exposure rate has also increased, and Go games are often broadcast on TV-and the Go Association has also made changed a lot.

The biggest change is the improvement of the training of chess players. Nowadays, the training of newcomers in any industry requires a lot of money, and various training courses have to be charged. But Go is different. A child is discovered from an amateur game, trained in a chess hall, becomes a college student, and takes a professional exam. During this period, there is no fee. In the eyes of many parents, it is quite cost-effective to let their children take the road of Go.

No expensive training fees, very little risk, failure can be a hobby. And if you succeed in becoming a professional chess player, you will still have a fixed income every month, wouldn't it be like pie falling from the sky? (to be continued)