Hanging up his white coat on the hook in his locker, Kyungsoo began to fix the collar on the dress shirt he was wearing while making sure he looked somewhat presentable in the small mirror he hung in the locker.

Kyungsoo picked up his wristwatch from inside the locker and slipped it onto his wrist before securing the latch and checking the time displayed.

It was two in the afternoon and Kyungsoo had just gotten off a 16 hours on-call shift which had started yesterday morning.

Kyungsoo was thankful that there weren’t any critical emergency cases that came in during his shift which needed him to be in charge of. Thanks to that, he had managed to get some decent hours of rest while being on-call.

Kyungsoo had personally asked to be on this shift so he could get off in the afternoon and still be in time to watch the semi-finals match of the currently ongoing Samsung Fire Cup for the board game, Go.

Although Kyungsoo was not able to watch the matches live in the arena, he had managed to get some sort of staff pass to observe the game from his old friends at the Go players association.

These days, Kyungsoo preferred being a spectator to the game and playing against himself instead of being on the board himself across from another competitor.

This was better, Kyungsoo thought.

It was late spring and although the weather was warm enough to not bring a jacket, Seoul was pretty rainy and Kyungsoo dragged his umbrella along with him as he bade goodbye to his colleagues getting off the same shift as him and exited the hospital.

Kyungsoo walked down the stone pedestrian path near the row of shops and buildings under the gloomy afternoon sky. Kyungsoo was grateful that he never forgot his umbrella because it looked like it might rain.

Kyungsoo was heading down to the subway station to travel one district over so he could watch the Go matches.

As Kyungsoo passed by a shop selling grilled meat snacks, Kyungsoo managed to get a whiff of the cooking from the shop and it made his stomach growl.

Kyungsoo sighed innately, knowing that he wouldn’t make it in time if he stopped there to eat. He would just get delivery later on when he got home.

Kyungsoo arrived at the subway station which was less packed at this time of the day. One advantage of working shifts was that he got to skip the usual rush hour traffic and crowd.

Like routine, Kyungsoo swiped his fare card and headed onto the platforms but took the orange line today which would be headed to the large hall where the Go match would be held instead of using the green subway line he usually used to the residential district he lived in.

Clutching his umbrella under his arm and making sure his backpack was securely strapped to his shoulders, Kyungsoo waited for the passengers to alight before he got on the subway.

Due to the smaller crowd, there was ample space around and Kyungsoo managed to get a seat with an empty spot beside himself to put his bag and umbrella on.

There were lots of other empty seats around him so Kyungsoo did not worry about taking up spaces that someone else might need more than he did.

The subway ride would take about twenty minutes with only one stop so Kyungsoo didn’t have to worry about having to change trains.

Kyungsoo leaned his back against the subway’s glass mirror and glanced up at the advertisements plastered onto the walls of the train.

The most prominently displayed advertisement was that of some model in a tank top and holding up a beer bottle.

Kyungsoo then started to recall that he hadn’t been out and casually drinking in a social setting for a while now.

He did owe Sehun this time around for getting him some passes to the tournament and Kyungsoo thought of repaying the favor by buying Sehun a few drinks after the match.

Lately, Kyungsoo had been all about work and just work. This had lasted for about three or four years now.

Almost every day; Kyungsoo got up, got ready for work, went to work and repeated the cycle.

If he had a day off, he would spend it reading the latest news updates for Go tournaments and be going through the match transcripts of the top players and trying to figure out why the winner won and the loser lost from the records of moves played.

Kyungsoo was twenty-nine years old, a junior medical resident who was attached to a medium-sized general hospital and he was aiming to specialize in general surgery once his residency was over in three or four years.

Back when Kyungsoo was a fresh-faced fifteen-year-old high school junior in his black blazer uniform, Kyungsoo had joined the Go club because of the tall boy in his class named Park Chanyeol.

Kyungsoo closed his eyes and tried to get a little bit of rest with his head leaned back on the subway’s mirror as he reminisced the past and how a doctor like him actually got interested in Go.

Being a plump and shy kid in school who knew nobody there, Kyungsoo was quiet and didn’t make many friends initially.

Chanyeol was assigned as his seatmate and thanks to Chanyeol’s boisterousness and take charge attitude, Kyungsoo managed to get by the school year with ease before he finally eased in into high school life.

Kyungsoo went wherever Chanyeol went. They were in the same groups in class, ate together in the cafeteria, played dodge balls against each other in P.E, walked together to the subway station after school every day and of course Kyungsoo ended up joining the Go club because Chanyeol did too.

Except, Kyungsoo had no idea how to play Go or how the game even worked. He had only joined it because of Chanyeol.

All he knew was that it some sort of traditional board game sort of like chess but played with black and white pieces that looked like stones and that there were way more pieces than a chess board.

Kyungsoo had seen his grandfather play Go sometimes with friends but merely as a hobby and not competitively, whenever his grandfather had friends over during the holidays.

After joining the club, Chanyeol volunteered to teach Kyungsoo how to play Go and the two would often stay back after school hours to play in an empty classroom.

First, it was about the game but soon Kyungsoo began staying back more to play Go because of how enamored he became towards Chanyeol.

“Listen, black always plays first,” Chanyeol informed, pouring out the white pieces from a small velvet bag before arranging them onto the 19x19 board.

“Alright,” Kyungsoo nodded in understanding.

“I’ll let you play black to give myself a handicap since this is your first time. I’m going to reduce the board size too so we’ll only play within the boundaries I draw out,” Chanyeol added, marking a square on the board with a marker to distinguish the new space to play in. “Just use 40 pieces for now.”

Kyungsoo began counting the pieces and adding the number to a bowl on his side.

“Wait, take four or five pieces more,” Chanyeol pointed out.

“But then we won’t have the same number of pieces?”, Kyungsoo scrunched his nose, looking up at Chanyeol through glasses that were slipping off his face.

“I’m playing at a handicap so you’ll have more pieces to beat me with. It wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t give you an advantage,” Chanyeol grinned.

“Oh, I see,” Kyungsoo gaped, nodding and doing as told by Chanyeol.

“I’m honored to be playing with you. I hope it’ll be a good game,” Chanyeol bowed in front of the board.

“You don’t have to. It’s nothing really. I’m no one great,” Kyungsoo tried to brush it off.

“Well then…but you really should bow to your opponent before a match,” Chanyeol smiled.

“I do? I’m so sorry,” Kyungsoo promptly apologized, bowing his head too hard and smacking his forehead against the board.

Chanyeol broke out into laughter, assuring, “Don’t be so nervous. I’m no one great either. It’s not like you’re going against a top player.”

Kyungsoo lost that first match but he gained an invaluable friend in Chanyeol that day.

Chanyeol walked Kyungsoo home after his first loss and began talking about the strategies of Go. Chanyeol insisted to properly teach Kyungsoo how to play Go until Kyungsoo could at least reach the official amateur player rank.

As they passed down the streets and rows of houses in the late spring weather, Chanyeol went on and on about Go and on how he planned to teach Kyungsoo to play.

Kyungsoo noticed how heavily Chanyeol emphasized his growth and potential in Go. It was all about Go and about Kyungsoo that came out from Chanyeol’s mouth, and there seemed to be a glimmer in Chanyeol’s eye when he was rambling about Go.

Chanyeol really loved Go.

Kyungsoo didn’t understand half the things Chanyeol was talking about but he did know someone who made him feel important and like an equal.

With Chanyeol’s help; Kyungsoo was enrolled into the Go players association and assigned the “30- geup” rank, the lowest attainable rank for a Go beginner.

Kyungsoo too found out that Chanyeol despite being the same age, already held an amateur 7-dan rank; the highest rank for an amateur and just one below a professional. Chanyeol was the youngest person to hold that rank so far in the country.

Due to having two working parents and to cut costs on daycare, Chanyeol was sent to play Go at the association after schooling hours since preschool where his mother’s friend worked at.

Chanyeol proved to be gifted at Go and from a pastime, it became Chanyeol’s life.

Soon enough, he was beating people old enough to be his parent and gaining traction as the youngest soon to be a professional player in the country.

But even during the Go association meetings and the school clubs meetups; where all the attention of the other players was on Chanyeol for being a gifted prodigy, Chanyeol always made Kyungsoo a priority too and never made him feel left out in such a new place.

Kyungsoo felt proud and felt so important to someone, that being Chanyeol. Sure, Kyungsoo’s family treated him well but somehow it felt so good to be treated like he meant something to one more person.

In the summer break of Kyungsoo’s first year in high school; Chanyeol brought over a board and Go pieces to his house and spent almost every day of the holiday there, teaching Kyungsoo the tactics and strategy of how to play Go, better.

Chanyeol spent so much time over at Kyungsoo’s that his mother even prepared a spare pillow and blanket because Chanyeol often ended up sleeping over.

The only times when Chanyeol did not come over was when he had to attend official matches that would determine his rank promotions.

Chanyeol always texted Kyungsoo after the match and most of the time, he won.

Kyungsoo had fond memories of that summer; playing Go under the window in his living room in the humid and sweaty weather, wearing baggy t-shirts and shorts while fanning themselves with a paper fan and the loser having to buy popsicles for the other.

Chanyeol almost always won though but ended up sharing half the popsicle with Kyungsoo later on as they sang along to folk songs in the night summer sky on the way back from the local convenience store.

One winter on the way back from school, Chanyeol was quieter than usual and for once, he wasn’t talking about Go.

Instead, Chanyeol talked about something else he never even touched on.

“Kyungsoo, we’ll be in our second year in less than two months. Have you thought about what you wanted to pursue after high school?” Chanyeol questioned, breath forming mist in the cold air.

“I thought about becoming a doctor. I’ll need good grades for that,” Kyungsoo replied, rubbing his gloved hands