Summary

At the party, upperclassman sit and watch a round of baduk, a game of strategy that involves taking up as much space on the playing board with stones that constitute a player’s “territory.” Sunam sees that one of the players is Min. He recounts what he knows about Min: “a reputation for quick violence, hard partying, and an indiscriminate taste for women” (133). Min is clearly winning the game. Sunam hears people around him discussing the oil market, and post-graduation plans for success. Juno offers Sunam up as the next player. As a child, Sunam was briefly ranked as a tournament baduk player. Juno respects the game and anyone who plays it well, having come from a lineage of successful baduk players. Min abruptly ends the game he is playing to compete against Sunam.

Sunam assumes he is the better player, but out...