Gui Province, Provincial Capital.
The moment Jing Yu stepped off the plane, he saw a familiar face — Fu Jing, the producer from Chenghai TV.
She greeted him with a bright, enthusiastic smile.
"Teacher Jing Yu."
Later, at a quiet café, soothing piano music filled the air. Jing Yu sipped his coffee, idly watching the pianist with interest.
Across from him, Fu Jing was intently reading the first three episodes of 'Hikaru no Go' that he had brought with him.
But as she read further and further, the look on her face gradually changed.
From initial excitement and warmth…
to hesitation, then doubt.
"…Teacher Jing Yu," she finally spoke, carefully.
"I wanted to ask — this drama, is it a romance that uses Go as a narrative device?
Like your previous works — say, in 'White Album 2' or the 'Your Lie in April' drama — where music brought the characters together and love blossomed.
So here, does the female lead fall in love with the protagonist Hikaru because of his Go skills, leading to a tragic, bittersweet love story?"
"No, not at all," Jing Yu blinked.
He responded quickly, almost instinctively.
"Oh… So then maybe Go is just the backdrop?
And the real story is about this thousand-year-old ghost, Sai.
Hikaru is just a side character while the actual narrative focuses on Sai's love story across time?"
"…No," Jing Yu frowned, confused.
"Producer Fu, why do you keep circling back to romance?"
"This drama is called 'Hikaru no Go' — it's all about Go.
It's a pure sports drama, centered on the game."
Fu Jing looked between Jing Yu and the script.
"…So, if I understand correctly," she asked carefully,
"this really is a story about middle school students playing Go? Not a romance?"
"Correct." Jing Yu nodded firmly.
"You've understood it perfectly.
It's a competitive Go sports drama.
And there will be zero romantic elements — none at all."
At this point, Jing Yu was starting to feel that something wasn't quite right.
"You're saying no romance whatsoever will appear in the entire story?" Fu Jing took a deep breath.
"Not a single bit," Jing Yu confirmed.
"…I see. So, Producer Fu, is Chenghai TV not confident about sports-themed dramas? Haven't you made several already?"
Of course we have, Fu Jing thought with gritted teeth.
But this?
This wasn't the same thing.
From the industry's perspective, Jing Yu was a romance writer.
Three back-to-back hits — all romance dramas.
He'd already been typecast by the entire film and television industry as a romance specialist.
Sure, there were a few screenwriters in Da Zhou who could do it all —
Romance, workplace, thriller, detective, martial arts — you name it.
But they were rare.
Most writers specialize.
Jing Yu had proven himself in romance.
But sports dramas?
That was a whole different game.
And most sports dramas weren't really about the sport anyway.
They were built around popular and accessible sports, with teenage romance subplots layered in.
Basketball, soccer, and table tennis — simple rules, easy to follow.
Even if a viewer had never played the sport, a quick bit of narration was enough for them to understand the stakes.
Then you had figure skating, boxing, track and field, swimming, cycling —
These didn't even need rule explanations.
Just show some pretty actors moving gracefully or sweating it out, and that was enough to hook viewers.
And virtually all of Da Zhou's past sports dramas followed the same formula:
Sports + Romance
Career + Love — a double happy ending.
That's what kept viewers engaged.
But Go?
What even is that?
Jing Yu had even printed out actual Go match diagrams from the first three episodes of 'Hikaru no Go' for Fu Jing to review.
But all she could think was:
"Why the hell would I know how to read this?"
And if she couldn't understand it, that meant…
The audience wouldn't either.
Worse, it wasn't even a sports drama with a romance subplot.
Jing Yu had made it very clear — there would be no love story at all.
Which meant?
All those viewers who might've stayed just for the romance?
Gone.
Filtered out from the very start.
Da Zhou had over 1 billion people, but how many of them actually understood Go?
Even if 20–30 million were Go enthusiasts,
How many of those would actually tune in for a Go-centric drama?
1 in 20?
1 in 15?
Let's be generous and say 1 in 10.
That's 2–3 million viewers.
In viewership terms?
That's a ratings share of under 1%.
And a sub-1% rating?
That hasn't happened on a Big Six network in over a decade.
To be fair, Fu Jing did find the story intriguing.
The idea of an ancient Go spirit haunting a middle schooler and teaching him the game had clear narrative potential.
The mysterious tone, the personal growth, the contrast between eras — it was compelling.
But that was just her.
What mattered was what Da Zhou's general public would like.
Fu Jing exhaled slowly.
There was no way she could say all that out loud.
"…Teacher Jing Yu," she began cautiously.
"Do you… have any other scripts on hand?
Preferably something in the romance genre?"
Her eyes held a glimmer of hope.
Many young screenwriters had multiple scripts or story concepts in reserve.
If 'Hikaru no Go' didn't work out, that didn't mean his other ideas wouldn't.
Fu Jing still believed in Jing Yu —
especially his ability to write romance.
Jing Yu looked at her.
"…Is there a problem with the 'Hikaru no Go' script?"
"No, not at all!" Fu Jing quickly corrected herself.
"In fact, after just reading the first three episodes, I already think it's an incredibly engaging story."
"Then why…?"
"…But I'm afraid it probably won't become a hit."
Fu Jing chose her words carefully — "probably."
But deep down, she was nearly certain:
It won't work.
"Go isn't very popular in Da Zhou," she explained.
"If the audience doesn't understand the rules, they won't understand the matches.
And unlike figure skating or other visual sports, Go doesn't have inherent visual appeal during competition.
So what will they be drawn to?"
At that moment, it clicked.
Jing Yu realized he'd made a mistake.
A huge mistake.
He'd been looking at things from a god's-eye view.
He knew from experience that 'Hikaru no Go' could succeed without the audience understanding Go.
He didn't play Go himself when he first watched it.
Many fans in his previous life had rewatched the show multiple times without knowing the rules.
Even in his past world, the live-action adaptation of 'Hikaru no Go' had gone viral, despite most viewers being total Go novices.
The market had validated the show already.
That's why he had been so confident in using it as his next project.
He was sure that, even in Da Zhou, 'Hikaru no Go' would sweep the charts, regardless of viewer familiarity with Go.
But he'd forgotten one crucial step:
Before a show can be loved by the audience, it first needs to be accepted by the TV station.