Regardless of the circumstances of Choi's martial arts training, he returned to Korea after World War II and settled in Daegu, first selling sweets and later raising hogs. In 1948, after becoming involved in an altercation with several men in a dispute over grain at the Seo Brewing Company, the son of the chairman of the brewery, Seo Bok-seob, was so impressed by his self-defense skills that Seo invited Choi to teach the brewery's employees at a makeshift dojang that Seo had created on the premises for that purpose. In this way, Seo Bok-seob became Choi Yong-sool's first student. Later Choi became a bodyguard to Seo's father, who was an important congressman in Daegu.
