“Big one wins!”
“That’s right!”
Seok Han-Bin snickered and swept the money placed before him into his arms.
The kids standing behind him stared blankly at the sight, then kept nervously looking back over their shoulders.
“Come on, lay it down! Bet! This young master here has been on a lucky streak—an adult shouldn’t lose to him, right?”
“Hmm. Did some luck stick to him?”
“That brat’s got some nerve.”
“Come on, next round!”
The dealer in the center took the dice from the cup, flashed them around to those gathered, tossed them back in, and then flamboyantly shook the dice cup to mix the dice inside.
“Heeeere we go!”
Clatter!
The wildly spinning dice cup crashed down onto the table in an instant.
“Place your bets!”
“Big!”
“Me too, big!”
“I’ll go small this time.”
Everyone circled around the dice table placed their money down without exception. Even so, Seok Han-Bin watched the dealer carefully.
After staring at him and the still-handled dice cup for a long while, Seok Han-Bin pushed some of the money in front of him forward.
“Small!”
“Aaaand… if everyone’s bet, I’ll reveal!”
The dealer’s hand holding the cup shot up at once. When the dice faces were revealed, half the crowd cheered while the other half cursed.
“It’s small (小)!”
“Aaargh! Damn it! Why does it never match like this?!”
“Done! I tripled my money. Wahahaha!”
Meanwhile, Seok Han-Bin, having won again, chuckled as he swept up the money in front of him.
“Um, boss.”
“What?”
“Sh-shouldn’t we stop and go now?”
“Why, you’re on a streak right now.”
“…No, streak or not. This isn’t a time for the boss to be wandering around like this. Especially not a gambling den like this…”
“What are you talking about. It’s because of a situation like this that we need to hit the gambling den.”
“Huh?”
“Tsk tsk tsk. You’re stupid. If I showed myself on the main road right now, what do you think would happen?”
“Black Fish Union would snatch the boss in an instant.”
“See? The main road is dangerous. But not here.”
“Why? This gambling den is run by the evil faction, isn’t it?”
“Are all evil factions the same evil factions?”
“Huh?”
“Those who hold grudges against me are the Black fish Union, but this place is run by the Poison Scorpion clan. You all know Black Fish and Poison Scorpion are sworn enemies.”
“I guess…yeah.”
When the kids nodded, Seok Han-Bin clicked his tongue.
“Think about it. No matter how much Black Fish Union wants to get at me, would they come looking for me into a gambling den run by Poison Scorpion? If they tried to come in here, they might start a war with Poison Scorpion.”
“…They probably wouldn’t.”
“Right. So this is the safest place for me in Henan right now, got it?”
The kids nodded without realizing it.
They didn’t fully understand, but this was how Seok Han-Bin always operated, so they had no choice but to accept it.
“So…we just came here to cheer you up?”
“Of course not. We came to make money.”
“…Huh?”
Seok Han-Bin scowled suddenly.
“I have to leave Henan for a while. We need money so we can disappear.”
“…”
“And incidentally avoid some nags while we’re at it.”
“Nags?”
“They exist. Don’t talk to me. I need to concentrate.”
Seok Han-Bin waved his hand. But even with the explanation, they couldn’t stay calm. Unless they were as reckless as him, they were too young to come and go calmly in a gambling den run by evil factions.
“Boss, everything else is fine, but…”
“Ah, I told you not to talk.”
“No, I think if you explain just this one thing it’ll be fine.”
“What?”
“I get everything else. But what’s this, then?”
“Huh?”
Seok Han-Bin followed the kid’s gesture and looked down.
Squeeeeze…
There was a marten, passed out, clutching a wine flask as big as its body.
“…Just let it be.”
“Still, that thing…”
“I can’t explain it either, so just let it be…”
Then Seok Han-Bin flinched at the marten, snatched at the flask it was holding and shook it like lightning. When he confirmed the bottle was completely empty, his face went pale.
“Q-quick!”
Seok Han-Bin snatched a silver piece from the stall, practically threw it at the kids, and shouted.
“Go ask for a bottle of liquor, quick! Get something strong! And give it to that marten! Hurry!”
“Give booze to a marten?”
They wondered if their boss had finally lost it, but his urgent manner left no time to hesitate.
“Stop talking and move! If that marten wakes up, everything’s ruined! Move! Now!”
“Okay, okay.”
Seok Han-Bin glanced at the kid who ran off, hesitated, bit his lip, then set his jaw and looked at the stall.
“We’ll win and leave this place for sure.”
He’d already planned to leave for a while because of Black Fish Union, but now, because of those Mount Hua Taoist fools, he really had to be gone for some time. For that he needed enough money.
Clink.
The silver piece clenched in his hand glittered sharply in his eyes.
If he could just stop these suckers who’d been letting him win on purpose from taking back the money they’d let him earn…
‘To hell with Black Fish Union and Mount Hua.’
Just as Seok Han-Bin was about to set his money down on the stall,
“Who do you think you are coming in here?”
“Want to die?”
A sudden commotion came from the rear.
His concentration broken, Seok Han-Bin turned back with an irritated look.
“You bastards, are you crazy… Aaaagh!”
One of the men who had blocked the entrance screamed and collapsed, and thick blood began spreading across the floor.
The raucous gambling den went suddenly silent as if frozen.
“…You lunatics! Do you want to start a war right now?”
A Poison Scorpion warrior shouted in horror. The man at the front of the group who entered spoke in a blunt tone.
“If you don’t clear a path, we’ll make war. If you’re scared, piss off.”
“Don’t spout that shit. Kill them all!”
“Aaaaah!”
With savage cries, dozens of big, burly men instantly swung hand-axes and huge broadswords at each other.
“S-someone’s dead!”
“Run! Now!”
“Damn it. Where the hell are we supposed to run!”
The gamblers filling the den recoiled in terror, but there was nowhere for them to flee. Gambling dens run by the Evil faction were hidden and cramped by nature, and such places usually had limited space and only one exit.
From the moment the entrance was seized, they were mice trapped in a jar.
“Aaaaargh!”
“You sons of bitches… ugh!”
Seok Han-Bin swallowed dryly.
The ten or so Poison Scorpion men guarding the den were wiped out in an instant. Trampling partly on Poison Scorpion men with knives stuck in them, a man strode straight forward.
Seok Han-Bin knew that man well.
‘Commander Gam…?’
He was surely Commander Gam, the right-hand man of the Union leader of Black Fish Union, Seo Gun-Hong. He hadn’t expected Commander Gam to come himself—moreover, to wage war with Poison Scorpion just to get that one man.
Were Black Fish Union such violent ruffians?
Seok Han-Bin’s gaze drifted down without him realizing. The marten he’d gotten drunk was still passed out cold, even mumbling in its sleep despite the chaos.
“Ha, what rotten luck…”
Commander Gam, who had reached him, smiled faintly at Seok Han-Bin.
Seok Han-Bin returned the awkward smile.
“Um, I have a favor to ask.”
“What?”
“Take it easy, will you.”
Commander Gam’s hand shot toward Seok Han-Bin’s face at once.
Beggar Sun-Hak roughly shoved aside the plank that couldn’t really be called a door and stuck his head into the house.
“Huh? What beggar is this.”
“Got any stale rice here?”
“It’s me! Beggar Sun-Hak!”
“Oh.”
The sprawled Chung Myung got up and gave Beggar Sun-Hak an awkward smile.
“So, who are you…”
“You’re the Henan Branch Leader, aren’t you, you punk! How long has it been since I saw your face!”
“No, beggars all look the same. How am I supposed to tell them apart by face? If I could, I could tell the neighborhood mangy dogs apart too.”
“Try not to be so rude…”
Did he really get bitten to death by a beggar in his past life…?
But Beggar Sun-Hak, struck by such rudeness, didn’t seem inclined to continue such trivial banter.
“This is not the time. It’s a big problem!”
“What, did you break your money pot?”
“…Would that be a big deal?”
“For a beggar that would be a big deal, wouldn’t it?”
Beggar Sun-Hak thumped his chest in frustration. Do these guys grow thorns in their mouths if they don’t shut up for even a moment?
“Don’t get excited and tell me. What’s wrong?”
“Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon!”
“Yes?”
“Just checking—what’s your relationship with the kid who lived here, the one named Seok Han-Bin?”
“Hmm. Relationship… It’s kind of one of those things you can’t really say exists, but can’t really say doesn’t either.”
“Then that’s settled.”
“Settled my ass. What’s this all of a sudden about…”
“Seok Han-Bin. That bastard has been taken by Black Fish Union.”
“What?”
Chung Myung sprang up from his seat.
“Where? Black Fish Union? What’s Black Fish Union?”
“It’s an evil faction sect in Henan. They have a history with Seok Han-Bin…”
“Ah, that… he scammed them?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Why would they suddenly take him there! Didn’t you have Baek Ah keeping an eye on him?”
Chung Myung looked at Baek Cheon as if demanding an explanation. But what could Baek Cheon say?
“Baek Ah isn’t one to be taken so easily. Even if she couldn’t handle it by force, she’d have come to warn us in a flash.”
“Exactly!”
While Chung Myung and Baek Cheon couldn’t hide their bewilderment, Beggar Sun-Hak narrowed his eyes.
“Excuse me, but the Baek Ah you’re talking about, could it be…”
“Yes?”
“This one?”
Beggar Sun-Hak pulled something limp from his bosom. When the Mount Hua disciples saw the marten dangling from his hand, their eyes widened like oil lamps.
“Those beggar bastards picked it up while checking the situation. I thought about leaving it, but of all things, the clothes this marten is wearing…”
“Why is it passed out? That can’t be…”
“Whoa. Smells like liquor.”
“Drunk herself into a stupor.”
“Ugh.”
Chung Myung grabbed the back of his neck. But only for a moment—eyes rolling, he lunged at Baek Ah like a fire-breathing beast.
“That damned marten, crazy as hell!”
“Ch-Chung Myung! Hold back!”
“Let go! You’re not letting go? Today I’m really going to skin that bastard and make a scarf! Let go!”
“Will that undo what’s happened? That’s not the point! Han-Bin’s been taken right now!”
“Huk! Huk! Huk! Huk!”
After ranting for a while, Chung Myung snapped his head toward Beggar Sun-Hak. Beggar Sun-Hak flinched at the mad look in his eyes.
“Where is he?”
“Yes?”
Beggar Sun-Hak, startled, made a stunned sound, and Chung Myung ground his teeth and asked again.
“Where did they take him?!”