Chapter 334
I, along with Chun-mong, went to the gambling house and, as always, started winning money.
My senior brothers, who had naturally taken their places as one of the gamblers here and there, were the same, and so was old man Maeng Gwang-gae.
'From today, you try using the Formless Heaven Creation.'
Before coming here, Maeng Gwang-gae, who had confirmed my Formless Heaven Creation, told me that this level would be enough and told me to try it out today, and fortunately, no one noticed my Formless Heaven Creation.
In fact, what's much more important than learning a technique is in what situation and how to perform it.
I thought of the gambling house not simply as a place to gamble, but as a kind of battlefield.
I considered the opponents not just as the gamblers of the gambling house, but as everyone around me.
Thinking like that, I began to ponder how to use the technique without being discovered.
And when was the right time and place to use the technique, and thanks to that, it seemed the Formless Heaven Creation worked perfectly.
"I won! Hahaha! You're on a winning streak today too! It was right to take a break yesterday!"
Next to me, Chun-mong is betting money, winning money, and shouting with a happy laugh.
After spending some time together, I could feel something strange about the person named Chun-mong, but that strangeness was not just negative.
'Chun-mong... I think he already thinks of me as the benefactor who saved his brother.'
Although he seemed to have accepted my denial that I was not Hwi-un when we talked yesterday, his attitude today was as if he were treating me as a complete benefactor.
Although Chun-mong seems to be loitering around me without any thought, in fact, he is protecting me by appropriately blocking those who approach me.
Perhaps he had done something like guarding a person before, as he looked very skilled.
'That bastard Hwang-jo has been staring only at me from a while ago.'
Just as there are people full of goodwill like Chun-mong, there are also people full of malice like Hwang-jo.
He was watching me closely, as if trying to confirm whether I was using some kind of trick or not.
But, to be honest, Hwang-jo's martial arts level is not even up to the level of our Senior Brother Un-mi.
The bastard will not be able to notice that I am a master, and that I am performing the Formless Heaven Creation.
"This time too... you have won..."
The gambler who had lost to me again this time spat out his words as if he were dejected.
Although I feel a little guilty about his gloomy expression because I'm using a trick, I decided not to think about it.
Although it may seem that good people are being taken advantage of by me, in fact, these people have led countless people to the path of gambling and have made them go bankrupt.
I cannot stop the work of destroying the gambling house because of the conscience and compassion in front of me.
"Hmm... it's getting boring to play here now."
I said as if I were talking to myself while collecting the silver coins.
Then the gambler's eyes lit up and he said, "Guest! If you wish, may I check if you can go up to a more interesting room where you can bet more money?"
"You're saying I should upgrade and go up?"
"Yes. That's right."
Although he is speaking very kindly, it is clear that he is doing so because he wishes I would disappear upwards.
I, as if I had no choice, nodded my head.
"Alright. What should I do? But I don't want to go up alone. Is it possible to upgrade with someone else?"
"I will check on that. Please wait a moment."
The gambler rushed to Hwang-jo and said something.
Then Hwang-jo walked directly towards me.
"When I offered to upgrade you to the Deer Room before, you refused, but today you want to upgrade?"
He seems to be strangely hostile to me.
Although his tone is polite, its content is almost like a quarrel.
"You told a person who wasn't even adapted to go to a high room, so of course I would have a negative reaction. But now that I've been here for a few days and have roughly grasped the atmosphere, I'm saying I'll go up. Is that not allowed?"
"With your skill, win rate, and stake, there's no reason you can't go up. But who is the person you want to upgrade with?"
I, pointing to Chun-mong, answered, "It's that person. For some reason, I seem to be lucky when I'm with that person. Can we upgrade together?"
"If you want to go up after hearing his opinion, you can go. That person... has been seen here for quite a long time."
I asked Chun-mong if he would go up to the upper room with me, and of course, he answered cheerfully, "Of course! I was actually waiting for when you would go up, Mr. Hwi. Hahaha!"
Hwang-jo, with a displeased expression, took the two of us and moved somewhere.
It was a different path from the one I took to see the Green Snake before.
'I really don't know how they dug this place. How is it so big?'
With a scale of this size, there will surely be countless places to escape.
Thinking that, I thought it was a good thing that I didn't rush towards the Green Snake without thinking.
"I have one thing I want to ask."
"What is it?"
"Are we going to the Fox Room now? Or are we going to the Deer Room?"
"Of course, we are escorting you to the Fox Room."
"Then how do we get to the Deer Room and the Tiger Room from there?"
"Why do you keep asking the obvious? If you keep winning and win a lot of money, it's possible."
He answered bluntly, and a little while later, we arrived at a room that was about half the size and had half the number of people as the place we were in at first.
"This is the Fox Room. Please enjoy yourselves."
He said that and then, instead of returning to the Rabbit Room, he went to one wall, leaned his back against it, and began to watch me openly.
Although it seems he is giving me the silent pressure that he is always watching, I rather like it.
'The fact that he is watching means that the other bastards are not paying attention to me.'
The fact that Hwang-jo, the Green Snake's trusted subordinate, is watching me closely also means that I just have to avoid his eyes.
Hwang-jo probably doesn't even dream that he is actually helping me.
"Mr. Chun. Then shall we have fun winning money here too?"
"Haha! I'll just trust you, Mr. Hwi!"
As soon as I arrived, I immediately looked around.
'Old man Maeng Gwang-gae is already here. Among my senior brothers, it seems only Senior Brother Un-jeong has come up. They'll all come up slowly.'
My senior brothers are also coming up step by step.
Since we're not supposed to acknowledge each other here anyway, I immediately went to the nearest gambler, bet my money, and started gambling.
'Not much time left.'
It's time to flatten the nose of that Hwang-jo bastard who is watching me with a displeased eye.
***
Five days have passed since Unhwi's group began to be active in the gambling house in earnest.
During that time, they continued to win.
Although the word 'winning streak' may not be suitable for a gambling house, they were actually doing it.
Not only Maeng Gwang-gae's Formless Heaven Creation, but although they didn't know it, in fact, they were also quite talented at gambling.
"Aaargh! What on earth is going on? This doesn't make any sense!"
In the deepest part of the gambling house. The Green Snake shouted nervously.
"A loss. I've been running a gambling house for ten years, and this is the first time I've had a loss!"
She continued to shout.
"Th-that... I know it's ridiculous, but the win rate of too many people is incomprehensibly high. This has never happened before..."
Hwang-jo, who was listening to her shouting, said as if to make an excuse.
But the Green Snake, as if she didn't want to hear it, shouted once more.
"Who doesn't know that?! I'm asking how this happened. And how are you going to solve it?!"
"That's..."
Hwang-jo trailed off.
In fact, there was nothing he could say.
The gambling house is now in an uproar.
At first, he thought the problem was just one bastard named Hwi or something.
But suddenly, like mushrooms after rain, people with abnormally high win rates began to appear here and there and created their own factions.
There were as many as six such factions.
There were six people with a win rate so good that they could be called gods of gambling, and around each of them, at least five or six people were attached, betting the same as them, so it was a situation where more than thirty gamblers were winning money with a win rate of almost 70-80%.
But the biggest problem is that it's not that they're only playing in the Rabbit Room.
They are now playing in two groups in the Deer Room, and the remaining four groups in the Fox Room.
"Get more gamblers. Get skilled gamblers. Don't you have to make them go bankrupt even if you have to use tricks?"
"I've already brought all the skilled gamblers I can get from around here. But... the bastards are also cleverly playing only the gambles that the gamblers can't do anything about."
Originally, the area where gamblers can exert their power is in places where hand skills are effective, such as Hwatu, Tujeon, and Mahjong.
But they also thoroughly did not play the gambles where such intervention could enter.
They only bet on luck. They only bet on things like coins, dice, and dominoes where they could see the outcome with luck.
"Haa... at this rate, we might see a deficit this month."
The Green Snake fell into thought for a moment.
It's not a big problem to see a deficit for a month.
But she has seen too many times gamblers who stay around here for a long time, over a year or two, and come and go here endlessly while running the gambling house.
If this kind of thing continues for more than a few months, it will be a really big problem.
"Owner of the manor. How about we do this?"
"How?"
"Anyway, if we run the gambling house, we'll only see a loss, right? Why don't we take this opportunity to take a break and close the gambling house for a while?"
"Are you crazy? You're telling me to stop operating?"
"For a while. Just for a while."
"Then when we start operating again, it'll be the same if the bastards come back, won't it?"
"No. We can just create a situation where we are not the same, can't we?"
"How?"
As the Green Snake asked again, Hwang-jo said with a cruel smile, "Your junior brother, owner of the manor... I've finally located him."
"What?! Where on earth has he been hiding?"
"He is said to be checking every single person who comes in on the road from Kaifeng to this place. He is said to be especially blocking beggars from entering this place."
"Haa..."
She, after letting out a deep sigh, continued, "No matter how much my master ordered me to catch Maeng Gwang-gae, he should at least discuss something with me so that I can give some help or make a plan. What's the point of just catching passersby?"
"I think so too. So why don't we talk to your junior brother and ask him to get rid of a few of those gamblers with a strangely high win rate while our business is closed? I heard his martial arts are quite strong..."
The Green Snake, after thinking for a moment, nodded her head.
"Alright. Anyway, he's just following me around and wasting money... I should make him earn his keep like that."
As if her mood had improved, a smile bloomed on her lips.
It was a cruel smile.
(End of Chapter)