The Man Tang Do-gyeong Is Obsessed With - 2
The Tang Clan and the Sichuan Nangin had almost nothing to do with each other. Sichuan Province was a region the Tang Clan simply did not bother with, and the Sichuan Nangin handled more than nine-tenths of their commissions inside the province itself. Outside jobs were not for “Sichuan Nangin” specifically—they just needed any wandering warrior, and those could be found in plenty beyond Sichuan’s borders.
Even living in the same Sichuan, the two sides regarded each other the way a cow looks at a chicken—complete strangers.
“That nangin beat Tang Do-gyeong in a wager?”
“Wasn’t that guy supposed to be terrible at gambling?”
“I heard he got cleaned out so many times inside the inn that he finally started gambling outside.”
“Yeah, and he got caught more than once trying those clumsy tricks of his.”
I can hear every word, you bastards.
I had called him “that nangin” to preserve my anonymity in front of Tang Do-gyeong, but of course they were talking about me. And the things the nangin were muttering were, unfortunately, true. In the early days of learning gambling techniques I had practiced right here in the Wanderer Inn. The place started at Second-rate at the lowest, First-rate was the mainstream, and Peak experts were not rare either.
Super-Peak? If you reached that realm, why the hell would you still be a nangin? Every Super-Peak nangin tossed off the black hat and left.
Anyway, the nangin themselves had no gambling skill to speak of, but they were still martial artists. Among the people a beginner could train against, they gave a solid amount of proficiency.
Back then I really had been a complete novice at gambling, so I got caught more than once trying sleight of hand on the nangin. The only reason it never turned into a real fight was that I always lost every last coin and walked out broke.
The fact that Ho Cheon-an was well-liked among the nangin probably owed a lot to those days. When a walking vending machine that spat out money every time he gambled sat right in front of you, earnestly showing off his hand tricks like a performing monkey, of course you saw him as a mark—no, as a likable guy.
Once my gambling techniques reached a decent level of proficiency, I needed professional gamblers to practice against, so I naturally started frequenting the gambling dens outside. From the nangin’s point of view it was only natural to think, “Ah, he finally got tired of losing and started wandering outside.”
It was perfectly normal that the Sichuan Nangin had no idea of the true identity of the Gambling God Ho Cheon-an.
I desperately wished the nangin would just shut up.
Because every word they muttered was making the cross-shaped vein on Tang Do-gyeong’s forehead swell in real time. How furious would it make a man who had just been cleaned out to hear that the guy who beat him was a total sucker?
He was already humiliated enough at having been fleeced by some Second-rate nangin.
And on top of that, the endless whispering of the nangin poured down on him!
“Ahem, well, even a Tang Clan man can be bad at gambling, I suppose.”
“Still, losing to that guy is a bit…”
“Even if it was that guy, he could lose one round, right?”
“Hmm…”
Crack!
An ominous sound came from the tabletop Tang Do-gyeong had his arm resting on. The fist he was clenching trembled so hard it was clear he was far past ordinary anger.
“…So what business does Hero Tang Do-gyeong have with us?”
Yu Sa-yeon looked as if half the life had already drained out of her, even though not even half a gak had passed. If I were the innkeeper and Tang Do-gyeong was lighting a fire right in front of my eyes, I would probably feel dizzy too.
I had been about to tell her myself, but she had tried to pick a fight with me first and gotten burned for it, so I was completely innocent.
Right now I was carefully hidden among the nangin. Luck had been on my side. If I had still been sitting at the same table as Heukmyo when Tang Do-gyeong walked in, he would have spotted me instantly. I had been bickering with Yu Sa-yeon; the moment I saw Tang Do-gyeong I slipped behind the curtain of nangin and listened to their conversation.
“I am looking for the nangin who took the Blood Jade Stele from me. The one who was with that young lady yesterday.”
“Sichuan Nangin operate under a basic principle of anonymity. Unless you are involved, simply setting foot in this Wanderer Inn damages that anonymity. And yet not only have you entered, you are ordering us to produce a nangin for you?”
Yu Sa-yeon raised a rather sharp aura as she stared at Tang Do-gyeong.
“I may be nothing more than a small merchant running a humble inn, but I still have my pride and self-respect. Hero, you need to show a little more respect for that.”
“Of course. I, Tang Do-gyeong, swear on the Tang Clan name that I will never speak of having entered this inn.”
Even Yu Sa-yeon could not argue with a man who staked his own clan name. Tang Do-gyeong might be a little—no, a lot—crazy about fighting, but at his core he was the very definition of a real man. The only problem was that the moment the topic of fighting came up he completely lost his mind; in every other respect there was nothing wrong with the man called Tang Do-gyeong.
“I understand the innkeeper’s concerns. I did not come here to throw a tantrum and demand the Blood Jade Stele back.”
“…Then what do you want?”
Yu Sa-yeon floated the words as if she were willing to hear him out. Tang Do-gyeong’s eyes flew wide open.
“I am the sort of man who cannot sleep if I lose.”
Yeah, every single person in Sichuan knows that.
“That is how I earned the nickname Fighting Dog. Because whenever I lost I charged in again and again without caring about fire or water. But I have always lived within the lines of an orthodox martial artist. That is what we call a just cause.”
I had to admit that much was true.
A man of Tang Do-gyeong’s stature could have thrown an ugly fit the moment he lost to my yabawi and most people would still have accepted it. He could have forcibly taken the Blood Jade Stele back, or claimed the three of us had colluded to set him up.
He even had half a just cause. I was a nangin who used underhanded tricks; if he threw a tantrum he would be criticized, but most people would still think, “You lost a treasure like the Blood Jade Stele in a game like that? I would have done the same as Tang Do-gyeong.”
Yet even with bloodshot eyes full of rage, Tang Do-gyeong had simply withdrawn.
And when Yeo Il-ye and Heukmyo fought in front of the Golden Family estate he had stepped in, but he had not attacked. If he had thrown a fit as a guest of the Golden Family, claiming he could not forgive people making a scene in front of the estate, a formal duel might have been established right there.
Compared to someone like Kang Jun, who was orthodox in name only, this man was the real deal.
Thud.
Tang Do-gyeong pulled out a single sheet of paper and laid it down.
“A promissory note for one hundred gold nyang. I came here to wager with that man again and reclaim the Blood Jade Stele fairly!”
“…”
“As a man of the Tang Clan I have devoted myself more to fist and foot techniques than to hidden weapons, so I admit my eye techniques lag behind other Tang Clan members of my realm. But I am still a man of the Tang Clan, and in the art of hidden weapons we are the greatest family under heaven!
Eye techniques and hidden weapons are inseparable! I will win our rematch and restore the honor of a Tang Clan man! And I swear here and now that I will use no external pressure or violence of any kind in the process!”
“Hmm…”
“As expected of the Tang Clan. That is the spirit of the orthodox path.”
You crazy bastards, what are you agreeing with right now? Do you not understand what he is saying? He just declared he is going to destroy me—your fellow nangin.
I wanted to scream in frustration, but that would have given me away to Tang Do-gyeong instantly, so I could only pound my chest in secret.
To the Sichuan Nangin, however, Tang Do-gyeong’s upright bearing seemed to leave quite an impression.
In this Sichuan Province there were countless people who called themselves orthodox, but those self-proclaimed orthodox types used nangin to stage schemes, stole false victories, and then strutted around playing the hero.
Any Sichuan Nangin was bound to feel deep disgust toward the orthodox factions.
So I could understand them feeling something when a real man marched into enemy territory and boldly declared his ambitions…
Who the hell just pushed me? The bastard who shoved me in the back.
I turned and glared; Yeo Jinsang and Jeong Sam glared right back as if to ask why I was not going out there.
Have you two lost your minds? Pushing your own comrade?
Why aren’t you going out?
You hear words full of chivalrous spirit like that and feel nothing?
Seven years of knocking around together meant I could read their feelings at a glance. To think I had considered these bastards my comrades. In my entire life as a nangin they had never once been useful—just a pair of idiots.
“What is this situation now?”
In the middle of it all, a familiar yet chilly woman’s voice cut through.
“Yeo Il-ye…!”
“She’s here again…!”
“I have no interest in any of you. I merely came to honor the result of the wager.”
The nangin parted like the tide, and Yeo Il-ye frowned as she looked at Tang Do-gyeong and Yu Sa-yeon.
“Young Hero Tang is here as well.”
“…Young Lady Yeo has come too.”
Yeo Il-ye’s eyes narrowed.
“Could it be that you came because of the Blood Jade Stele?”
“Do not misunderstand. I only visited to request a fair rematch.”
For a while Yeo Il-ye and Tang Do-gyeong locked eyes. Yu Sa-yeon’s face had gone pale long ago; her expression looked ready to faint at any second. If Yeo Il-ye and Tang Do-gyeong started fighting here? A battle between Super-Peak experts inside the inn would reduce the place to complete rubble.
“Innkeeper Yu Sa-yeon, is it?”
“Y-yes… I am Yu Sa-yeon…”
At Yu Sa-yeon’s dazed voice, Yeo Il-ye tilted her head slightly and held out a sword wrapped in cloth.
“This is the item promised yesterday. Please deliver it to its owner.”
Ah, so this is how things get twisted.
“Huu.”
I had planned to receive money through Yu Sa-yeon instead of Yeo Il-ye’s sword. Just enough to save face—maybe five gold nyang. As long as I held the Favor-and-Grudge Token, extracting anything more from Yeo Il-ye was meaningless. That token was essentially a blank check.
Yeo Il-ye’s sword would fetch a decent price, but if she lost her beloved blade and her combat power dropped, it was better for me to simply return the sword for free.
Yeo Il-ye was the sort of person who, once she left, you never knew where or how you might meet her again. You could not even be sure she would ever set foot in Sichuan Province again. If I let her leave now, how was I supposed to give the sword back?
More than anything, accepting the sword from Yeo Il-ye would be another chance for my fame points to rise.
I was getting dizzy for real.
“Would it not be better to settle that sword for this amount of money instead?”
And so I had no choice but to step forward into the scene where Tang Do-gyeong was staring with wide eyes.
“I lost.”
Tang Do-gyeong stared at me with bulging eyes and held out the promissory note.
The yabawi contest that had lasted a full shichen finally ended.
Needless to say, Tang Do-gyeong lost every single round.
I had tried to lose on purpose. I could deceive Tang Do-gyeong with gambling, but hiding the fact that I was not using my full strength was another matter entirely.
“Are you insulting me!!!”
He caught it with uncanny precision. If I tried any more tricks he looked ready to kill me regardless of the match, so I had no choice but to go all out.
Spending that hour with him taught me exactly what kind of man Tang Do-gyeong was.
That man did not simply want victory. He wanted victory earned through a fight.
In other words, he was a true madman who would never accept winning by chance, or winning despite his own lack of ability.
Even if I succeeded in deliberately losing, he would keep coming after me until his eye techniques truly surpassed my yabawi.
Listen, friend. That is never going to happen, okay? I am the Gambling God. I literally cannot lose to you.
“Even a Sichuan Nangin must have a daily life, so I will come at the Hour of the Dragon tomorrow. If you run, I will chase you to the ends of hell.”
With a face like a limp rag I held the promissory note back out to him. If I accepted it, receiving one hundred gold nyang would raise my fame points again.
“That is the price of today’s match.”
“Then does the Hero acknowledge his defeat?”
“I acknowledge today’s defeat.”
“No—I asked whether you acknowledge that you lost to me.”
Tang Do-gyeong did not answer. He clearly regarded me as an opponent he would one day defeat by training his eye techniques every day, so of course no answer came.
“In that case I will also accept this money only after you acknowledge your defeat to me.”
“Ha…”
Tang Do-gyeong looked at me, then—
“Hahahahahahahaha!!!”
—began laughing like a madman.
What the hell is wrong with this guy?
After using his eye techniques at full power for an entire shichen, his eyes were bloodshot and strained. Staring at me with those eyes while laughing maniacally made the sight utterly chilling.
“I thought you were nothing but a swindler who played with mere hand tricks and deceived the people! To think such deep chivalrous spirit lay within! This Tang has learned a great lesson today!”
“No…”
“A man who can display divine skill enough to deceive a Super-Peak expert of the Tang Clan while still only Second-rate could never be a petty scoundrel or a coward! It seems I made a mistake.”
“I am not that great a person…”
“And humility on top of it! But excess courtesy becomes rudeness! Hahahahahahaha! I look forward to tomorrow’s match! Wahahahahahaha!!”
With that he laughed as he pleased and left.
“Ha…”
I felt like someone who had barely survived being swept up in a storm. Body and mind both exhausted, I slumped into a chair—only for the nangin to start creeping out again one by one.
“Hey, Brother Ho, when did your yabawi skills get that good?”
“People are creatures that improve. I have been gambling for years ever since I became a nangin—of course I got better. Anyone would improve if they did something that long.”
“For all that, Brother Ho’s martial arts still have not impro—”
“Which bastard said that?”
I wanted to root out the one delivering that brutal fact, but being Second-rate was my sin. With Second-rate hearing I could not pinpoint which of the surrounding nangin’s mouths the nonsense had come from.
If I were only First-rate I could have caught the guy who was bad-mouthing me for being stuck at Second-rate!
No—if I were First-rate there would not have been any bad-mouthing in the first place.
“Aigo…”
I was now stuck meeting Tang Do-gyeong every single day, but at least I had made the best possible choice for managing my fame.
Now that a wager of one hundred gold nyang versus the Blood Jade Stele was underway, the rise in fame points from my having won the stele would probably slow down to some degree. Fame points ultimately reflected how people perceived a situation, after all.
The rumor “Some Sichuan Nangin won the Blood Jade Stele from Tang Do-gyeong!” would now change into “Some nangin is locked in a contest with Tang Do-gyeong over the Blood Jade Stele!”
The fame points I had gained from winning the stele would not all disappear, but it was still far better than the rumor simply spreading that I had taken the Blood Jade Stele.
I had been prepared to abandon fame management in order to break through Second-rate, but that was only if it meant catching a clue—not mindlessly letting my fame points skyrocket for no reason.
I could not just sit and watch my fame points shoot up in a situation that had nothing to do with raising my realm.
A plan.
I needed a plan to deal with Tang Do-gyeong.