Chapter 4
Chapter 4
0-Won Regression -1
Quietly slipping out of the alley, I sprinted with all my strength straight toward the Wanderers’ Inn.
BANG!!
I kicked open the inn doors, and all the wandering warriors spending time inside simultaneously turned their heads toward me.
But I couldn’t care less about the stares of a bunch of men.
Only after crossing the inn’s threshold did I finally let out a sigh of relief.
Well… maybe it was relief, or maybe it was just me gasping because my lungs had nearly burst.
“Brother Ho, looks like gambling didn’t go well today?”
“That footwork just now rivaled the legendary thief Muyeong Divine Wind himself.”
“So which gambling den were you snooping around before fleeing back here like this?”
The wanderers drinking alcohol in broad daylight and killing time burst into laughter.
I’d lived in the world of Murim Cheonha for eight years already, and spent seven of them as a wandering warrior.
Naturally, there were many wanderers whose faces I’d come to recognize.
Especially here at the Wanderers’ Inn, my character image was completely fixed.
A lunatic obsessed with gambling.
A bastard who earned money only to dump every last coin into gambling houses.
And a complete idiot so hopelessly bad at gambling that after constantly losing inside the inn itself, he eventually had no choice but to go outside and gamble elsewhere.
That was probably how the wanderers living here saw Ho Cheonan.
Among men, the top-ranked people everyone wants to befriend are always idiots obsessed with some ridiculous hobby.
So maybe this body named Ho Cheonan, constantly throwing away his entire fortune because of gambling addiction, was secretly a top-tier likable figure among men.
The wanderers seemed eager to gather around and drink while listening to the story of my suffering today.
“Yeo Ilye appeared.”
The laughter instantly vanished from the wanderers’ faces.
“I barely managed to shake her off, but I don’t know what that crazy bitch will do afterward. Spread the word and tell everyone not to go outside.”
“Hah… that murderous demon again…”
“Heaven truly protected you.”
Pushing through the wanderers patting my shoulders sympathetically, I headed toward the center of the inn.
There sat a beautiful middle-aged woman.
Yu Sayeon.
The owner of this Wanderers’ Inn.
As her name suggested, she was someone carrying an extremely complicated past.
Of course, separate from those tragic circumstances, she was also a leech-like woman who monopolized every service business targeting wanderers throughout Sichuan and sucked the marrow out of them with monopolistic power.
Honestly, despite knowing her heartbreaking background through my game knowledge, she still ranked first on my list of people I wanted to beat up once I became stronger.
“Aigoo, look at all that sweat. Want alcohol?”
“That.”
In this primitive Central Plains Murim, every drink besides alcohol was served hot by default.
As a true man who insisted on iced Americanos even if freezing to death, drinking warm tea while sweating buckets like this would’ve been an unforgivable atrocity.
After downing a bowl of cold alcohol, at least I felt refreshed for the moment.
For the moment.
“So Yeo Ilye appeared?”
“That’s right. I somehow escaped her, but I’ve no idea what she’ll do afterward. Everyone should stay careful.”
“That damned crazy crusher. We can’t even get rid of her.”
From Yu Sayeon’s perspective as the de facto leader of the Sichuan wanderers and manager of this inn, there probably wasn’t anyone more troublesome than Yeo Ilye.
She constantly shattered the limbs of perfectly functional wandering warriors making decent money and often crippled them into retirement.
Sichuan wanderers handled nearly every aspect of life—eating, sleeping, drinking, relieving themselves—through the Wanderers’ Inn.
Which meant fewer wanderers and disrupted economic activity directly translated into reduced profits for Yu Sayeon.
Naturally, hearing that Yeo Ilye was hunting wanderers again made wrinkles appear on Yu Sayeon’s forehead.
And now she’d even attained enlightenment.
I honestly wasn’t sure whether the Wanderers’ Inn could still handle her anymore.
If she’d reached Transcendent Peak, was there anyone among the wanderers currently staying here capable of opposing her?
Yu Sayeon pressed fingers against her forehead in frustration, but realistically there was no solution.
Directly interfering was impossible.
And even if she protested, would someone like an innkeeper really influence a member of the Nine Great Sects famous throughout Central Plains Murim?
“Anyway, I’ve delivered the warning.”
“Hold on there, Ho Cheonan. You can’t just explain that little and leave! I need more information if I’m supposed to prepare countermeasures.”
Yu Sayeon tried stopping me and pressing for more details, but there wasn’t much I could tell her.
It wasn’t like I could explain:
“Actually this world is a game, and I’m a gaming fossil who spent ten years playing it, memorized character enlightenment phrases in a public KakaoTalk room because I had nothing better to do, got selected by a reincarnation truck, became Ho Cheonan, encountered Yeo Ilye, and granted her enlightenment.”
Besides, if I admitted I’d granted enlightenment, Yu Sayeon might kill me herself.
“Sorry, but I think I’ve become Yeo Ilye’s top-priority target. I need to focus on surviving right now, so there’s no time for a long conversation. I have somewhere to go.”
“…Fine. But at least tell me where.”
Yu Sayeon’s reasoning was rational.
Something might happen either to me or the Wanderers’ Inn.
Eventually we might need each other.
At least giving her my destination seemed reasonable.
“Tell me where you’ll be.”
“The gambling house.”
Yu Sayeon looked at me like I was trash.
Why.
What.
Why!?
Dogwi proudly called himself the greatest gambler in Sichuan.
As a child, he’d lost one ear after pulling tricks at gambling tables.
Yet even after that, he stubbornly clung to gambling houses for fifteen more years, surviving through sheer desperation.
He’d hardened himself through countless gambling dens large and small.
Many gamblers had challenged Dogwi, who declared himself Sichuan’s greatest gambler, but all of them left completely stripped bare.
Someone entered Dogwi’s residence while he practiced hand techniques alone.
“Ho, what brings you here?”
It was a familiar face to Dogwi.
Jang Yi, manager of Yeongsang Pavilion.
If one asked where Sichuan’s greatest gambling hall was, most gamblers would answer Yeongsang Pavilion.
There were many famous pleasure houses in Sichuan attracting countless visitors, but none loved gambling as fanatically as Yeongsang Pavilion.
First of all, the owner of the pleasure house, Sa Chaeyong, was herself a former gambler and possessed a deep philosophy toward gambling.
Naturally, large gambling houses manipulated games behind the scenes.
Yeongsang Pavilion was no different.
But unlike others, Yeongsang Pavilion refused mechanical tricks and relied purely on gamblers’ sleight-of-hand to rob customers.
Because of that, the pavilion had never faced serious controversy after opening.
Since no physical devices were used, there was no evidence.
And among true gamblers, such techniques were often recognized as genuine skill anyway.
So why had the manager of Yeongsang Pavilion personally come to visit?
At first glance, “manager of Yeongsang Pavilion” didn’t sound especially impressive.
But Jang Yi wielded the power to command hundreds of people with a single gesture—courtesans, bodyguards, gamblers, waiters alike—and could fire any number of them with a single shout.
The fact someone capable of summoning dozens of gamblers with a wave of the hand had personally visited Dogwi’s residence meant only one thing.
Dogwi smelled a major opportunity.
“It’s nothing special. Please sit.”
Dogwi gestured politely toward a seat, but Jang Yi didn’t move.
Dogwi frowned in confusion, only to widen his eyes when Jang Yi suddenly bent his waist deeply.
“This is him, Pavilion Lord.”
‘Pavilion Lord?’
Sa Chaeyong herself?
The owner of Yeongsang Pavilion, where over a thousand gold taels changed hands every night?
Personally visiting a mere gambler?
“Are you the one called Dogwi?”
“That’s me. What brings you here?”
“You little bastard!”
Jang Yi looked ready to grab Dogwi by the collar and force him to kneel, but Sa Chaeyong raised a hand to stop him.
“I like him. Those are the eyes of a gambler.”
Dogwi’s back, which bent easily before Jang Yi, remained straight before Sa Chaeyong.
Because Jang Yi was merely a manager.
Sa Chaeyong, however, was a gambler.
Dogwi, who considered himself not merely Sichuan’s greatest gambler but secretly the greatest in the world, refused to bow before another gambler.
“I came because I heard you’re Sichuan’s greatest gambler. I want to entrust you with a job.”
“How urgent must it be for you to visit at this hour?”
“I’ll pay one hundred gold taels.”
Dogwi froze.
“Tonight. If you strip one bastard clean, I’ll give you one hundred gold taels plus half the money he wins.”
Dogwi swallowed hard.
He was the fifth son of a poor farming family.
Three generations of the family totaled nearly twenty people.
After selling an entire year’s rice harvest, their family barely earned one gold tael.
And now—
One hundred gold taels in a single night?
Plus half the target’s winnings?
“I’ll need an explanation first.”
“Of course. There’s a bastard named Ho Cheonan who deserves to be chewed alive. He’s frequented my pleasure house for years, but until now he’s never once left with money. His gambling skill was suspiciously good, but somehow he always lost everything except enough for a single bottle of alcohol before leaving, so I ignored him.”
Sa Chaeyong gulped tea furiously like merely talking about it filled her with rage.
“But today that crazy bastard suddenly went insane and started stripping every gambler in my pleasure house clean! Every single one! Not a single exception! The money he’s already won today exceeds one hundred gold taels!”
Professional gamblers were absolutely essential for gambling houses.
Stripping fools of money was only a tiny fraction of their job.
Their primary duty was making gambling enjoyable.
Creating thrilling matches that got everyone in the gambling hall excited.
Providing wealthy patrons with carefully balanced victories and losses so they never lost interest in gambling.
Or stripping clean anyone lucky enough to threaten the gambling house with excessive winnings.
Or quickly humiliating and expelling troublemakers to preserve the atmosphere.
The number of things professional gamblers controlled inside a gambling house was endless.
Naturally, gambling houses had every reason to employ them.
And where did those professional gamblers’ gambling funds come from?
Obviously—
From the gambling house owner’s pocket.
‘That bastard’s insane.’
If customers gambled against each other, the gambling house didn’t care who won.
They simply profited through alcohol sales and exchange fees.
But when customers gambled against house gamblers and the house gamblers lost money, those losses directly became losses for the gambling house itself.
Targeting and stripping professional gamblers clean was effectively the same as attacking the pleasure house itself.
Because both acts inflicted financial damage upon a business whose entire purpose was making money.
“I want to have martial artists kill that bastard immediately! But that insane bastard’s winning through pure gambling skill alone, and my pride as a gambler can’t tolerate it!”
Seeing Sa Chaeyong’s blazing eyes, Dogwi swallowed nervously.
“You can keep all the money. Just make absolutely certain you strip that bastard clean! Once he leaves the pleasure house penniless, I’ll handle the rest myself!”
Dogwi hesitated.
But his decision had already been made.
Because he’d waited for a gamble this enormous his entire life.
“I’ll do it.”
“Good. But remember this.”
Sa Chaeyong stared directly at Dogwi.
“If you fail to strip that bastard clean, then your remaining ear and your hands will be used to soothe my anger.”