The Tang Family Learns Gambling from the Nangin - 2
An inn somewhere in Yunnan.
This is uncomfortable.
Yeo Il-ye frowned at the sensation of the long, trailing palace robes she could not even remember the last time she had worn. She had spent her entire life in the training garb of the Jeomchang Sect; these clothes simply would not settle on her body. Without the red sable fur she always wore, she felt strangely empty as well.
She let out a sigh, and the face veil fluttering lightly across her features only irritated her further.
When is that man going to show up?
She had been on her way back to the Wanderer Inn with the payment for the sword when she received a mysterious letter. The promise of information related to her enemies left her no choice but to turn her steps toward Yunnan.
It was never a matter with a fixed deadline, yet I still cannot feel at ease.
Her benefactor had offered to settle the price of her beloved sword for a mere five nyang of gold—a bargain. She had never set a date by which she would pay, but she had already received the blade without handing over the money, so the proper thing was to settle the debt as quickly as possible.
Fearing the matter might drag on, she had sent the payment to the Wanderer Inn through a messenger. Still, she had wanted to meet her benefactor in person and offer an apology, and the current arrangement left a sour taste in her mouth.
In her frustration she reached for her teacup, intending to drain it in one cool gulp, only to remember the face veil and freeze with her hand halfway raised.
“Hahaha! It seems you are not used to wearing a face veil!”
Yeo Il-ye’s brow furrowed. The man who had been staring at her so persistently finally spoke.
“I am Gwang Yeong-cheol. Even here in Yunnan, the great Gwang Family is rather well known. I have prepared a seat on the third floor—why not remove that veil and enjoy a cup of tea at your ease?”
“I am not interested. I am waiting for someone. Leave.”
Her refusal was curt. She neither knew nor cared what the Gwang Family was, and the meeting place was the first floor of this very inn; she had no intention of leaving it.
“You little wench! How dare you reject the young master’s kindness!”
“Now, now, calm yourself, warrior. We were the ones who approached her first.”
“Go away.”
Yeo Il-ye’s words grew even shorter. The warrior’s face stiffened, and so did Gwang Yeong-cheol’s. The hand that had been restraining the warrior dropped, then flicked once. Yeo Il-ye watched the gesture and let out a quiet snort of laughter.
One rebuff and he immediately signals his bodyguard. So he planned to drag me off by force from the very beginning.
Sichuan was thoroughly orthodox territory, but Yunnan had long been dominated by the unorthodox. The tendency had only grown stronger as unorthodox sects driven out of Sichuan settled here.
To pressure a woman sitting in an inn in broad daylight with hired swords… Yeo Il-ye was reminded once more that she had entered unorthodox lands.
Yeong-cheol’s hand flicked a second time. Confirming the signal, the warrior drew his sword.
“Your beauty is somewhat outstanding, so the young master himself deigned to show you kindness—yet you refuse the cup of honor and insist on drinking the cup of punishment!”
“You really are a nuisance.”
The warrior, flushed with anger, thrust the blade toward her throat.
“Come quietly—”
Yeo Il-ye’s hand closed around the sword. She merely took the tip between her fingers, gently—
Crack!
—and snapped the blade cleanly in two.
The faces of both warriors and Gwang Yeong-cheol went deathly pale in an instant. For three men who were, at best, first-rate, this was a level of mastery they could never have dreamed of. Gwang Yeong-cheol dropped to his knees at once.
“I-I am so sorry! Heroine! We failed to recognize a great personage…”
“Get lost.”
“Y-yes, sir—ma’am!”
The three fled the inn like the wind. Watching them prostrate themselves without a shred of lingering attachment and bolt, Yeo Il-ye realized this was far from the first time they had done something like this.
Otherwise they could never have decided and run so swiftly.
Should I chase them down even now and break an arm or a leg? She was still considering it when a new voice spoke.
“Heh heh. The young lady’s bearing shines like seven precious jewels.”
“…And which part of me would those jewels best suit?”
“Your entire form is outstanding, yet if I must choose the crowning beauty, would it not be that slender waist of yours?”
This is the one.
Yeo Il-ye looked up at him. An ordinary middle-aged man. A closer look revealed no human-skin mask or other disguise.
The Seven Treasure Jade Belt.
It was one of the treasures of the Yeo Family Mountain Villa that remained vivid even in young Yeo Il-ye’s memory. The villa had possessed many items worthy of being called treasures, yet none radiated such lofty elegance as the Seven Treasure Jade Belt.
This middle-aged man was certainly the person she had arranged to meet today. Mindful of the surrounding eyes, she opened her mouth.
“An incorrigible fellow. Harassing a woman in broad daylight… I shall have to teach you manners.”
“Heh heh. I merely spoke the truth.”
“Get up. You do not wish to be humiliated in front of all these people, do you?”
The middle-aged man, Jeon Hu-dam, led Yeo Il-ye out of the inn with her following behind.
“I am an information broker by the name of Jeon Hu-dam. Check later if you like—I have worked as one in Sichuan for quite some time.”
“Fine. What is it you wished to say about the Seven Treasure Jade Belt?”
“The Seven Treasure Jade Belt is in the possession of Mak Yeo-bu, chief of the Gaewang Bandits, one of the Seventy-Two Strongholds of the Green Forest.”
“…As a bandit, is there a chance he simply stole it from someone else?”
“That possibility is not zero. Yet according to my sources, he has held it for a very long time.”
A bandit, then.
The mere fact that he possessed the Seven Treasure Jade Belt was reason enough to investigate Mak Yeo-bu. Unlike Hwanggeum-seon, here was physical evidence no one could deny.
“More importantly, can you move on my word alone? It would be convenient for me if you did, but I doubt you will.”
Yeo Il-ye nodded silently.
“What is your purpose in setting me in motion?”
“There are a great many people who wish bandits gone. And when many people desire something, it means money.”
It was suspicious, yet not so absurd that she could dismiss it outright. Yeo Il-ye had no choice but to nod.
“Very well. I will confirm it with my own eyes.”
Whether Mak Yeo-bu had plundered the belt or carried it out of the villa himself, it was evidence that connected to the enemies of her family. Yeo Il-ye felt she had to investigate that evidence with her own hands.
If Mak Yeo-bu himself had been among those who attacked the Yeo Family Mountain Villa fifteen years ago, she might reach the true faces of her enemies in a single stroke.
“Our destination is Hyeongwi Mountain.”
Watching Jeon Hu-dam take the lead, Yeo Il-ye set her feet in motion.
What is the greatest problem with gambling?
It is greed.
Value differs from person to person, yet the overwhelming majority of people place an extremely high value on money.
The higher a person values money, the easier it is for them to fall under gambling’s spell.
In the case of the Tang Family, that value was hidden weapons and poison.
Hidden weapons that could be won with ease!
That very point was why Tang Gwang-ryeol had challenged Tang Do-gyeong to a gamble and why he had lost all reason.
“Hey, Nangin! I am no gambling addict! What I wish to commission from you right now is the recovery of the clan-head-exclusive hidden weapons that Do-gyeong is holding! What I want to learn from you is technique—technique!”
Gambling addicts never admit they are addicted to gambling.
“Is that so? Yet, Clan Head, the reason you lost the clan-head-exclusive hidden weapons was not because you are bad at gambling, was it?”
Look at the way he talks. He has copied the classic lines of gambling addicts word for word. The world ganged up on me and took my money, so I’m just trying to win it back—I’m absolutely not a gambling addict! Once I win this one, I’m walking away clean!
After hearing the whole story, the simplest solution would have been to tell Tang Do-gyeong that his behavior had gone too far and demand he return the hidden weapons he had won.
Instead, overconfident in his own gambling skill, Tang Gwang-ryeol had tried to reinforce the clan head’s authority through a match against Tang Do-gyeong—and this was the result. The stakes had not been hidden weapons but authority itself, and he had thoroughly wrecked it.
“That is…! Ugh…”
Tang Gwang-ryeol’s face flushed red and purple by turns, yet the truth was the truth, so he could not answer.
From mindset to technique, Tang Do-gyeong was already a complete gambler. The fact that he had managed to track my hands in the final round of yabawi proved he had cast aside a martial artist’s heart and accepted that, at the gambling table, one must act as a gambler—and that he possessed the skill to match.
Tang Gwang-ryeol’s condition, however, was severe.
He had not a scrap of a true gambler’s mindset, yet he already believed himself a master who had reached the peak!
Frankly speaking, the Tang Clan Head’s commission was thoroughly unscrupulous.
Had I known the client’s condition and the nature of the request, I would have refused even if the client had been the Grand Elder of the Tang Family rather than the current head.
The hidden weapons used by the Tang Clan Head were no ordinary pieces. Their quality was fundamentally different from those used by the direct-line disciples. If Tang Do-gyeong and the Clan Head sat down at the gambling table again, Tang Do-gyeong would start by putting forward the least valuable pieces first. Why? Because he already possessed a gambler’s mindset.
In the end, for the Clan Head to win back the clan-head-exclusive weapons through gambling, he would have to strip Tang Do-gyeong of most of his hidden weapons.
Like the early Tang Do-gyeong, the Clan Head had plenty of gambling experience yet remained a beginner as a true gambler—a pure martial-arts supremacist.
The commission was to take this novice gambler and make him defeat Tang Do-gyeong, whose framework as a gambler was already complete.
And what? Just teach him a few techniques so he can win? Do you think gambling is a joke?
Neither the Tang Clan Head nor the Wind Shadow Captain even realized how difficult the request they had made truly was.
Therefore I first needed to designate him as a subject for treatment of unhealthy gambling.
What makes an unhealthy gambler? Someone who fails to grasp his own capabilities and is driven only by greed—that is an unhealthy gambler, a candidate for a long swim in the Yangtze!
And to be perfectly honest: if he truly wanted to clean up the transfer of the clan head’s weapons, he could simply have spoken quietly to Tang Do-gyeong and asked for those pieces alone to be returned. Make a plea bargain, offer other weapons in exchange—anything. The behavior the Clan Head was showing was the classic “I’ll just win it back and pay it off” pattern. This was a severe gambling addict, pure and simple. What kind of patient was this? Was this some card-game world where everything settled by duel had to be settled by duel alone?
Looking at the Clan Head’s face, which was full of dissatisfaction, I picked up the cards. Having educated countless unhealthy gamblers, I already knew the answer.
“First, let us play a single round. If I lose even one hand, I will follow the Clan Head’s words completely.”
No matter how severe the patient, a thorough thrashing would cure him.
It looked as though I would have to put him through a rigorous exorcism for a while.