Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Graduation from This Body’s Gambling Grind -1
Dogwi sat at the Daehang Dice table with a deathly pale face.
Rumors of yesterday’s gambling match had apparently spread throughout all of Sichuan, because today Yeongsang Pavilion was flooded with people like swarming clouds.
Sa Chaeyong gnawed at her fingernails while Jang Yi’s expression looked vicious enough to murder someone on the spot.
“We’ll eliminate that bastard on his way here.”
Sa Chaeyong whispered directly into Dogwi’s ear.
The sheer killing intent dripping from her voice sent chills down Dogwi’s spine.
“Despite yesterday’s humiliating defeat, the only reason I allowed you to live until today is because that dog bastard agreed to continue the match tonight, and countless people heard him say it. If that bastard suffers an ‘unfortunate accident’ and fails to arrive at Yeongsang Pavilion tonight, then your victory will be declared. Though my crushed pride, Sa Chaeyong’s pride, will never truly recover.”
At the declaration that his ears and wrists would be severed once tonight ended, Dogwi trembled violently.
Please let Ho Cheonan truly be some hidden master and survive the assassins Sa Chaeyong prepared.
If Ho Cheonan failed to come, Dogwi was already dead.
Of course, even if Ho Cheonan arrived, Dogwi was still dead if he failed to win.
Murmurs suddenly spread through the entrance of Yeongsang Pavilion.
It didn’t take long before those murmurs transformed into cheers.
Dogwi’s complexion brightened while Sa Chaeyong’s face twisted horribly.
The moment Dogwi saw Ho Cheonan’s expression, hope bloomed within him.
He looked utterly drained—like a withered green onion stripped of all vitality.
Had he forced his way through assassins by brute strength?
Sweat dripped down his neck, and his limbs appeared completely exhausted.
Of course, the truth was merely that Ho Cheonan had exhausted himself sneaking away from the wanderers’ suspicious gazes and sprinting all the way here.
As for the assassins, he’d dealt with them using the debt-token of the Ten Arrows of Hou Yi that Yeo Ilye had given him.
No matter how powerful Yeongsang Pavilion might be, they couldn’t afford to earn the hatred of one of the Ten Arrows of Hou Yi.
Naturally, Ho Cheonan’s mood was terrible.
Mastering every skill within a category granted a special [Trait].
Yesterday, hoping to create variables against Yeo Ilye, he’d forced himself into that all-night gambling battle specifically to complete Intuition training and obtain the gambling-related trait.
But now the entire situation had already ended.
The gambling itself became overwhelmingly one-sided.
Ho Cheonan had spent years rolling around gambling houses.
No—
Even without that experience, he already understood gambling house ecology thoroughly through the game itself.
This was a situation where they’d even hired assassins just to kill him.
If Dogwi failed to win back all the money tonight, he would die.
And even if he somehow survived, he’d likely suffer something just as miserable.
Ho Cheonan believed this with certainty.
He had already fully grasped Dogwi’s capabilities yesterday.
And if Dogwi couldn’t read the dice results, then the formula became simple.
If Dogwi initiated the bet, Ho Cheonan folded unconditionally.
If Ho Cheonan initiated the bet, he only bet when he’d identified the result.
It didn’t matter whether Intuition activated anymore.
Because even if they went all-in every single time, there simply wasn’t enough time left in one night to win over 120 gold taels otherwise.
[Intuition proficiency 100%]
[[Gambling Skill: Intuition] has reached mastery!]
[All [Gambling Skills] mastered!]
[Your sleight of hand has reached a realm capable of deceiving even heaven’s scales!]
[Trait [Luck] has been created.]
“Hoo…”
The issue with Yeo Ilye had already ended, so he didn’t feel especially joyful—
But even so, Ho Cheonan clenched his fist tightly in thrilling satisfaction.
He had wandered the world for one year before becoming a second-rate warrior, then became a Sichuan wanderer to manage his reputation.
Afterward, Ho Cheonan spent countless years desperately trying every method imaginable to surpass his realm limit.
Because once the game became reality, he believed there had to be loopholes hidden somewhere.
He believed that if he could just find one, he could transcend his limit realm.
It took him two full years to finally admit no such shortcut existed.
And afterward—
Five whole years.
No—
Seven years.
For seven years, his status window had remained completely unchanged.
And now, finally, a new resident named [Luck] had moved into it.
The fruit of five years of effort.
Naturally, Ho Cheonan couldn’t help feeling overwhelming exhilaration.
‘Fuuuck! It’s finally overrrrrr!!’
Though honestly, the emotion resembled liberation more than achievement.
Ho Cheonan checked the gambling funds before him.
128 gold taels.
Meanwhile, Dogwi’s face had already gone pitch black, and only 28 gold taels remained before him.
“Well then, let’s end this in one final round.”
“…What do you mean?”
“I’ll bet all my money. You bet all yours. Winner takes everything.”
Ho Cheonan said casually while fiddling with the dice.
“How long are we gonna keep nibbling away one or two gold taels at a time? Let’s gamble like real men.”
The surrounding crowd erupted into murmurs.
Honestly, Ho Cheonan’s proposal was insane.
He was risking 128 gold taels just to win 28 more.
Still, some people also thought it was rational.
If Dogwi suddenly swept the table and walked away now, Ho Cheonan would lose even the opportunity to take those remaining 28 taels.
Dogwi’s eyes shook violently.
More than anyone else, Dogwi understood the difference in skill between them.
At this rate, losing the rest of his gold before dawn would be effortless.
But—
An opportunity for such a dramatic comeback would likely never come again either.
“…I’ll do it.”
“Good. Then it’ll be more fun if we bet before throwing. I’m betting on even.”
The crowd surrounding them buzzed excitedly.
To Dogwi, this match held his wrists and ears on the line.
But to everyone else, it merely looked like an entertaining spectacle reaching its climax.
Ho Cheonan grinned slightly and tossed the dice.
Ooooooh!!
Thunk!!
To Dogwi, the crowd’s cheers sounded as though he were underwater.
His entire focus chased only the trajectory drawn by the dice.
The dice bounced once against the lip of the jar before getting swallowed inside.
The servant girl overseeing the match slowly lifted the jar.
Though she’d spent her entire life at Yeongsang Pavilion, even her hands trembled from tension.
This was a match worth 156 gold taels.
Even a single gold-tael game counted as a major gambling round.
But 156 gold taels!?
WAAAAAAAAAH!!
The crowd exploded into cheers.
Dogwi, who’d closed his eyes because he lacked the courage to see the result, slowly opened them again.
The dice showed—
One.
…Why?
Excited by the unbelievable story of a massive comeback, people rushed over and repeatedly slapped Dogwi’s back while showering him with congratulations.
But despite his body swaying from their impacts, Dogwi never once took his eyes off Ho Cheonan.
Ho Cheonan had used sleight of hand just now.
Dogwi couldn’t even begin to comprehend such an absurdly advanced technique—
But he knew with certainty Ho Cheonan had manipulated the dice.
A level of hand skill he hadn’t displayed even once throughout the hundreds of rounds played across yesterday and today.
The dice that bounced against the jar’s edge had never once ricocheted inside afterward.
Instead, through unbelievably precise technique, they simply slid smoothly along the curved surface before falling directly into place.
Ho Cheonan had succeeded in deliberately controlling the outcome of Daehang Dice—
Something everyone believed impossible.
And for some reason, Dogwi became convinced that the index finger Ho Cheonan still held upright long after tossing the dice had been a declaration from the very beginning that the result would become one.
But why?
Why had this man used his ultimate technique only to hand victory to Dogwi?
Relief from surviving.
Reverence after witnessing a level of hand skill utterly beyond imagination.
Fear born from Ho Cheonan’s incomprehensible actions.
Dogwi became swallowed by confusion, unable to do anything except stare at Ho Cheonan.
The excited crowd completely surrounded Dogwi, shouting his name repeatedly while proclaiming him the greatest gambler under heaven.
Words he’d longed to hear his entire life.
Yet right now, “greatest under heaven” mattered less to him than Ho Cheonan himself.
As an ordinary man, Dogwi lacked the strength to push through the excited crowd.
And in the chaos, martial artists rushed in to separate people from the gambling table, worried the gold might disappear.
By the time the commotion finally settled—
Ho Cheonan had vanished without a trace.
When Dogwi grabbed Jang Yi and demanded answers, all he received was a strange expression and the explanation that Ho Cheonan had quietly left Yeongsang Pavilion.
“You got lucky, Dogwi.”
Sa Chaeyong grabbed Dogwi’s shoulder with a face twisted like she’d bitten into a bug.
“A promise is a promise. I’ll give you the hundred gold taels as agreed.”
Dogwi, who’d been about to sprint out searching for Ho Cheonan, stopped in place the moment he heard the words “one hundred gold taels.”
Suddenly, bitter laughter escaped him.
He’d proudly called himself the greatest gambler under heaven—
Yet merely hearing “one hundred gold taels” froze him in place.
Meanwhile, Ho Cheonan had willingly abandoned 156 gold taels and walked away.
For the first time, Dogwi truly understood the difference in scale between himself and Ho Cheonan.
‘If I continue living in the gambling world… someday I’ll meet you again. And when that day comes, I’ll defeat you and ask why you acted this way today.’
Dogwi made that vow silently.
He would never stop moving forward until he caught up to Ho Cheonan, who’d displayed skill worthy of the title greatest gambler under heaven.
And one day, after surpassing him, Dogwi would meet him again at a gambling table, defeat him proudly, and demand an explanation for today’s events.
Of course—
Ho Cheonan had merely been managing his reputation score.