Black Spot
The plan had gone off the rails.
I’d intended to recover the bigeup by sending Cheong-ah and Paeng Mugang in front as a kind of automatic hunting party.
At this rate, though, it looked like he could barely keep his own body together, let alone help me.
“I’m certain of the information. The only place in his trail that seems suspicious is the gambling house.”
Paeng Mugang stubbornly refused my offer to support him and hobbled along behind us.
That is not cool, you idiot...
Every time he took a step, he winced, but whenever our eyes met, he forced a bright little smile onto his face. It was so painfully foolish that I almost pitied him.
“If it’s the gambling house, then I know where it is. Go in ahead of us and rest.”
“I can’t do that! How could I send women into such a dangerous place? It would disgrace the name of the Paeng Clan.”
“...Have you forgotten who did that to you?”
“Truth is not what matters.”
Then what does?
Paeng Mugang didn’t seem inclined to give up.
I could understand the urge to put on a brave front, to some degree.
But didn’t he realize that when you went too far, you just looked stupid?
With a sigh, I started walking again, and Cheong-ah, who was beside me, leaned in and whispered into my ear.
“How pathetic a man becomes when he’s blinded by love.”
“If you say that one more time, I swear I’ll kill you.”
Cheong-ah seemed pleased by my reaction and giggled to herself.
Fine, laugh all you want.
Once this was over, I swore I would never get tangled up with that Paeng family lunatic again.
I glanced back at Paeng Mugang, who was following behind.
“Don’t become dead weight.”
“Of course not. I promise I won’t interfere. More than that... I have to see that bigeup with my own eyes.”
His gaze was serious.
It wasn’t simple stubbornness.
It was the resolve of someone who had come all the way to Seoan for that very purpose and could not bear to let it go.
I wasn’t ignorant of his circumstances, so after some thought, I finally nodded.
“Fine. But if you get in the way, I’m throwing you out immediately.”
“Understood.”
And so we stepped out into the streets of Seoan.
The gambling house wasn’t far.
Paeng Mugang, his limbs still strapped up in splints as he trailed after a woman, drew plenty of attention, but the deeper we went into the alleys, the more ordinary even that became.
Vagrants, people slouched as if drunk on something, men for whom being down an arm or a leg seemed almost normal.
By the time we reached our destination, I had the impression that the only people in the area with all their limbs intact were Cheong-ah and me.
Black Spot.
The main stronghold of Seoan’s underworld.
A filthy pit where illegal trade and gambling flourished, the kind of place that was basically a tumor growing in the city’s gut.
If brothels were treated as mere entertainment for even the relatively highborn, then Black Spot was the true den of vice, where the lower classes went to squander what was left of their lives.
In a place that had once been the imperial capital, a lawless building like this was openly operating in broad daylight.
Was that proof of how chaotic the current order had become?
Or did the powerful simply know about it and choose to look the other way?
As an ordinary nobody, I had no way of knowing.
“So what do we do?”
We decided to sort out our plan in an alley far enough from Black Spot’s entrance.
“We smash it in the name of justice.”
I ignored Cheong-ah’s nonsense.
“Do you have a plan in mind?”
“...The Black Spot owner is said to rarely show his face. There are only two reasons he appears: when he has no choice, and when greed gets the better of him.”
What an annoyingly vague explanation.
Not wanting to waste time, I asked more directly.
“More specifically?”
“...I was thinking of causing a big scene and dragging him out.”
Damn it.
Every last one of them was a muscle-brained idiot.
Neither of their opinions was helpful at all.
This wasn’t the sort of place you could just storm in.
Black Spot was one of the organizations tied to Haomun.
After the Demon-orthodox War, the Evil Alliance had been dismantled and its influence was weaker than before, but that didn’t mean there was any benefit to making enemies of big underground powers like Haomun.
On top of that, I didn’t want to make a spectacle and draw unnecessary attention.
Anything involving the bigeup had to be handled as quietly as possible.
Direct conflict was the worst option.
So there was only one way.
I looked at the man called the Black Spot owner.
“Is he strong?”
“He is not stronger than I am.”
Paeng Mugang was posturing to the heavens right now, but in this situation I judged that he wasn’t the sort to lie about this kind of thing.
He must have really believed he could go berserk on his own.
I steeled myself and laid out my plan.
“It’s better not to start an unnecessary fight. I’ll go in alone and just take the bigeup.”
“What?”
“That won’t do!”
Cheong-ah and Paeng Mugang reacted at once.
I’d expected resistance.
The noise drew the attention of the beggars sprawled around nearby.
Lowering my voice, I said, “Then what would you do?”
“If it means leaving such a dangerous task to you, I’d rather go myself.”
“Cheong-ah. Could you really draw your sword and still keep your head in there?”
“...”
As she fell silent, I whispered so softly that Paeng Mugang couldn’t hear.
“Besides, you’re not planning to show him your martial arts in front of Paeng Mugang, are you?”
“Kh...”
Cheong-ah flinched and glanced at Paeng Mugang.
Wasn’t she the one who hated even the sound of her own voice being heard by him?
The moment she revealed the power of the bigeup that Paeng Mugang despised so much, things would only become more complicated if her identity was ever exposed later.
Problem solved.
“It’s far too dangerous for Miss Song to go in alone.”
“Then are you saying Young Master Paeng will protect me? In that condition?”
“...”
“I appreciate the sentiment, but Young Master Paeng, I’m strong.”
“Ugh...”
Paeng Mugang, too, was subdued.
I soothed them both with my gentlest voice.
“I understand how you feel. But this seems like the quickest and easiest way. What do you think?”
They still looked displeased, but since they knew there was no better option, they couldn’t argue.
These muscle-brained lumps...
So now you finally get the situation?
Under their worried gazes, I shrugged.
“If this were the ordinary sort of problem, it would have been solved by my own hands... I’m sorry.”
No, wait. I’m the one who smashed your arms and legs up. What does that make me, then?
Seeing Paeng Mugang bow his head to me so sincerely only made me feel strangely awkward.
“If you don’t do what needs doing when the time comes, then when the time really matters, you won’t be able to do it at all. Don’t worry.”
I threw out something I’d picked up somewhere, trying to sound impressive.
Was that even the right thing to say?
Whatever the case, I met their eyes and struck my most confident pose.
Paeng Mugang’s expression shifted oddly for a moment.
Oh, please don’t start saying something weird again.
Before they could drag my ankles down any farther, I hurried out of the alley and headed for Black Spot’s main gate.
Two rough-looking guards stopped me, raking their eyes over me from head to toe.
Honestly, I was a little scared, but if I had beaten Paeng Mugang after he’d tried to go wild on his own, then this should be plenty doable.
No need to chicken out!
“What business do you have?”
“I came to gamble.”
I produced the jade token proving I was a guest of the Gwangjung Merchant Guild.
No one in the Shaanxi region could possibly fail to recognize this token.
No gambling house would dare turn away a customer like me.
The guards examined the token for a moment, then changed their attitude and respectfully opened the door.
“Enjoy your time.”
I stepped inside.
It felt good, how smoothly everything was going.
And above all, this was gambling.
I’d never once visited a gambling house since reincarnating into the martial world.
Just thinking about it made me weirdly excited.
Inside, the gambling hall was packed with shouts, the slap of shuffled tiles, and the rattle of dice.
Half-dressed women lounged in men’s arms, fluttering their lashes and cooing sweetly.
The sharp smell of spilled liquor and the thick haze of tobacco smoke filled the whole room.
My heart was pounding.
It was absolute chaos.
I drifted toward the most crowded gobak table and blended naturally into the cluster of onlookers.
After watching the flow for a moment, I calmly pulled silver from my belt and placed my bet.
“All right, open them! Nine!”
The instant the tiles were revealed, cheers and groans erupted all around me.
And in front of me, there were now twice as many silver pieces as I’d wagered.
My mouth curled upward on its own.
I bet again, and won again.
After repeating that several times, a small pile of silver had built up before me in no time.
“Not going to keep going?”
I was already sitting among the people who’d given up their places for me, and I asked with a smug grin.
For some reason, the pattern was crystal clear to me.
Whatever I touched, whatever I bet on by instinct, money came rolling in. How could I not be thrilled?
It was like money was multiplying before my eyes!
So this was why people staked their lives on gambling.
As I swept the silver into my hands, the people around me began murmuring among themselves.
It was while I was gathering up the money that a bulky man approached and bowed politely.
“Guest, you have remarkable luck. We have a separate room for honored patrons. If you don’t mind, may I guide you there for a moment?”
Ah, right.
I was here to infiltrate.
I’d been so caught up in the thrill of gambling that I’d almost forgotten, but now the bait had come floating straight to me.
Of course it’s me. If you win big money, the people running the place are bound to take notice.
Everything was going exactly according to plan.
I made a private excuse to myself and got to my feet.
The room the manager led me to was a luxurious chamber completely separate from the noisy gambling floor.
Inside, middle-aged men in fine silk robes were drinking with women in their laps.
Among them was one man who stood out immediately.
A large man with three nearly naked women hanging off him.
The moment I felt the unusual air around him, I knew that man had to be the owner of Black Spot.
He looked me over from head to toe as I stepped carefully into the room, and his greedy, lecherous gaze was so blatant it was almost comical.
So this is the “when he lets greed get the better of him” part.
As befitting a black-market thug, his greed seemed to run particularly deep in certain directions.
Facing him, I immediately slipped into a frightened act.
If his greed leaned that way, then I was more than willing to make use of it.
I wasn’t especially afraid the way I might have been before, but in this world, my appearance was a weapon.
If I showed a delicate, innocent face like this, wouldn’t he reveal his desires almost immediately?
Sure enough, he addressed me in a slimy voice.
“Heh-heh. I wondered who was causing such a ruckus in my establishment, and here I find a lovely guest after all. I’m the owner of this place, Black Tiger. What is your name?”
He shoved aside the women beside him and fixed me with a sticky, relentless stare.
A wave of disgust rose in me, but I forced it down.
“I-I was just enjoying myself because I was lucky...”
“Lucky, indeed! In this line of work, that’s the most valuable thing of all, isn’t it? Heh-heh, what a rare guest you are.”
He patted the seat beside him.
Was that an invitation to let me stab him in the ribs?
I couldn’t bring myself to go near him and just stood there awkwardly, smiling stiffly.
Seeing that, his eyes gleamed even brighter.
“Oh? So beauties are proud, are they? I was too impatient. How about a drink first?”
He played it cool and poured wine into his own cup before handing it to me.
I accepted it carefully, pretending to be polite, then turned my head and covered my mouth with my sleeve as I spilled the wine out.
Did he think I didn’t know he might have tampered with it?
The smell of liquor and incense already filling the room was enough to make my head swim, so pretending to be drunk was easy enough.
“I can’t believe a woman this beautiful would come to my place. Hoho... I must have accumulated some virtue in a past life.”
In this life, you’re just accumulating sins.
I sneered inwardly, composed my expression, and refilled his empty cup.
The sight of him laughing heartily as though he’d already conquered the whole world was revolting.
I had intended to use my feminine charms, but it was working so well that I was almost thrown off balance.
As expected of me, the greatest beauty in history.
A mere sideways glance from me was enough to blind a weathered thug boss.
Fortunately, he didn’t seem to need any coaxing; he was already throwing himself at me so blatantly I barely had to lift a finger.
He sidled closer and tried to rest his hand on my waist, but I twisted away.
“Hey now, you came all this way and still keep avoiding my touch?”
His filthy gaze made it hard to keep my face under control.
Thank goodness I hadn’t chosen a life as a courtesan.
I turned my head away and muttered, “It’s just... in a place like this...”
“Hm? Then I have even better wine in my room. Why don’t we go together? No one will bother us, and we can spend some time alone.”
At last, we had arrived.
I closed my eyes tight, then opened them and nodded.
Fortunately, he seemed to mistake my look of repulsion for shyness.
With a satisfied smile, he led me toward his private room.
It was so easy it was almost insulting.
“...Go wash up.”
The moment we entered the room, I said that, and Black Tiger, already flushed with excitement, headed straight for the bath without the slightest hesitation.
As soon as he disappeared, I started searching the room in a hurry.
Bookshelf, table drawers, cabinet.
Nothing that looked like a bigeup.
Just as I was starting to grow anxious, a small wooden box near the head of the bed caught my eye.
There it is!
A wooden box is basically a law of the universe.
I opened it at once, and a booklet with a familiar cover appeared inside.
Phantom Heart Manual.
From the title alone, it was hard to guess what it contained, but I tucked it into my robes anyway.
And just as I was quietly slipping out of the room, the bath door flew open and Black Tiger emerged, steam rising from his body.
His eyes, brimming with anticipation, met mine.
“Heh-heh. Miss. Why are you still standing there?”
I grimaced and turned my face away, not wanting to see that revolting sight of him walking out naked.
Apparently mistaking that reaction for embarrassment, Black Tiger’s expression turned slack and lecherous.
“You’re still shy, I see. Heh-heh, I know just the thing.”
He strode over and began rummaging through a drawer.
How do I get out of this?
That was the only thought in my head.
If I kept wasting time like this, I might have to keep looking at that grotesque body.
Black Tiger turned back toward me with something in his hand.
“Don’t worry. I’ll turn you into a woman who’s very honest, and exactly my type.”
In his hand was a coin tied to a string.
He held it out and slowly began swinging it in front of my eyes.
“Now, look carefully at this coin.”
Ah. So that’s what it was.
There was no way I hadn’t used this.
Phantom Heart Manual.
It seemed its true nature was hypnotism.