Chapter 111
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: The Last Night in Yunnan (2)
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With the resigned mindset of a cow being led to the slaughterhouse, I followed Elder Gwang into the Jeomchang Mahjong Parlor.
And immediately, a wave of unease washed over me.
"No one's... here?"
"Sit down first."
The moment I hesitantly perched on the edge of the table,
"Heh heh, Young Master Geum. It's been a while."
"So you're the rumored Geum Sihyeon... How did you make it onto the blacklist? I can't sense your presence at all..."
As if they'd been waiting, two Jeomchang Sect warriors entered through the door, including the Hak Cheongja I'd seen before.
A hostile 1:3 gambling setup.
Sure enough.
"I'm craving some dumplings."
"The dumplings made by Chef Yoo at Jin Gwang Restaurant are truly delicious. Hmm, since it's dumplings, that won't cost 20,000 points."
"That's it, ron. Danyao, Sanshoku Doujun, and Dora for a total of three han."
"Oh my, as expected of the sect leader."
These lunatics started blatantly playing rigged mahjong right in front of me, cheating to pamper the sect leader.
I tried to stay quiet so as not to ruin the mood,
but the game flowed so swiftly and smoothly that before I knew it, my score had plummeted to dead last.
Righteous sects.
Is this really okay?
Why bother seating me if this was going to happen?
Just when a wave of self-loathing hit me, wondering if they'd sat me down to squeeze me dry like a sucker from the Ten Thousand Gold Treasury,
"You might not know this yet, kid, but the Alliance keeps separate lists of dangerous individuals beyond the public enemy roster."
Elder Gwang set down his tiles and tossed out the main topic in a serious tone.
Dear Leader, are you watching?
The ancient, barbaric Central Plains society already has Big Brother Martial Alliance watching over us...
"Naturally, we've gathered intel on those who've joined the Blood Cult as well. That's how we identified and tracked Ghost Demon so quickly. Though you handled it well, kid."
"Haha..."
The vibe felt a bit chilly.
"So I'll ask: what's your connection to Poison Demon?"
Oh, shit.
This was the real point all along.
In the even heavier silence than before,
Hak Cheongja, following the sect leader's orders, cautiously stroked his weapon, prepared even to risk his life in mutual destruction.
Of course, from his first impression,
and everything he'd shown afterward,
he seemed like a fine young man who would never stray onto an evil path, but one could never be sure about people.
Even now,
despite being suspected as a Blood Cult spy, his face was utterly calm.
He was enjoying mahjong so relaxedly, without a hint of tension.
If it was all an act, how deep would his scheming have to be?
"Not quite on the level of public enemies like Ghost Demon or Lust Demon, but we keep close tabs on figures like Poison Demon, Mad Demon—and in Demonic Cult terms, Sword Demon. Coincidentally, you've been friendly with Sword Demon and traveled to Kunming alongside Poison Demon... Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Hmm. I understand, Sect Leader. It's natural for you to be concerned about a lowly scholar like me. I probably would've suspected myself in your shoes."
Geum Sihyeon's smooth, unwavering voice filled the room, without a trace of agitation.
"Right, that makes sense... Tsumo. Mangan, so pay up 4,000 each. Anyway, your ties to Sword Demon aren't the issue right now. Just clear up your relationship with Poison Demon."
To that question,
"We didn't study under the same roof at the same time, but we're disciple brothers who learned medicine from Divine Doctor together. He's also the father of my close friend."
Geum Sihyeon answered with perfect calm,
but the content was anything but calm.
It was tantamount to declaring he was right in the thick of a vendetta.
Before the tension could rise in the room from those words,
"When he was blinded by vengeance and about to stray down the wrong path, I personally crippled his dantian."
Geum Sihyeon's casual tone plunged the room into instant silence.
Disciples of the same master.
The father of his closest friend.
No matter how righteous Ghost Demon was, no one could apply 'slay evil utterly' to that situation.
As that heavy consensus settled in,
the mahjong game reached its final stage: South 4.
"We can't easily judge a person's true heart, but at least he's awakened from his errors and returned to the righteous path. He hasn't committed any notable misdeeds, so how can we persecute him solely for his past Blood Cult ties?"
Geum Sihyeon calmly rolled the dice.
The dice showed 5.
Calmly pushing out ten small tiles,
four from his own stack, and another four.
Another four from Elder Gwang's stack beside him.
Finally, skipping one and placing one in front of himself.
Without even looking at his hand spread out,
Geum Sihyeon continued.
"Just as we can't judge people or twist the will of heaven as we please. So, Sect Leader, shall we make a bet?"
"A bet?"
"If I turn this around, look the other way just once. After resolving all vendettas, I'll turn myself in to the Martial Alliance alongside Elder Poison Demon and testify about everything."
Elder Gwang stared blankly at his own clean hand, which could've ended the game quickly.
In truth, Geum Sihyeon wasn't entirely wrong.
Poison Demon was known to have officially joined the Blood Cult, but compared to other members, he was close to a virtuous man.
Even if Jeomchang warriors had recently perished futilely at Ghost Demon's hands, how could they pin that crime on Poison Demon?
And now,
the score gap between Geum Sihyeon and himself was a whopping 40,000 points.
Not easy to overturn unless he pulled off a tsumo yakuman.
The higher the yakuman score, the harder it was to form the hand.
If Geum Sihyeon's luck didn't hold,
one of the other three would end the game before he completed his.
Elder Gwang steeled his resolve.
"No loss for me. I accept the bet. But if you fail, kid, we'll take custody of Poison Demon."
Elder Gwang's arrow left the bowstring.
At that moment,
Geum Sihyeon smiled and stood up.
"Then, I'll be in your care for a bit. Feel free to report to the Alliance ahead of time."
"No, kid, where are you going?"
Elder Gwang looked baffled, but Geum Sihyeon wore a smile full of conviction.
"Tsumo. Tenhou, Shousuushii, Daisangen, San Ankou Tanki. Six han yakuman."
He slipped out the parlor door into the night streets.
Elder Gwang's hand flipped over the tiles Geum Sihyeon had left behind, one by one.
East East East, South South South, West West West, North North North, Red Red.
東東東 南南南 西西西 北北北 中中.
Taking in the exact yakuman he'd called before leaving,
"Heh heh, heh heh... Tenhou, huh..."
Elder Gwang let out a wry chuckle.
How the hell did he pull that off?
No, it couldn't be dismissed as mere sleight of hand.
How?
Even giving the utmost leeway,
the eight tiles he'd stacked and taken from his own side could've been memorized and arranged as desired.
But from Elder Gwang's own stack,
pulling exactly the tiles he needed?
"No way."
In that short time,
did he distinguish the subtle imperfections from tiles clacking together, carved from jade, and subtly maneuver them toward himself to stack?
...More than that interpretation,
it was more reasonable to say heaven's will had favored Geum Sihyeon.
Tenhou meant tiles dealt by heaven.
"Six han yakuman...! No, Tenhou is possible?!"
"How, such a miracle..."
"Sect Leader, you didn't feed him the tiles, did you? No way, who is our sect leader? A gambling maniac."
"Without even looking at the tiles..."
Hearing the elders groan, Elder Gwang gazed at the door Geum Sihyeon had exited.
Through the gap in the open door,
a newly risen star was vividly scattering its presence across the night sky.
Those who would wear the crown must bear its weight.
Heavy Is The Crown.
Shaking off the cold sweat trickling down my back in the cool night breeze,
I leisurely headed back to the inn, replaying that thrilling scene from moments ago.
I'd originally planned to wrap it up modestly with just Tenhou, San Ankou Tanki, but greed is always the problem.
No matter how uniformly they were polished,
handmade tiles couldn't have perfectly identical back patterns.
By the fifth or so round, around South 1, I'd already memorized the entire set, so from then on, it was child's play.
The moment the character tiles prettily ended up in Elder Gwang's hand,
instinctively, I scooped them up from the floor and stacked them too.
Controlling the dice roll is basic basics.
After that, it was a perfect drama.
It could've been utterly embarrassing if I'd misread and failed, so I bounced coolly right after calling it, but since they didn't follow, it must've worked.
...I'd forgotten how many points a six-han yakuman was worth anyway.
Had to try to know.
Anyway.
I... scammed heaven...!
"Heh heh heh..."
Self-praising my historic mark on mahjong history, I entered the inn.
Despite quite some time having passed,
I spotted Elder Dang Wuryang leisurely downing bottles of liquor alone.
"What about little Naran?"
"Don't call my daughter by name so casually, you punk."
He grumbled curtly at me, but the pleased smile tugging at his lips suggested things had gone well enough.
Over drinks, I heard
he'd confessed everything up to now—including trying to atone to Mirinae with his death, only to be forgiven instead.
Well, somehow it'll work out.
The next morning.
"Th-then, Young Master! A... a... ugh, Elder! I'll stop by Jeomchang on my way!"
"Take care, little Naran."
"...Have a safe trip."
The two still seemed pretty awkward, but time would sort that out.
With a somewhat lighter heart,
"Kyaow!"
I mounted the wolf pup, savoring the crisp autumn breeze that had begun to tint the leaves despite the early summer start,
and set off for Sichuan with my prospective father-in-law in tow.
After riding pleasantly for a good while, near the Yunnan-Sichuan border by Panzhihua,
"Wolfie, hold up."
"Kyaaang!"
My senses, heightened further after reaching Peak realm with the Mixed Moon Divine Eyes, picked up a familiar aura from the distant woods.
One Peak expert, and a bunch of small fry.
The same trash we'd swept away before with the Ghost Killer Squad buddies.
Thugs from the Killing Gate.
"Elder, wait here with Wolfie a moment."
"What's up?"
"I'm a bit too popular."
I'm not dumb enough to stick my head into an obvious ambush just to check.
Should I sweep them all away?
Silence them permanently so they can't even whimper?
But for some reason, close combat didn't appeal today.
Charak!
I swung my sword-bow into archery form for the first time in a while.
"What are you doing, kid?"
"Heh heh. I'm pretty good with a bow too."
I lightly drew the string.
Compared to my meager Peak underling days, a far more intense intangible arrow laden with sword intent left my hand, swimming through the air.