Holding Both Hands (1)
"Ugh!"
"Gahk!"
"Ugh!"
All eight of them shot to their feet, faces frozen in horror.
Even Yul Han-cheon, who had been presiding over the gamble, stared at Jeok Sa-in with an expression close to fainting.
Jeok Sa-in, with a hole punched clean through the back of his neck, died without so much as a scream. It was, quite literally, instant death.
The Devil Sword Barrel's serpent-head nozzle was still jammed inside his mouth.
"Tsk! That's why I told you to be careful. Not that being careful would've saved you."
Jin Yigang rose from his seat and pulled the Devil Sword Barrel from Jeok Sa-in's mouth. The silk wrapping the nozzle had turned a deep, glistening red, and Jeok Sa-in's blood dripped steadily from it. Jin Yigang stripped off the cloth Jeok Sa-in had used, then rinsed the nozzle clean with liquor.
"So that's why you wrapped it in cloth..."
Namgung Won-mu's voice came out trembling. His eyes were fixed on Jeok Sa-in's corpse.
"The smell of blood is no joke."
Jin Yigang flashed a crooked grin.
"......"
Namgung Won-mu could only stare back at him, sick to his stomach.
"Right, let's forget the dead man and start the next round, shall we?"
Jin Yigang looked at Yul Han-cheon.
"Rolling."
Yul Han-cheon dropped the dice into the barrel and shook it. Namgung Won-mu's party, who had been standing, sank back into their seats.
Their faces were rigid as stone.
Rrrrrrrrr! Rrrrrrrrrr!
The rattle of the tumbling dice echoed through the silence.
"Throwing."
Yul Han-cheon swept his arm lightly. The dice tumbled out onto the board and rolled.
Clack!
The two dice came to a stop.
"Gahk!"
Namgung Won-mu's face drained white. A zero and a one.
"I— I pass..."
Tok!
The very instant he moved to concede, the die showing zero tipped over one more time.
"Hahahaha! Hohoho! N-not one... it's s-seven! Seven!"
Namgung Won-mu couldn't contain his laughter. He looked like a man dragged back from the brink of death.
"Lucky you."
Jin Yigang snorted.
Yul Han-cheon slid the Devil Sword Barrel and the Life-and-Death Swords in front of Jin Yigang. Jin Yigang first rinsed the nozzle with liquor, then wrapped it in fresh cloth.
"You lot won't kill me, right?"
he asked, bracing both hands on either side of the barrel.
"Pfft!"
Eum Gu-yeo let out a soft laugh.
"That's a no, then. Seven."
Jin Yigang stared at Eum Gu-yeo for a long moment, then opened his mouth wide. Yul Han-cheon shoved the nozzle in, then drove a Life-and-Death Sword deep into the seventh hole.
Clunk!
The sound of knocking on death's door rang out.
The whole company held their breath, watching Jin Yigang.
"Damn it."
"Son of a bitch!"
Curses spilled from more than a few mouths.
Jin Yigang simply gazed at the Devil Sword Barrel, unmoving. Yul Han-cheon stepped forward and drew it out.
'That man is a monster.'
Namgung Won-mu shook his head slowly.
It was their defeat.
Jin Yigang, having survived, had become a third party to the whole affair — and of those remaining, two more would have to die. Not a single soul here wanted to end up like Jeok Sa-in, himself least of all.
"I forfeit."
Namgung Won-mu was the first to raise his hand.
"Me too."
"Me too."
"Me too."
One after another, the remaining eight all declared their surrender.
Jin Yigang looked at Yul Han-cheon.
"Today's winner is Grand Marshal Je Suyong."
"It's Je Suryong, not Je Suyong."
"Grand Marshal Je Suryong, then."
"Good work, everyone. I'll put this money to good use."
"......"
Namgung Won-mu and his party stared at Jin Yigang in silence, then hurriedly cleared out.
THWACK!
A dull crack exploded against the back of Jin Yigang's head. The one who'd clobbered him was Mu Daebo.
"You're out of your damn mind."
Mu Daebo said.
"I'm fine."
"But you little—"
"This was a gamble I was always going to win, you oaf."
"And what's your basis for that?"
"The Kings have too much to lose. Me? I've got nothing but the hair on my ass."
"Then how do you explain the first round?"
"People with more to lose have more pride, too. Honestly, if someone had died early on, we never would've made it this far."
"So because nobody died, we ended up going a second round?"
"Yep."
Jin Yigang nodded, then glanced at Yul Han-cheon. He'd burned through a frightening amount of mental focus, apparently — he was slumped in his chair, gasping for breath.
"Not planning to sell that thing?"
Jin Yigang pointed at the Devil Sword Barrel.
"What in the world would you do with it?"
Yul Han-cheon looked at him, bewildered.
"Keep it as a souvenir, obviously."
"A million nyang."
"Take a whole bundle."
"......"
Yul Han-cheon went blank for a moment. A million nyang had been nothing more than an offhand figure. And Jin Yigang had just slapped it down without a flicker of hesitation.
"Has something gone wrong with my head, perhaps?"
Yul Han-cheon rapped his own skull a couple of times.
"You just gained twenty million nyang in the blink of an eye — if nothing went wrong, THAT would be stranger, wouldn't it?"
"Well... I suppose that's one way to look at it."
Yul Han-cheon nodded.
"Deal's done."
Jin Yigang hunched his shoulders and glowered at the money.
"I can't do it."
Then he relaxed his posture again.
"What did you just do?"
Mu Daebo asked.
"Heogong-seopmul. Plucking objects from thin air."
"......"
"That bastard Sam Gwang-ho's fault."
"Call a King 'that bastard' one more time and you might just die, you oaf."
"He's my little brother. So what?"
"You lunatic. But why the Power King?"
"He took two hits from me, remember? So for a moment there I got it into my head that maybe I'd sprouted some internal force of my own. Anyway."
Jin Yigang reached across the table and gathered up the banknotes. There were twenty bundles of a million nyang each — a hundred notes of ten thousand nyang per bundle. He tossed one of them in front of Yul Han-cheon.
"This is..."
"The way I see it, that Devil Sword Barrel earned you twenty million nyang, so it's worth a million easily."
"Tch! I can't for the life of me figure out why I feel like I'm the one getting fleeced here."
Yul Han-cheon scratched his head.
"Looks fairly old. When was it made?"
Jin Yigang asked, turning the Devil Sword Barrel over in his hands. The engravings on the barrel — and on the Devil and the Life-and-Death Swords — were far more intricate than he'd expected. Clearly not some hastily thrown-together contraption.
"No one knows the date of its making. But it came out of the imperial vault, so you can be certain it's no ordinary object."
"Perfect, then."
Jin Yigang broke into a wide grin.
"Mak Hong."
Jin Yigang called for Mak Hong.
"Yes?"
Mak Hong looked at him. Jin Yigang pulled out a bundle of banknotes and tossed it over. Catching it, Mak Hong stared back and forth between the money and Jin Yigang, utterly lost.
"You said twenty-five of you were left, right?"
"That's right."
"Split it among yourselves."
"......"
"Gwangbul!"
This time he called for Gwangbul, one of the Three Eccentrics.
"You're giving us money too?"
Gwangbul asked.
"One bundle."
He tossed a million nyang to Gwangbul as well.
"There's a hundred and ninety-five of us, you know?"
"You joined late."
"If we're splitting this, we'd better never die."
"Pass that sentiment along to the others."
Jin Yigang set aside five more bundles.
"Who are those for?"
Mu Daebo asked.
"I told you — a quarter goes to the Ghost King."
"Isn't that a bit much, just for buying him drinks?"
"It's not for the drinks. It's capital."
"Capital?"
"He didn't have to hand me two million nyang, but he did. By rights he should've given me half, and I talked him down to a quarter with some excuse or other. But..."
"But what?"
"Even after all that, there's still fourteen million nyang left?"
"Do I... not get any?"
Mu Daebo said.
"Take as much as you need."
"As much as I need?"
"Yep."
"Then I'm taking all of it."
Mu Daebo smirked and grabbed a single bundle.
"That's enough?"
"Yep."
"You two should take some as well."
Now he turned to the sisters Je Ha-yeong and Je Chu-yeong.
"Us too?"
"There's plenty here."
"All we need is one bundle to share among the escort members."
Je Ha-yeong took a million nyang and handed it to Na Seok-jin.
"Hey Daebo, how much would a person need to live in absolute luxury for a year?"
"Five hundred nyang would do it."
"So one of these would be more than enough, huh?"
Jin Yigang pulled out a single ten-thousand-nyang note.
"That's ten thousand nyang, right?"
Mu Daebo asked.
"Yep."
"I'll stake my life on it — you could never spend that."
"If I can't even spend one of these, when am I ever going to burn through all of THAT?"
Jin Yigang stared blankly at the mountain of banknotes.
"The fastest way to burn through money like that? Found a sect."
It was Gwangsa, who had been watching, who spoke up.
"A sect?"
"I know from experience back in my glory days — the single greatest money pit in existence is founding a sect."
"You'd need a headquarters and disciples. Fine, buy a building with that, but where are you going to recruit disciples from?"
"You've got over two hundred ronin sitting right here. What exactly is there to worry about?"
This time it was Gwangdo who spoke.
"Is that so...?"
Jin Yigang slid the stack of banknotes in front of Gwangsa.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Gwangsa asked.
"Whoever brings it up takes responsibility."
"So you're telling US to found the sect?"
"Don't you want to give it another shot?"
Jin Yigang asked, looking at Gwangsa.
"It's the capital we lack. If we had the money..."
"Then do it. Even if you burn through it all, who cares. Sit those old men down as your advisors and the whole thing starts looking a lot more legitimate."
Jin Yigang pointed at the Absolute Five Recluses.
"Would you be willing?"
Gwangsa asked.
"Sure, why not."
Na Hu-jeok accepted readily.
"Money's settled... Deputy Chief Yul."
Jin Yigang called for Yul Han-cheon.
"Speak."
"Do you believe the Kings will actually help us?"
"Help, yes — because the Emperor commands it."
"But they won't help us in earnest, will they?"
"Expecting sincerity is asking too much. We should be grateful for even the token kind."
"And what happens if the treasure map never arrives at Mount Laojun?"
"The Jecheon Medical Manor becomes guilty of defying the Emperor Himself."
Jin Yigang turned to Je Ha-yeong.
"Yes?"
"Did I do something wrong?"
Jin Yigang asked.
"Why do you ask?"
"You seem... put out about something."
"Well, it's just..."
Je Ha-yeong's voice trailed off.
"Go on, say it."
"Two years ago, His Majesty asked my father about the treasure map."
"And Father claimed he'd neither seen nor heard of any such thing, I take it."
"Yes. Then the truth of the deception came to light, and the Emperor flew into a rage."
"And said he'd grant forgiveness if we brought it to him ourselves?"
"Yes."
"...Hm! So we're the bait."
Jin Yigang said, rubbing his face with both hands.
"Bait?"
Je Ha-yeong's eyes went wide.
"Anyone worth their salt already knows we're transporting the treasure map. Which means someone leaked the information — and since it couldn't possibly have been the Jecheon Medical Manor, there's only one suspect left."
"You think it leaked from the imperial court?"
"That's my read. What's yours, Deputy Chief Yul?"
Jin Yigang looked at Yul Han-cheon.
"Have you never considered that if the treasure map fell into enemy hands, the imperial court would hardly come out ahead either?"
"A map that no one has managed to decipher in a thousand years might hold treasure's worth, but it poses no real threat. And if the court could use that map to punish the Jecheon Medical Manor for daring to deceive it — and rid itself of a thorn in its side at the same time — then losing the map would be a bargain many times over."
"If your guess is right, then the road to Mount Laojun is a road straight through hell. What do you intend to do about it?"
"We wring out real help from the Eight Kings."
"And how, exactly?"
"With this."
Jin Yigang held up the treasure map.