Ready to be taken out? (1)
“Big! [대수(大數)*]”
“That’s right!”
Seok Hanbin cackled as he swept the money laid out before him into his arms.
The children standing behind him stared blankly at the sight, then kept glancing back with uneasy eyes.
“Now, place your bets! Bet! This young master here has been on a winning streak for a while now, and as grown men, surely you cannot afford to lose?”
“Ugh. Has the god of wealth possessed him or what?”
“Quite a brazen little brat, isn’t he?”
“Now, now. On to the next round!”
The dealer seated at the center took the dice from inside the cup, swiftly showed them around to those gathered about the table, then tossed them back into the cup. Then he began to shake the dice cup with flashy moves, mixing the dice inside.
“N-o-o-o-w!”
Taaang!
The dice cup, which had been whirling about madly, came down onto the board in a single swift motion.
“Place your bets!”
“Big [대(大)]!”
“Big for me too!”
“I’ll go small [소(小)] this time.”
The people gathered around the dice table, each and every one of them, placed the money in their hands onto the board. However, even amid all that, Seok Hanbin carefully watched the dealer.
After glaring for a long while between him and the dice cup from which his hand had still not lifted, Seok Hanbin pushed a portion of the money before him forward.
“Small!”
“N-o-o-o-w! If everyone has placed their bets, I shall open it!”
The dealer’s hand, gripping the cup, shot upward at once. The moment the dice were revealed, half of those who checked the pips let out cheers, while the other half spat curses.
“It’s small!”
“Aaaaargh! Damn it! Why can’t I get it right!”
“Done! I’ve made triple. Wahahahah!”
In the midst of all that, Seok Hanbin, who had won money again this time as well, chuckled as he swept up the money laid out before him.
“Um, Boss.”
“What?”
“Shouldn’t we… shouldn’t we be going now?”
“Why, when my luck’s running so high?”
“…..No, whether your luck’s running high or not. This isn’t the time for you to be wandering around like this, Boss. Especially not in a gambling den…”
“What are you talking about? It’s precisely because things are like this that I have to go around gambling dens.”
“Huh?”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. How stupid. Imagine I showed myself on the main street right now. What do you think would happen?”
“The Black Water Manor would seize you in an instant.”
“Right? The main street is dangerous, is what I’m saying. But not here.”
“Why? Gambling dens are places run by the Black Path, aren’t they?”
“Do you think all Black Path groups are the same?”
“Huh?”
“The ones who have a grudge against me are the Black Water Manor, and this place is run by the Venomous Scorpion Sect [독갈파(毒蠍派)]. You all know very well that the Black Water Manor and the Venomous Scorpion Sect are sworn enemies.”
“That’s… true.”
When the kids nodded, Seok Hanbin clicked his tongue.
“Think about it. No matter how much those Black Water Manor bastards are grinding their teeth because of me, could they really come all the way into a gambling den run by the Venomous Scorpion Sect looking for me? When, if they tried to come in here and made one wrong move, they might have to go to war with the Venomous Scorpion Sect?”
“….I suppose not.”
“Exactly. So this place is the safest place in Jinan for me right now, that’s what I’m saying. Got it?”
The children nodded without realizing it.
It was not as if they fully understood, but since everything Seok Hanbin did was like this in the first place, they had no choice but to accept it.
“Then… did you just come here to clear your head?”
“As if. I have to make money.”
“…Huh?”
Seok Hanbin’s face twisted sharply into a scowl.
“I told you, I have to get out of Jinan for a while. I need money if I’m going to leave, don’t I?”
“…”
“And while I’m at it, I can avoid those naggers too.”
“Naggers?”
“There are such people. Don’t talk to me. I have to concentrate right now.”
Seok Hanbin waved his hand dismissively. But just because they had heard his explanation did not mean they could possibly calm down. Seok Hanbin might be the sort to live on the edge**, but they were still far too young to stroll in and out of a gambling den run by the Black Path sect as if nothing were wrong.
“Boss, everything else is fine, but.”
“Ah, I told you not to talk to me.”
“No, I think you just need to explain this one thing.”
“What?”
“I understand everything else. But what is this, then?”
“Hm?”
Following the gesture of the kid who had asked the question, Seok Hanbin lowered his head.
Kii…
There, a weasel lay fast asleep, hugging a liquor bottle as large as its own body.
“…Just let it be.”
“But that is…“
“It’s hard for me to explain too, so just let it…”
Just then, Seok Hanbin flinched and looked at the weasel, then reached out like lightning and shook the bottle it was holding. After confirming that the bottle was completely empty, Seok Hanbin’s face turned deathly pale.
“Q-Quick!”
Snatching up a piece of silver from the table in a flash, Seok Hanbin practically threw it at the kids as he shouted.
“Hurry, go over there and ask for a bottle of liquor! Something strong! And give it to that weasel! Hurry!”
“Give liquor to a weasel?”
For a moment, they wondered whether their boss had finally lost his mind, but Seok Hanbin’s urgent manner allowed them no time to hesitate.
“Instead of talking, hurry! If this weasel wakes up, everything is ruined! Move quickly! Go!”
“O-Okay.”
Glancing at the kid who tilted his head in confusion and ran off to the side, Seok Hanbin bit down hard on his lip, then looked at the gambling table with a resolute face.
“I’m definitely going to win and get out of this place.”
He had already been thinking of leaving for a while because of the Black Water Manor, but now, with those Hwasan Taoist bastards in the mix, it seemed he would have to go far away for some time. And for that, he needed enough money.
Clink.
Seok Hanbin’s eyes flashed sharply as he gripped the silver piece in his hand.
If he could just stop before these bastards, who had marked him as an easy target, tried to take back all the money they had been letting him win on purpose…
‘To hell with the Black Water Manor and Hwasan both.‘
Just as Seok Hanbin was about to place his money on the gambling table.
“Who do you think you are, barging in here?”
“Got a death wish?”
A sudden commotion broke out from the back.
His concentration broken in an instant, Seok Hanbin turned back with an irritated look.
“You bastards, have you lost your… Aaaaargh!”
One of the men who had been blocking the newcomers screamed as he collapsed on the spot. At the same time, thick blood began to spread across the floor.
The noisy gambling den fell silent, as if frozen.
“…You lunatics! Are you trying to start a war right now?”
One of the Venomous Scorpion Sect’s martial artists shouted in shock. The one who had been walking in at the very front spoke in a blunt tone.
“If you don’t open the way, then I suppose we’ll have to go to war. If you’re scared, get lost.”
“Don’t spew that bullshit. Kill them all!”
“Uwaaaaaaaaah!”
Along with the savage shouts that burst out, dozens of thugs instantly began swinging hand axes and great broadswords at one another.
“S-Someone’s dead!“
“Run! Now!”
“Damn it, where are we supposed to run!”
The gamblers filling the gambling den shrank back in horror, but there was no place for them to flee. By nature, gambling dens run by the Black Path were bound to be hidden away in secrecy, and places like that usually had limited space, so there could never be many entrances and exits.
From the moment the entrance was seized, they were no different from rats trapped in a jar.
“Aaaaargh!”
“Y-You bastards…. Damn it!”
Seok Hanbin gulped down dryly.
The dozen or so Venomous Scorpion Sect bastards guarding the inside of the gambling den were dealt with in an instant. And then, stepping forward, half trampling over those who lay groaning with blades lodged somewhere in their bodies, a man walked straight ahead.
That man was someone Seok Hanbin knew very well.
‘Chief Administrator Gam…..?’
It was surely Chief Administrator Gam, said to be the right hand man of Seo Gunhong, the Bangju of the Black Water Manor. To think Chief Administrator Gam would come in person. No, putting that aside, to think they would start a war with the Venomous Scorpion Sect just to catch him alone.
Had the Black Water Manor always been this extreme?
Seok Hanbin’s gaze, without him realizing it, dropped downward. But the weasel, which he had already stuffed with strong liquor, was completely passed out, even mumbling in its sleep despite the chaos.
“Haaa, talk about rotten luck…”
In the meantime, Chief Administrator Gam, who had reached him, looked at Seok Hanbin and smiled faintly.
Seok Hanbin smiled back with an awkward expression.
“Look, I’ve got a request.”
“What?”
“Let’s take it easy.”
Chief Administrator Gam’s hand shot straight towards Seok Hanbin’s face.
❀ ❀ ❀
“Hwasan Shinryong! Hwasan Shinryong! Are you there?”
Sunhak Gae roughly pushed aside a plank that could hardly be called a door and stuck his head into the house.
“Eh? Why is there a beggar here?”
“We don’t have any leftovers.”
“It’s me! Sunhak Gae!”
“Ah.”
Chung Myung, who had been lying sprawled out, sat up and smiled awkwardly at Sunhak Gae.
“So, who are you again……”
“You know I’m the Jinan Branch Leader, you bastard! How long has it even been since you saw my face!”
“No, beggars are all just beggars. How am I supposed to tell them apart by their faces? If I could do that, I’d be able to tell apart every stray dog in the neighborhood too.”
“Could you contain your rudeness just even a bit…”
Did he really get bitten to death by a beggar in a past life or something…
But Sunhak Gae, who had been bombarded by that rudeness, did not seem inclined to continue such trivial chatter.
“This is no time for this. I’m telling you, something terrible has happened!”
“What, did you break your begging bowl or something?”
“…Would that be something terrible?”
“For a beggar, wouldn’t it be?”
Sunhak Gae struck his own chest in frustration. Did these bastards grow thorns in their mouths if they kept them shut for even a moment?
“Calm down and tell us. What happened?”
“Hwasan Shinryong!”
“Yes?”
“I’m only asking to make sure. What relationship do you have with the kid who used to live here, with Seok Hanbin?”
“Ugh. Relationship, you say… It’s the sort of relationship that’s hard to say exists, but hard to say doesn’t exist either.”
“Then that’s enough.”
“What do you mean, enough? What are you suddenly talking about..”
“Seok Hanbin. That boy has been taken by the Black Water Manor.”
“What?”
Chung Myung sprang up from his seat.
“Where? The Black Water Manor? What’s that?”
“A Black Path sect of Jinan. Their relationship with Seok Hanbin is.…”
“Ah, that… place he said he scammed?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“No, why would he suddenly get dragged off there! Didn’t we leave that bastard Baek Ah with him?”
Chung Myung looked at Baek Cheon as if demanding an explanation. But what answer could Baek Cheon possibly have?
“Baek Ah isn’t the sort to be taken down that easily. Even if it couldn’t handle them by force, it would have come to inform us in an instant.”
“Exactly!”
While Chung Myung and Baek Cheon could not hide their confusion, Sunhak Gae narrowed his eyes.
“My apologies, but this Baek Ah you just mentioned, could it possibly be…”
“Yes?”
“This?”
Sunhak Gae took something limp from inside his robe. The moment they saw the weasel dangling from Sunhak Gae’s hand, Hwasan’s disciples’ eyes grew as wide as lanterns.
“The beggars who were assessing the situation picked it up and brought it here. I did wonder whether we should simply leave it be, but the clothes this weasel was wearing just happened to be…”
“Wh-Why is it sprawled out like this? There’s no way…”
“Wow. The smell of liquor.”
“It really drank itself senseless.”
“Ugh.”
Chung Myung grabbed the back of his neck. But only for a moment. Soon, Chung Myung’s eyes rolled back, and he charged at Baek Ah with fire spewing from his mouth.
“This weasel bastard has lost its mind!”
“Ch-Chung Myung! Hold yourself back!“
“Let go! You won’t let go? Today I’m really going to skin that bastard and make a scarf out of it! Let go! Let go!”
“Will that fix what has already happened! That’s not the problem here! Hanbin has been captured!”
“Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!”
After fuming for a long while, Chung Myung whipped his head around and looked at Sunhak Gae. At that frenzied gaze, Sunhak Gae flinched and shuddered.
“Where?”
“Yes?”
When the flustered Sunhak Gae let out a soundless breath, Chung Myung ground his teeth and shouted again.
“I’m asking where he was taken?!”
________
*“Large number” here means one bets that the dice will roll to make a sum of a ‘big’ or a ‘small’ number. Depending on a dice game small can be 1-6 and big 8-12 (7 being a standalone number). With 3 dice the rules can change to accommodate the number that can be thrown.
**’To live like his liver has been taken out of his body’ – the explanation to this idiom would be to live recklessly, without considering one’s safety etc.
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