episode_0004

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‘That guy was Ho Cheon-an.’

The demon looked at Hocheonan’s appearance. You won over 100 nyang just today? And not just against pro-gamers, but against professional gamblers?

Daogwi looked closely at Hocheonan and thought.

How did you win money against gamblers?

The author who plays Golpae doesn’t watch people shuffle the cards and doesn’t pay attention to when others draw cards. Then it just dies.

He keeps dying like that, but then suddenly, as soon as he gets a hand, he bets big. Even if I walked, nothing changed. He doesn’t even look at his opponent or check the score properly. A waitress on the street passes by, patting her butt, and I’m busy looking in that direction.

But I got it.

‘I guess I don’t have time to look any further.’

The time when Dogwi arrived at Giru and examined Hocheonan was two minutes. I was doing things that could hardly be called a gambler, but I was still winning money.

Goal loss is a gamble played by 4 people. A gambler belonging to Giru stood up with a sallow face, and a demon entered his place.

“Die.”

As expected, Ho Cheon-an died without even seeing him. After a meaningless game between the three of them, Do-gwi saw Ho Cheon-an smiling.

‘This bastard…’

Ho Cheon-an was smiling while looking at the demon.

“Hey bro, why don’t you two have some fun playing grandson?”

Opposite son-in-law.

A gamble where you throw a dice into a complex jar and guess whether it is odd or even. It was a gamble where the gambler’s psychology and luck depended on how much money he put in or took out.

Dogwi felt a deep sense of victory towards Ho Cheon-an, who recognized his true worth after just one match.

“Good.”

The plate was laid.

Rurrr.

The dice bounced repeatedly due to the internal structure and fell to the floor.

There was no way to know which side of the Daesangsawi’s eyes were now. No matter how skilled a person is with the sense of dice, it is impossible to understand the complex internal structure of the opposing dice and create the desired eye.

“They play first.”

“Good. 1 cat of gold per hole.”

“Die.”

The rules of the Daesangsawi are simple. The dice are always thrown alternately. The person who loses the previous game goes first and bets as much money as he or she wants on the odd or even side. If you respond, you will bet that much money on the other side. After that, you take turns betting additional money, and each time you bet, you have to follow the amount that your opponent bet.

If you bet two additional times and have a total of three bets, open the jar and check the number.

Next the dice were rolled.

“1 nyang of silver per hole.”

“…1 cat of gold per pair.”

“Die.”

What is this damn son of a bitch doing now? The demon felt deep anger. Ho Cheon-an just blatantly tried to waste time by betting 1 nyang of silver. The money card that Ho Cheon-an currently has is worth around 110 taels of gold.

Are you saying you want to take the lead until you get a feel for it?

But it was just two plates. If you have unlimited first-pitch rights when you lose, you can drag it out with a small bet like the current Hocheonan. If you die twice in a row, the right to go first goes to the demon again.

Do-gwi, who received the right to attack first, bet 1 cat of gold. Ho Cheon-an died again without any regrets.

In this way, the capital of Hocheonan rapidly decreased.

“No, why can’t I feel this way…I’m dying.”

When the gold was reduced to 80 nyang, Ho Cheon-an finally shouted.

“Mr. W, 1 nyang of gold per hole.”

The demon thought for a moment and then responded. Only by making sure you really know what you are betting on can you gain a basis for making decisions in continued gambling.

“Received.”

“Then 2 taels of gold.”

“..received.”

“Then 4 taels of gold.”

You damn bastard. The devil chewed his lips. A plate worth 7 taels of gold would be big, but… I’ve had some so far, so let’s see the reaction.

“Received.”

A jar that had never been opened since gambling began was opened.

The number was a hole.

What is it? Did Ho Cheon-an really know the numbers on the dice in the jar? However, this time it was Goblin who actually threw the dice. Can you figure out what someone else threw, not what you threw?

In the case of the counter dice, the eyes of the dice are removed from the dead board without revealing them, in case gamblers get used to the feel of the jar.

Nevertheless, Dogwi wondered if Hocheonan had figured out some way to know the eye inside the jar.

“Do not replace the jar. Do you agree?”

“So.”

The jar was replaced and the gambling continued. This time, Ho Cheon-an bet on a pair for the second time. Dogwi thought that the battle of pure luck and money had finally begun.

‘There’s a long way to go, but let’s respond one more time.’

“Walk.”

Ho Cheon-an ran as fast as he could and bet 7 nyang of gold, and Do-gwi also responded.

The result was a match.

The devil even requested that the jar be changed every game. Giru accepted, and as many as fifteen jars, including the extra jars piled up in the warehouse, were changed for each edition.

Still, it was the same.

When Ho Cheon-an bet, he won 7 gold coins like a ghost.

‘You crazy bastard.’

Was it really a goblin that was attached to me? How can I get it right just by hanging it? The demon’s pride was greatly hurt. However, it is a matter of ears and arms. It was time to bend down even if it hurt my pride.

“1 nyang per hole.”

“I’m dying.”

Ho Cheon-an smiled slightly. That smile made the demon heat up to the top of his head. He was the type of person who kept his cool even when his parents cursed at him at the gambling table, but something was different today. Ho Cheon-an’s actions seem to ignore and insult the very act of gambling, and even the look in his eyes that looks down on him.

“1 cat per pair.”

“I will bet. I’ll bet up to 7 nyang anyway, so let’s go at once.”

The result was a match. The demon clenched its fists and trembled.

“Ah~ It’s sweet, so sweet.”

The devil’s eyes widened and he glared at Ho Cheon-an, but Ho Cheon-an wasn’t even looking at the devil.

*** ***

Even though I have gambling [skills], why am I perceived as someone who can’t even afford to gamble in a restaurant?

That was because I lost money on purpose.

Well, first of all, in order to understand the situation of losing money even though I have gambling skills, I needed to understand the premise.

What is the number that controls the difficulty of this game called [Murim World]?

It is [reputation].

Reputation can be summed up in one word:

‘Hocheonan, Your Majesty, Myeongdaeseong, I heard it with pain in my ears here in Sacheon. This transcendental master, Jang Sam, admires your inaction and asks you to join him. ‘Take up your sword.’

What if your name becomes known in martial arts circles? It becomes the center of the Oman incident. From flies who covet fame, some super experts try to force them to become disciples, and forces that need experts come into contact…

What if your own strength in the process is at best a second-rate expert? They will not be able to handle those situations and will end up dying. It is certain that even if you live, you will not see any good results.

This reputation is the reason why I live as a Sichuan ninja, and the reason why I learn gambling among the many skills I have, and at the same time, the reason why I only lose money at gambling.

Reputation rises with activity. As people live and engage in activities, they naturally develop a reputation little by little.

As your reputation increases, the likelihood of encountering experts increases.

Therefore, I have been living as a Sichuan ronin for seven years.

Sichuan ronin hides his face with black lips and acts as [anonymous], so there is no need to accumulate reputation points. If I had proudly put on the name Hocheonan and received requests like I do now, my reputation would have spread in some way and I would have lived a life where I would often be greeted by top-tier or peak experts.

I, blocked by the barrier of second-class status, cannot handle the increase in reputation through normal means.

What if my reputation rises to the point where I can sway a peak or super peak expert? What if they have a passion for me?

Learning gambling skills is in the same context.

The level of reputation that increases through gambling is absolutely influenced by profits. How much did you win through gambling? Your reputation as a gambler increases depending on how often and how much you win.

If you practice your gambling skills to your heart’s content and return the money you won that day to 0, there is almost no increase in your reputation.

The only skill one could learn while managing one’s reputation was gambling.

Currently, my gambling skills are all great except for one luck-based skill called [Intuition]. Even if you search not only this Sichuan but also the whole world of martial arts, there are really few people who are better at gambling than me, and it is an absolute state.

If I learned skills other than gambling to the same level as gambling, I would become a master of the level who created Ganjang Makya or a god of the level of Hwata who can even revive the dead. The reputation that technology has gained to reach that level? He would have saved countless people, made countless weapons, and raised his technology to that level. Could it be possible that the reputation that those swords and people would create would be less? In this world of martial arts, he gains such great fame that there is no one who does not know him.

So how is Hocheonan living? If he were a craftsman, there would be Martial people visiting him every day asking to become the exclusive craftsman of his clan. Among them, there was a super master with a bad personality, so he might receive a death threat saying he would kill him if he did not make his weapon. He may have stabbed me to death, saying that I should be the only one.

What if you were a congressman? I was kidnapped by an absolute expert whose daughter was suffering from an incurable disease. He told me that if I couldn’t save my daughter, he would kill me in terrible pain. Whenever my daughter’s condition worsened, I was given a 2-day, 1-night course of treatment to extend the life of the absolute expert’s daughter. He may end his life as a slave by doing so.

This is not my delusion, it is the result of not learning martial arts in [Murim World] and focusing only on technique. Super experts are not common, so if you prepare well, you may be able to avoid the devil once or twice. However, it is impossible to continue to evade the magical powers of super-adepts until natural death. In the end, a miserable ending like the one above awaits. It was a kind of [bad ending] or [game over] that occurred when you did not practice martial arts enough to handle the reputation value.

If you were a player character without a limit, you could just think, ‘Oh, I’m so bad that I’m training in martial arts!’ and spend a few years in a closed school to raise my level, but as someone who had already reached my limit, I couldn’t do that, so it was a matter of life and death.

For me, who can no longer raise my level, managing my reputation is not an option, but a necessity.

Learning how to gamble but not winning money is the only way to improve your gambling skills and not have your reputation increase.

Therefore, even though he already possessed enough gambling skills to be called a doshin, he had no choice but to leave the gambling house, penniless, without winning a single penny.