episode_0296

Flash!

The confrontation between the two was condensed into psychological warfare. At such an overwhelming speed, the Yabawi board, which could be considered an actual battlefield, has lost its meaning and has become a place for predictions that see through the psychology of which cup the dice were placed in.

Regardless of the change in the nature of the confrontation, the game was tight.

“On the left.”

“Wrong.”

When five rounds were made, the score between Bulmyeong and Ho Cheon-an became 5 to 5. Ho Cheon-an caught up by one point, but the face looking at Bul-myeong, who took his hand away from the glass, was not bright at all.

It’s Hocheonan’s turn to mix the glasses.

Ho Cheon-an’s mind became complicated.

Unmyeong missed Hocheonan’s technique twice and saw it through three times. Considering that the more you look at Yabawi, the more you recognize it, and the more you use the technique, the easier it is to be detected. If you go through with ease, there is a high probability that you will be defeated.

Naturally, Ho Cheon-an’s thoughts had no choice but to deepen.

“Abstention?”

“I do.”

Ho Cheon-an sighed and moved the glass in response to the unknown.

Yabawi’s basic mixing of glasses was performed without any special tricks. It was an action to buy time to think.

As he mixed his glasses, Ho Cheon-an pictured the direction of victory and defeat in his mind.

‘No matter how much I think about it, this moment is a turning point…’

When Bulmyeong grabbed the glass, there was no way to make a move in the wild rock that unfolded. There was no way to read the other person’s facial expressions and no way to gauge their lightning speed, so no matter how much I thought about it, there was no solution other than engaging in a psychological battle that relied on luck.

The game cannot be entirely left to psychological predictions, which cannot guarantee anything.

So, it was necessary to secure victory in some way this time.

The problem was that I couldn’t think of such a method.

‘Technically, there is no answer…’

The special skills I developed through seeing, experiencing, and thinking about losing money at gambling halls so far have already been poured into all of them. It wasn’t that there were no remaining skills, but they were of lower quality compared to the skills used in the previous tour.

Even though he knew that, Ho Cheon-an passed around the glass and reviewed and confirmed various techniques.

In the end, it was technology that gave him a clear advantage over Unknown, who had neither the level of skill, physical ability, nor facial expressions and psychology.

I continued to search my memory and recall the techniques, but I couldn’t remember the exact numbers.

Ho Cheon-an, who was lost in thought, suddenly realized that he had been drinking the glass for too long and stopped drinking it. I felt sick after losing one game, but it was something I couldn’t help.

‘Next edition, we have to come up with it within the next edition!’

Ho Cheon-an, who was controlling his nervousness and furiously recalling techniques in his head, suddenly noticed that Bul-myeong was looking at the glass without saying anything.

‘What kind of psychological warfare is this?’

For a moment, Ho Cheon-an wondered if this was a plan to arouse curiosity and prevent him from remembering the technology, but he quickly shook his head. This was because it was not good for Bulmyeong to give Ho Cheon-an time to think.

But why is Bulmyeong worrying about such obvious nonsense?

You probably know where the Yabawini dice are, which is just a basic mix.

Unknown’s worries deepened, and Ho Cheon-an and his party waited for such an unknown choice.

“It is on the left.”

The eyes of the group that had been looking at Unmyung followed the glass this time. The party, who had no way of knowing Ho Cheon-an’s state of mind, thought that Ho Cheon-an had pulled some kind of trick. Would that move have worked or not?

Contrary to the expectant gaze of the group, Ho Cheon-an moved his hand without showing any reaction to the unknown declaration.

“Oh!”

The hand knocked over the glass on the right. The team members expressed their admiration at the fact that Ho Cheon-an was successful in defense. In the end, Ho Cheon-an, who was on the defensive, succeeded in turning the score around!

However, Ho Cheon-an’s mind was more complicated than ever.

The extreme basic skills that were displayed unconsciously deceived the unknown!

Yes, as expected, the drops of sweat I shed did not betray me! At this moment, I am being rewarded for my hard work, squandering all the money I have earned through years of hard work, rolling and rolling during the day, forcing my tired body to open, and gambling all night long at the gambling house!

‘Such a bad thing happened.’

It could have been so. Hu Tianan thought with a bitter smile in his heart. It seemed like a ridiculous delusion, but Ho Cheon-an couldn’t say for sure that it wasn’t true.

That’s because Ho Cheon-an didn’t care at all what kind of stupidity he was doing and was just using his brain to come up with a technique that would work on Bulmyeong.

‘Is this psychological warfare?’

Ho Cheon-an slowly turned the glass into the dice and looked at Bulmyeong.

Did I really get fooled by the basics?

To resolve this question, I had to play the game again using only the basics.

The problem started from there.

What if Unknown was just pretending to be deceived this time?

Unconditionally, the next edition goes to Unknown.

‘Then all I have left is three rounds at most.’

With wins and losses remaining tied, Hocheonan’s chances are reduced from five to three.

But is it really okay to not check?

It was not impossible that I had been deceived by the basics. The basics were the standard, and the standard was originally designed to provide overwhelming efficiency to those who lacked skills and experience.

Even if Unknown had once gambled, it was clear that he had been away from the gambling scene for a very long time…and we never knew.

Was Bulmyeong deceived by the continuation of the basics, or was he just playing psychological warfare to diminish the opportunity?

Ho Cheon-an, who was pondering, eventually began to turn the glass.

Sigh. Okay.

It was a time when everyone was guessing that they would use the same technique as before, as they watched the glass move in a steady flow, neither fast nor slow.

Green onions!

Suddenly, without warning, Hocheonan’s glass moved quickly. The quick and flashy movement that pierced the blind spot of my mind ended in an instant.

Ho Cheon-an thought as he took his hand away from the glass.

What Unknown is doing now is not that different from what he usually does at gambling establishments.

Ho Cheon-an enjoyed taking advantage of situations where it was unclear whether he had used his skills or not.

Pay the price to see if you lose. Ho Cheon-an always tried fishing like that, and the other person took the bait even though he knew he would have to take the loss. It wasn’t that the gamblers were stupid.

‘I guess I thought it was an investment to get to know people and identify and eliminate variables.’

Even if you suffer an immediate loss, you can turn it around as long as you can think of the big picture. With that thought in mind, they took losses, but ultimately it was bound to be a wrong choice.

The reason was very simple and straightforward.

‘I claimed the loss.’

In a fierce competition, there are countless cases where a small difference can determine victory or defeat. Nevertheless, they tried to understand Hocheonan at the expense of loss.

Why did you make that choice?

It was because I wanted to find a more comfortable and easier way.

This is because rather than engage in a tense battle with Hocheonan, who looks formidable at first glance, I wanted to first explore weaknesses that can be easily defeated. It was also because I wanted to take a step back and take two steps forward rather than taking one step forward in a fierce battle of one forward and one step back.

They wanted the sweet food of easy victory.

That’s why it swallowed its prey even though there was a needle named ‘Initiative’ hidden in the bait laid by Ho Cheon-an.

‘No matter how sweet you offer them, they won’t take the bait.’

Ho Cheon-an looked at Bulmyeong with that meaning, and Bulmyeong calmly opened his mouth.

“Central.”

Ho Cheon-an silently lifted the cup in the center and there were dice inside. The score, which was barely reversed, was immediately caught up to 6-6, but Ho Cheon-an did not waver.

Even though Unmyung could have won one more point against Ho Cheon-an in the previous game, he used that victory as bait and failed, so in the end, Ho Cheon-an gained one point.

‘With this… psychological initiative was secured.’

Ho Cheon-an held the glass again with such confidence. Although we still haven’t come up with a sharp technology, we have a psychological advantage as a result. Let’s build on this!

Thinking like that, Ho Cheon-an began to mix the glasses once again.

“On the left.”

“Wrong.”

And was defeated.

Ho Cheon-an looked at Bulmyeong blankly and thought. Why…we lost?

When Hocheonan’s snarl ended, Bulmyeong had 7 wins and Hocheonan had 8 wins.

Flash-blink!

Bulmyeong continued to play a game that was more like martial arts than gambling, or even martial arts itself, and Ho Cheon-an focused more than ever on which cup the dice were in and carefully approached the game.

And it was wrong.

Wrong and wrong again.

The match ended in vain as Ho Cheon-an lost three times.

Bulmyeong looked at Ho Cheon-an, who was analyzing the damage, in shock, picked up the dice, and opened his mouth.

“Sason.”

“….Yes.”

“Do you know why you lost?”

Ho Cheon-an’s head was raised. Unknown answered by rubbing his finger over the surface of the dice, as if feeling the texture of the dice.

“Because you mistakenly thought you were in control.”

‘….I was mistaken?’

“You were at a very disadvantage from the beginning. It was a very disadvantageous situation. There is no need to talk about the extreme difference in level, so let’s move on. So what were the disadvantages in other areas? How about the physical aspect? After practicing in the morning, I became completely green onion kimchi. Did you put even a grain of rice in your mouth after that? The condition of the body was a mess.”

Ho Cheon-an had no choice but to acknowledge the unknown words.

“The second was the mental aspect. Even if I lost the bet, I was in a position where I could just bother you if I wanted to, but if you lost, it was quite a blow. And regardless of those factors, in the first place, I am Sajo and you are Sason, so it was bound to be a fundamentally disadvantageous structure.”

no way.

Regardless of whether such a thought occurred in Ho Cheon-an’s head or not, Unknown continued to speak.

“But those were all minor points. The real problem was that you challenged me to a match out of your own desperation. In order to make the match happen, he even threw a provocation at me and showed his desperation. What should I have done in that situation?”

Ho Cheon-an closed his eyes tightly.

“Who was in control in that situation? Gambling was something that could not be opened without my permission. Of course, I was in charge of the initiative and there was no way I would give it up, but you mistakenly thought you had the initiative in the middle, so how could you have won?”

Ho Cheon-an had nothing to say.

“Sason.”

“Yes.”

“You haven’t improved at all since you met me.”

Ho Cheon-an gasped at those words. Even though his face was completely covered with bamboo ribs and special pores, it felt like he was making eye contact with an unknown person.

“You fought and lost with a man named Jeongcheol. Did you just lose? The lives of everyone in the group were in danger, and you were lying on the ground, unable to do anything, almost watching your group die, and I saw it from the side.”

Unknown words flew into Ho Cheon-an’s chest and stuck.

“I thought you realized what it was like to fight between the strong and the weak. And I thought you knew that I couldn’t protect you forever, so I thought I would thoroughly prepare for the time when I had to face someone named Jeongcheol again.”

The words that flew into his heart had enough power to hurt Ho Cheon-an’s heart.

“But looking at you today, I realized that nothing had changed since you met the man named Jeongcheol. You still do not understand what it means for the weak to challenge the strong, and you have not been able to overcome your arrogance and belief in small tricks.”

Ho Cheon-an’s heart, which had held strong despite countless hardships, was wounded in various places.

“Even if a hundred years pass like this, you will put your companions in danger and will not be able to defeat the man named Jeongcheol.”

Ho Cheon-an’s head dropped. I felt like I wanted to scream and refute something due to the throbbing pain in my chest, but I suppressed it somehow. But is resentment unavoidable?

Ho Cheon-an’s fist, which he clenched with all his might, trembled.

Looking at that scene, Unknown thought.

Physical growth is accompanied by pain. The body is trained only through the process of consuming oxygen, making it difficult to breathe, and experiencing pain as muscles are damaged.

The spirit is like this too. Experiencing an incident, being shocked, and the intense emotions felt through the process hurt the heart, healing it again, and growing mentally.

However, since the process of growing the body is accompanied by pain, does the body grow by simply overusing it?

The spirit was like that too. Therefore, Bulmyeong has been waiting for the day when Hocheonan’s spirit can fully use that pain as a driving force for growth.

‘The time has finally come.’

Ho Cheon-an clenches his fist with all his might. A drop of red blood was falling from Hocheonan’s hand.

Unknown, that single drop of blood falling to the ground seemed like a signal signaling the beginning of real training.

Since the signal is gone, why hesitate? Unknown just turned away and turned around.

“Pick up some cold food and come out right away. We will begin training in the afternoon.”

“…Yes!”

Hocheonan’s real training began.