episode_0131

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“After.”

I finished my fortune-telling as usual and gathered my energy. Even though I used the elixir to burn the lumps in my blood vessels, the amount of residual energy alone was considerable, and the residual energy had not yet been completely absorbed into my body.

Still, unlike usual, I finished my day early and sat down at my desk.

I made the mistake of unconsciously leaking enlightenment and turning Zen Master Unjong into a hypocrite, so I need to clean it up. The promise to be more careful with my mouth from now on is a promise… I replayed in my mind each and every realization of the people of the Jeomchang sect.

The first 11 Zen masters you will meet often. No, we have already let go of one person, so there are ten Zen masters. To be honest, I don’t remember all the enlightenments of these ten Zen masters.

The basis of the enlightenment quiz is ultimately to ask questions about the enlightenment you need in the form of a quiz.

In other words, it could be said that the most frequent issue arises regarding characters that can be recruited as companions.

In that sense, the senior players of the old group were the ones furthest away from recruiting colleagues. Even if you become a member of the old group, the only thing that can be recruited as a colleague is the death penalty that is close to the line. Even if you try to recruit executives from Old File Ilbang, it is difficult to manage them properly due to distribution, and the cost of recruiting them is high.

Still, I racked my brain and tried to remember as much as I could about what enlightenment felt like, cleared my mind, and went to see the Zen masters.

Because I had to undergo morning training.

There was a rumor among the Jeomchang faction that Master Unjong achieved enlightenment on his own.

Fortunately, the Zen master achieved enlightenment after most of his disciples had left, so it seems that no disciples saw me give a comprehensive speech.

It was a much more probable development that the ronin guest suddenly attained enlightenment while working hard for the sect and for the children rather than muttering random words and then suddenly attaining enlightenment, so the disciples of the Jeomchang sect would believe that rumor.

After the early morning training, I headed to the Zen masters’ quarters to take classes, and there were eleven Zen masters with their heads covered and doing some paperwork.

“What are you doing? Zen masters?”

Master Youngyul welcomed me with joy.

“Oh, yes! Welcome! When explaining the third contest. Do you remember what you said?”

“Yes?”

“Didn’t you say something back then about the harmony between martial arts and technology? I’m reflecting on this because it seems like a wise remark!”

“No…how do you remember that?”

[The theme of the third contest is bean bag tossing.]

[First, there will be a demonstration of your own bean bag throwing.]

[You saw it, right? [Beanbag throwing is a combination of martial arts and hand skills]

….I wondered what he was doing and it seemed like he was transcribing everything I had said so far.

“Oh… I feel something… ‘The moment the circle drawn by the wrist intersects with the straight line of the finger, the visual square opens’… Oh…!”

As Zen Master Jeongmu opened his eyes and trembled, the other Zen masters turned their heads to stare at Zen Master Jeongmu.

Master Jeongmu, please don’t make a show. That’s not your enlightenment.

Master Jeongmu, who had been shaking for a while, spoke.

“….Isn’t it?”

“Hey you bastard!”

“I knew it was real!”

The Zen masters, who were maintaining tension by gulping down their saliva in anticipation of what might happen, got angry and threw inkstones at Zen Master Jeongmu.

“No, Zen masters. Is it really a coincidence? Why are you doing this when even the Zen masters were watching?”

“Cancer, cancer is a coincidence.”

“Yes, it’s a coincidence. Coincidence can happen twice.”

“Tsu-eup.”

When I rolled my eyes, the Zen masters began to clear their throats, perhaps realizing that they had crossed a line.

“Hmph. This is just that…what can I say? I heard that theory training starts today, so I practiced my writing for the first time in a while! I was just doing that.”

“Ugh, I’ve gotten older these days and my memory isn’t what it used to be. If you don’t prevent dementia like this, it’s hard to stay sane…”

“Ugh. Don’t talk.”

I was about to argue, but when I saw Master Unjong among the Zen masters, I read what he had to say. Master Unjong, who made eye contact with me, slightly averted his gaze and cleared his throat.

“No, even Master Unjong is like this?”

“Hmph. I’m just here to learn a skill from you. I need to learn skills too!”

“Crap.”

Master Unjong touched his forehead when he saw that there was a lot of writing in the notebook he had hastily closed. Master Geo should have achieved enlightenment, but he is greedy for this again.

“Ugh. Anyway, focus! It’s a theory class starting today.”

Well, enlightenment is enlightenment, and just as my martial arts training must continue, the magic classes of Zen masters must also continue.

“Hmm!”

“Okay then. There may be a clue to enlightenment in your skills!”

Anyway, you clearly have a strong desire to learn.

“First, let’s explain the optical illusion.”

The class itself wasn’t difficult. First of all, it was because it was something that had been explained once in the party.

The Zen masters, who had expected nothing more than a light technical explanation, began to groan.

Since it is a process of breaking the common sense that I have firmly believed in until now, there is bound to be pain. Even if you want to deny the theory, you have already learned all the techniques and are entering the theory, so you have no choice but to cry and accept it.

“Haha, let’s leave it at that for today.”

“Keuung. It would be better to just give me an assignment.”

Was it a problem that I set the standard as a party member? This is a completely different reaction from the people in the party. While the Tang family seemed to be amazed every time I explained the theory, the Zen masters seemed to only have more questions.

In fact, you don’t need to understand all the principles to do magic. And since Zen masters only use manual techniques as a means of reaching children, I wonder if an in-depth course is really necessary.

If I try it for a few days and it doesn’t work, I’ll just switch to teaching practical application skills.

At that time, Master Unjong spoke.

“Now that I think about it, these are the skills you showed me on your first day. Can you show me one more time?”

“Hmm? Well, it’s not difficult.”

“I’m just a little curious. Now that my level has risen, I wonder if I can detect your talent.”

“Hoo.”

I also smiled at Master Unjong’s provocation, which was not a provocation. To be honest, I was curious too.

Dang Gwang-ryeol, the master of Dang family, can be said to be the ultimate king of Hwagyeong masters. I won by gambling against Dang Gwang-ryeol.

But I didn’t feel thrilled or fulfilled by that fact.

This is because among the characters in the game who could compete with gambling in the martial arts world, there were a few who reached the state of Hwagyeong. This was because he knew very well that even if he was at the level of Hwagyeong, he was an opponent he could easily win against if his gambling skills were low.

However, it was a completely unknown world whether the state of the wise could be cheated by gambling.

This was because among the characters in the game who could compete through gambling in the martial arts world, there was no one who had reached the level of a wise man.

“Then, shall we have a light competition?”

“Good.”

“Ho, this suddenly got interesting.”

Perhaps it was a topic that aroused the interest of the Zen masters, and they too began to actively move forward and create a plan.

In an instant, the table emptied, a cup appeared, and the broken pieces of inkstone were trimmed into beads.

I pushed out of my consciousness the Zen masters with excited expressions and focused all my attention on Zen Master Unjong. Since I was dealing with an expert from the police department, I planned to do my best.

“Let’s begin.”

Sassasasak!!

Concentration and skill. The wild investment that both sides invested generously in unfolded. The moment I stopped drinking, the outfield asked, ‘Did you see it?’ ‘I didn’t see it.’ I heard things like that, but I only focused on Master Unjong’s reaction.

Master Unjong thought for a moment, stroking his chin, and then chose a cup.

“Hmm. I think it will be my third glass.”

I raised my third glass without saying a word. Inside were beads made from broken pieces of inkstone, used as dice.

“How did you know?”

Master Unjong calmly opened his mouth.

“First of all, let me make it clear that I have not figured out your technique. My eyes were deceived by your lecture earlier, but I can see your intentions separately. I guess you got the feeling that you were trying to stage an easy choice between the first and second cups at the end.”

Is this Hyeon-kyung? Read the intention of the person itself.

“I was trying to create an easy choice between the first and second cups, so I thought the actual marble would be in the third cup.”

In Yabawi, the first round has the highest win rate. Since you have to attract people only at the actual gambling table, you don’t have to use all your skills from the very first move. Anyway, in the first round of Yabawi, the person who spins the game has the advantage. All you have to do is use all the skills you know and keep rolling until you’re sure you’ve cheated.

And I did that and was caught right away.

“Hehe, but I’m not sure if I should say I saw through this. I also think that if I hadn’t listened to your theory lecture today, I wouldn’t have been able to understand this intention.”

I shook my head.

“In gambling, only the outcome matters. Could you please join us for a few more rounds?”

In gambling, luck is also a skill. Also, this luck is lumped together with many unspecified factors that cannot be proven. For example, if a gambler habitually puts the dice a little more into the number 1 glass and the opponent, who did not see anything, rolls number 1 and wins money, is that really luck or strategy?

The results of five simple rounds ended in my victory. The problem is…is it that Master Unjong read all of my intentions? After losing two rounds, I just cleared my head and mixed the cups without any intention, and the Zen teacher, who couldn’t read my intention, was unlucky in taking the picture.

“I learned a lesson.”

“No. I really saw a good talent. Hehe… I thought Hyun-kyung had the whole world, but the world is really… big.”

No matter how curious I am, it would be too rude to ask the master to join me in gambling. Although it was possible to get away with such a simple bet, it was a line crossed to drag the monk into a game where he could place stakes and follow the rules of gambling so that he could use all of his gambling skills.

So, all we can do is make predictions.

If I were to formally gamble with Master Unjong, I would carefully predict that the outcome would probably be around 6 to 4. Psychology, luck, dexterity, acting…when all the elements are fully mobilized.

If the Zen master learns techniques from me for a month or two, it would probably be narrowed down to about 55 to 45.

Should I call it Hyeon-kyung?