Chapter 73. Gambling Apocalypse Ijaha

I spent one hundred and eight days sitting in the lotus position here and there throughout Heukmyo Bang. My waist grew stiff, my knees often locked up, and from not washing frequently, my body gradually began to emit the stench of a beggar.

But it was necessary.

In the inner courtyard, Hoyeon Cheong taught Cha Seongtae, while in the outer courtyard, the subordinates of Heukmyo Bang trained repeatedly.

I meditated and circulated qi even on the roof of Heukmyo Bang.

Bathhouse, walls, beneath the plum blossom tree, inner courtyard, outer courtyard, bedroom—I meditated and circulated qi everywhere, regardless of location.

Occasionally, Dokgo Saeng, Sasinjang, Chief Manager Byeok, Geum Hae, and Hong Sin came to see me, but I responded little, as if I had entered closed-door training.

My answer was consistent.

“Handle it yourselves.”

I didn’t interfere in matters that the subordinates could decide and judge for themselves. The reason I deliberately set aside one hundred and eight days to enter meditation and qi circulation was because the realm of Yeomgye in the Geumgusoyogong had become ambiguous. It was a time when I felt I could break through to Tugye if I focused just a little more, so I had no choice but to concentrate.

The subordinates also realized that I was facing some kind of bottleneck in martial arts training, so they handled affairs among themselves as much as possible.

One hundred and eight days was a strange length of time—short yet long.

Some days, beneath the plum blossom tree, I would watch the falling petals all day while meditating, and only when I absolutely couldn’t endure it would I get up to drink water and put food in my mouth.

Thanks to that, my flesh gradually wasted away.

Whenever I needed rest, I went out to the inner courtyard and stared blankly at Cha Seongtae training.

The way he exaggerated his suffering was certainly true to Cha Seongtae’s character, but I didn’t interfere unnecessarily.

When thirty or forty days had passed.

The deaths of Daenachal, Suseonsaeng, and Iryong Nogun were already known to the nearby underworld forces.

Chief Manager Byeok delivered the news that word had spread that all the underworld in the Namhwa and Ihwa regions was under the control of the Heukmyo Bang Lord.

Chief Manager Byeok asked me this:

“Shouldn’t the spreading rumors be corrected from Heukmyo Bang Lord to Haomun Lord?”

It had been a while since I responded to Chief Manager Byeok.

“There’s no need to go that far.”

“Yes.”

I intended to wear the mask of the underworld for the time being. The main base of Haomun being built in Ilyanghyeon was not yet complete either.

Moreover, having seized control of the underworld in merely two small regions didn’t affect the overall situation of the Central Plains, let alone the power map of the underworld.

This place was still the frontier.

Not a single one of my rivals from my previous life had appeared yet, and no master had caused me difficulty since my regression.

In the grand scheme, my progress was in a state where I had bought quite a lot of time for training by eliminating Daenachal and Suseonsaeng.

The subordinates of Heukmyo Bang, including So Gunpyeong, were also training fiercely.

Cha Seongtae was also training arduously every day, as if he had gone mad, but...

I could say without a doubt that I was training the hardest.

Thinking that this was what a leader should do, I threw myself completely into meditating and circulating qi.

Burning all the trivial things of daily life away with focus......

When I closed my eyes and opened them, sometimes it was dawn, and sometimes it was night.

The moon and sun, wind and rain, reports from my subordinates, and the hunger that occasionally surged in—none of them could disturb my training.

A man who forgets everything when he focuses on training. That is me.

Around the time I had forgotten how many days had passed, the internal energy I had drawn from the Heavenly Jade and converted had perfectly conquered the realm of Yeomgye. I now repeated Iljucheon in the realm of Tugye (鬪鷄).

From this point on, I began listening to my subordinates again.

The meals I had eaten roughly once every two days were increased to three times a day. Reducing the number of Iljucheon repetitions even further, I began external martial arts training just like the subordinates of Heukmyo Bang.

I mixed in among the subordinates, assumed stances accurately according to So Gunpyeong’s shouts, and built up my stamina together with the lowly grunts without a single complaint.

At first, the atmosphere was truly grave when I, like a madman, mixed with the subordinates to do external training, but later everyone grew accustomed to it, and I became so close with the subordinates that no one could tell whether I was originally the Heukmyo Bang Lord or just another lowly grunt of Heukmyo Bang.

In the first half of the one hundred and eight days of training, my body was gaunt.

From the latter half, after entering the realm of Tugye, muscles attached to my arms and legs, and I was perfectly recovering my previous physical condition.

One day, while I was beneath the plum blossom tree maintaining only my breathing with a peaceful mind.

Cha Seongtae’s voice was heard.

“Lord, today marks the one hundred and eighth day.”

I opened my eyes and replied.

“Already?”

“Yes.”

In the meantime, Cha Seongtae had become a shaggy brute holding a sword. Actually, Cha Seongtae’s eyes and posture had already changed so much that there was no need to check. Still, it was only natural to offer a word of praise.

“You feel stronger?”

Cha Seongtae grinned.

“I have grown strong beyond comparison to before the one hundred and eight days.”

For a moment, I almost told him to train for another hundred and eight days but barely held back. I might handle the whip well, but whipping him too much wouldn’t be right either.

This time, I looked at Hoyeon Cheong.

“Seongtae, has he really gotten stronger?”

Hoyeon Cheong replied.

“Lord, he has become a swordsman nonetheless. It was a short time, but he mastered the basics, principles, and forms of the Splitting Light Swift Sword entirely. I also transmitted the mental cultivation method, so after evenings he mainly accumulated internal energy together with me. Although the period for building internal energy was not sufficient, a dantian formed, and he learned how to draw and use internal energy from it.”

I stroked my chin.

“You worked hard. How was teaching him?”

After hesitating for a moment, Hoyeon Cheong gave a somewhat surprising answer.

“If the Lord permits, I wish to continue teaching him.”

I looked at Hoyeon Cheong with a bewildered expression.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Come to think of it, Hoyeon Cheong’s appearance from when he had been captured as a prisoner had completely vanished without a trace.

Had he gained some kind of enlightenment while teaching Cha Seongtae?

He was in a state quite different from the first impression I remembered.

“Seongtae, what about you?”

Cha Seongtae replied.

“I also wish to continue learning.”

I said to the two of them.

“Stand side by side.”

I looked at Hoyeon Cheong and Cha Seongtae with my arms crossed. Originally, Hoyeon Cheong was more than ten years older. It was not unreasonable to view them as a typical master and disciple relationship.

I looked at the two of them and nodded.

“Since the three of us kept a blood oath together, do as you please from now on.”

Hoyeon Cheong and Cha Seongtae replied with calm expressions.

“Thank you.”

“Yes.”

I asked Cha Seongtae.

“Seongtae-ya, how does it feel to have entered the martial world?”

Cha Seongtae answered briefly.

“Not bad.”

“If you had just wasted away in a brothel drinking and eating, you wouldn’t have died from weak martial arts. But now, surviving has become harder because of the martial arts you’ve learned.”

That is what I think the martial world is.

Cha Seongtae looked at me and replied.

“I am only beginning now. I have no regrets. I didn’t know that growing stronger day by day was like this. I simply like it.”

I had expected Cha Seongtae to give this answer.

Most martial artists are like that.

Unless the moment a sword pierces their heart comes, most do not regret their lives. Because they have learned of the insanely powerful allure of growing stronger.

“Hoyeon Cheong, you worked hard too.”

“Yes.”

I had no particular thoughts about Hoyeon Cheong anymore. If Hoyeon Cheong disappeared someday, it would mean he had left to find a way to live. If he then occasionally visited Heukmyo Bang like Sasinjang or Dokgo Saeng, it would mean the bond remained.

I intended to just let things flow.

* * *

On a day when the wind was cool and the sunlight good.

I bathed for the first time in a long while, changed my clothes, and then packed the gold and silver pieces that the Muak Munju had given me before into my money pouch.

As I passed through the inner courtyard, Cha Seongtae asked.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to do some martial gambling. I’ll also take a look at the Ihwa region on the way.”

I heard the conversation between Cha Seongtae and Hoyeon Cheong from behind.

“What is martial gambling?”

“Fighting for money. What else.”

“But why would the Lord suddenly……”

“I don’t know either.”

I had been thinking of visiting the martial gambling house at least once.

The reason my face from my previous life had turned fierce was because of the martial gambling house. It was from being beaten so much. A person’s face changes when they get beaten a lot.

Martial gambling is divided into two types.

Fights with weapons and bare-handed fights. I learned many things here. First, I realized there was much to learn even in defeat. I learned how to counterattack while being hit, and I naturally learned to gauge an opponent’s strength through appearance, aura, and eyes.

The reason a man who had reached the end of his rope in life frequently sought out martial gambling was...

because even if he lost, he could earn some money.

I was younger now than when I had actually visited the martial gambling house. But those who had stayed there a long time would still be there.

The level of the martial gambling house was, in short, a mess.

Hidden underworld experts sometimes came to earn some spending money and left.

Sometimes hidden underworld experts clashed with each other, causing absurdly large fights.

The martial gambling house in a place called Siryeonhyeon was the most famous in the vicinity. What was unusual was that the commercial district around the martial gambling house was entirely geared toward martial gambling. They sold alcohol and food to spectators and participants, brothels thrived, and other gambling houses that weren’t for martial gambling lined the streets as well.

It had been a while since I visited, but looking around the area, my memories were perfectly restored.

I knew everyone gathered here, while they didn’t know me at all.

It was so absurd that I laughed out loud.

‘This dog-like place, still the same.’

I entered the inn I frequented and started with a drink.

Thinking that I would try to shed some of the stale grime accumulated in my chest here, the drink went down smoothly.

The guys in the inn were all fighters who participated in martial gambling, so the atmosphere was truly menacing.

On the contrary, unlike in my previous life, my features had softened, so I must have looked like a naive gentleman here.

I was chewing on dried snacks and looking around when some big guy approached and drank my alcohol without permission.

When I cackled with laughter, the big guy laughed too.

The guy sat across from me and said.

“You’re a new face, so buy this hyung-nim a drink. I’ll explain things well for you.”

I shook out and finished the remaining alcohol, and the moment I grabbed the bottle, I swung it at the guy’s head.

With a thunk—the sound rang out as the guy lowered his head.

I grabbed the guy’s head and kept slamming it down on the table.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

I grabbed his hair and pulled his face up to check. His nose bone was broken, and three or four of his front teeth were broken. I pushed the guy’s head away and looked for the waiter. Since a thunderous noise had erupted, it wasn’t difficult to make eye contact with the waiter.

“Bring me two more bottles of strong liquor here.”

The waiter answered simply.

“Yes.”

I said to the guy who was staring at me covered in blood.

“Piss off.”

The guy shot up and pushed through people, moving off somewhere.

Guys like that had a habit of always coming back after being told to piss off.

Laughter burst out around us. The waiter came rushing with a pitter-patter, quickly wiped the table, placed newly brought dried snacks and two bottles of strong liquor down, and said.

“That guy is the brothel keeper (娼館主, the owner of an establishment employing prostitutes) of the pleasure quarter. He might bring his colleagues with him; will you be alright?”

“How many does he usually bring?”

“He brings around ten or so.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

I snapped my fingers at the waiter and said.

“Will there be money in it?”

The waiter looked at me, let out an “Huh?”, and sized me up.

“Have you been here before? I haven’t seen you.”

“I came here long ago.”

“Understood.”

The waiter busily ran about, then brought a large basket and shook the bell hanging from the ceiling.

Ding ding ding!

Everyone in the inn looked at the waiter all at once.

The waiter said.

“Is there anyone who wishes to participate in the inn martial duel? The unfamiliar guest here and Heukgyeong the Brothel Keeper, who just got beaten and left, will face off. Heukgyeong the Brothel Keeper probably has about ten subordinates, doesn’t he? We’ll only do win/loss betting with no entry fee. The left is the young guest, the right is Heukgyeong. Our shop will specially add five hundred nyang to the winner’s side. Now, here we go!”

As the waiter walked around the interior of the inn with the basket, money began to be placed inside the basket, which had a divider in the middle.

Money was placed on the left side and on the right side.

In the meantime, all the martial gambling men in the inn were staring at me all at once.

Someone brazenly asked me where I was from, so I answered briefly.

“Pay up and ask.”

Old memories came back, so I added a curse just because.

“……You bastards.”