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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: TushChen
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‘Is that guy really Hocheon An?’
Dogwi examined Hocheon An’s appearance.
He won over a hundred taels just today? And not against suckers, but professional gamblers?
Dogwi carefully observed Hocheon An and thought.
How did he win money against the gamblers?
The guy playing the dice game wasn’t even paying attention to others shuffling the tiles or when others were drawing tiles.
At this rate, he would just lose.
He kept losing like that, and then suddenly, as soon as he received his tiles, he would make a big bet.
Even when he lost, nothing changed.
He didn’t look at his opponent properly or examine the dice closely.
When a passing waitress swayed her hips and walked by, he was busy looking in that direction.
But he won.
‘There’s no need to observe more.’
The time Dogwi spent observing Hocheon An after arriving at the brothel was 2 geuk.
He was repeating actions that could not be considered those of a gambler, yet he kept winning money.
The dice game was a gambling game for four people.
The gambler belonging to the brothel stood up with a pale face, and Dogwi took his place.
“Roll.”
As expected, Hocheon An lost without even looking.
A meaningless round with three people ended, and Dogwi saw Hocheon An smiling.
‘This bastard…’
Hocheon An was smiling at Dogwi.
“Hey, brother, how about we play a serious match of Daehang Sawi, just the two of us?”
Daehang Sawi.
A gambling game where dice are thrown into a pot with a complex interior, and one has to guess whether the sum is odd or even.
The key is how much money to put in and take out, a game that genuinely tests the psychology and luck of a gambler.
Dogwi felt a deep competitive spirit towards Hocheon An, who had recognized his true worth in just one game.
“Alright.”
The game was set.
Rattle… thud!
The dice fell to the bottom, constantly bouncing due to the internal structure.
There was no way to know which side the dice in Daehang Sawi were on now.
No matter how skilled one was with dice, it was impossible to manipulate the complex internal structure of Daehang Sawi to create the desired number.
“You go first.”
“Alright. 1 gold tael on odd.”
“Roll.”
The rules of Daehang Sawi were simple.
The players took turns throwing the dice.
The loser of the previous round went first and bet any amount they wanted on either odd or even.
If the other player accepted, they would bet the same amount on the opposite side.
After that, they would take turns betting additional money, and each time, they had to match the amount the opponent had bet.
This way, the pot would be opened to confirm the number after betting money thrice.
The next dice rolled.
“1 silver tael on odd.”
“…1 gold tael on even.”
“Roll.”
What the hell was this bastard doing now?
Dogwi felt deep anger.
Hocheon An was blatantly stalling by betting just 1 silver tael.
The amount of gold plates Hocheon An currently had was around 110 taels.
Did he want to have the first turn until he got a feeling?
However, that only lasted for two rounds.
If the loser could endlessly have the first turn, they could drag it out with minimum bets like Hocheon An was doing now.
If one lost two times in a row, the first turn would return to Dogwi.
Dogwi, who received the first turn, bet 1 gold tael. Hocheon An lost again without hesitation.
In this way, Hocheon An’s gold quickly diminished.
“Why am I not getting a feeling… Roll.”
When the gold decreased to 80 taels, Hocheon An finally exclaimed.
“Wow, 1 gold tael on odd.”
Dogwi pondered for a moment and then responded.
He had to make sure Hocheon An really knew something or was just betting randomly so he could gain a basis for judgment in the ongoing gambling.
“I’ll take it.”
“Then 2 gold taels.”
“…I’ll take it.”
“Then 4 gold taels.”
This damn bastard.
Dogwi bit his lip.
A 7 gold tael bet was big, but… since he had won so far, should he see his reaction once?
“I’ll take it.”
The pot, which had never been opened since the start of the gambling, was finally opened.
The number was odd.
What was it?
Had Hocheon An figured out the number of the dice inside the pot?
But it was Dogwi who had thrown the dice this time.
Not himself, but figuring out what someone else had thrown?
In Daehang Sawi, when a round was completed, the number of the dice was not revealed and removed, just in case the gamblers became accustomed to the feel of the pot.
Nevertheless, Dogwi thought that perhaps Hocheon An had discovered some method to know the number inside the pot.
“Let’s change the pot. Do you agree?”
“Sure.”
They changed the pot, and the gambling continued.
This time, Hocheon An bet on even after just two rounds.
Dogwi now thought a pure battle of luck and betting money had begun.
‘It’s a long way to go, but let’s respond one more time.’
“I’ll take it.”
Hocheon An went all-in and bet 7 gold taels, and Dogwi responded.
The result was even.
Dogwi requested that the pot be changed every round.
The brothel agreed, and fifteen spare pots from the storage were rotated each round.
Still, it was the same.
Whenever Hocheon An bet, he uncannily won 7 gold taels.
‘Crazy bastard.’
Was he really possessed by a ghost?
How could he always be right whenever he bet?
Dogwi’s pride was deeply hurt.
However, his life was on the line.
Even if his pride was hurt, it was time to yield.
“1 tael on odd.”
“I’ll roll.”
Hocheon An smiled slightly.
That smile made Dogwi’s head boil with rage.
He was someone who maintained composure in the gambling den even if his parents were cursed, but today was different.
Hocheon An’s actions seemed to ignore and insult the act of gambling itself and those eyes that looked down on him.
“1 tael on even.”
“I’ll take it. I’ll bet up to 7 taels anyway, so let’s do it at once.”
The result was even. Dogwi clenched his fist and trembled.
“Ah~ sweet, so sweet.”
Dogwi glared at Hocheon An with wide eyes, but Hocheon An wasn’t even looking at Dogwi.
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Why was I perceived as someone who was terribly bad at gambling in the Outcast Inn despite having the [Skill] of gambling?
It was because I intentionally lost money.
Now, to understand the situation where I lose money despite having gambling skills, it is necessary to understand the premise.
What value adjusts the difficulty of this game called [Murim Cheonha]?
It’s [Fame].
Fame can be summarized in one sentence like this.
‘Hocheon An, your esteemed name is well-known in this Sacheon. I, the transcendent master Jangsan, admire your martial prowess and challenge you to a match. Draw your sword.’
What happens when your name becomes known in martial arts novels?
You become the center of all sorts of incidents.
From flies seeking fame to supreme masters trying to forcefully make you their disciple, and forces in need of a master contacting you…
In the process, if your martial prowess is, at best, second-rate?
You won’t be able to handle those situations and will drop dead.
Even if you survive, you won’t see a good end.
This fame is the reason I became a Sacheon outcast and the reason why I chose to learn gambling among numerous skills while simultaneously losing money in gambling.
Fame increases with activity.
As a person lives and engages in activities, it’s natural for their name to gradually become known.
As the fame value rises in this way, the probability of encountering masters increases.
That’s why I lived as a Sacheon outcast for seven years.
Sacheon outcasts act [anonymously] with their faces covered by black hats, so there’s no chance for fame to accumulate.
If I had confidently taken on requests using the name Hocheon An like now, my fame would have spread somehow.
I would have lived a life where I frequently encountered first-rate or peak masters.
Blocked by the wall of being second-rate, I couldn’t handle the increasing fame value through normal means.
If my fame became high enough to move peak or transcendent masters?
If they harbored murderous intent towards me?
Learning gambling skills follows the same context.
The fame gained through gambling is absolutely influenced by profits.
How much did you win through gambling?
How often and how much did you win?
Your fame as a gambler increases accordingly.
If you diligently practice gambling skills and then return the money you won that day back to 0, there is almost no increase in fame.
Gambling was the only Skill I could learn while managing my fame.
My gambling skills have reached mastery in all aspects except for [Intuition], the only luck-based Skill.
Not only in this Sacheon but even if you search the entire Murim Cheonha, very few people are better at gambling than me, an absolute realm.
If I had learned a skill other than gambling to the same level as my current gambling, I would have become a master craftsman of the level who created soy sauce crocks or a divine doctor of the level who could revive the dead.
The fame gained while raising the Skill to that level?
I would have saved numerous people and created numerous weapons to increase my Skill to that level, so how could the fame created by those swords and people be small?
I would gain tremendous fame so that no one in this Murim Cheonha wouldn’t know me.
Then how would Hocheon An be living?
If he were a craftsman, martial artists would visit every day, asking him to become the exclusive craftsman of their faction, and among them, there might be a bad-tempered supreme master who would threaten to kill him if he didn’t make his weapon.
After making that weapon, the owner of the divine weapon might say that the owner should only be him and stab me to death.
If he were a doctor? He might be kidnapped by an absolute master with a terminally ill daughter and told that if he couldn’t save his daughter, he would be killed in excruciating pain.
Every time the daughter’s condition worsened, he would suffer bone-breaking torture for 1-2 days and end his life as a slave, prolonging the life of the absolute master’s daughter.
This is not my delusion but the result of focusing only on skills without learning martial arts in [Murim Cheonha].
Supreme masters are not common, so if you prepare well, you might be able to avoid their clutches once or twice.
However, it is impossible to continuously evade the clutches of supreme masters until you die of natural causes.
In the end, a miserable end like the above would be waiting.
When you haven’t trained martial arts enough to handle the fame value, it’s a kind of [Bad Ending] or [Game Over].
If it were a player character with no limit to their realm, they could say, “Ugh, I’m so tired of training martial arts!” and enter seclusion for a few years to raise their realm.
But I couldn’t do that for me, who had already reached the limit realm, so it was a matter of life and death.
For me, who can no longer raise my realm, managing fame is not a choice but a necessity.
Not winning money while learning gambling was the only way to raise gambling skills without increasing fame.
That’s why, even though I possessed gambling skills sufficient to be called the God of Gambling,
I had no choice but to leave the gambling house penniless without winning a single coin every damn time.
That was the case until today.
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Yeah, cultivators are all selfish and insane