The Gambler's Song
When the gambler falls silent, the weak inevitably join in the silence.
I, still alive, made Dongfang Yan and all the spectators close their mouths before picking up the fallen folding fan of Ping Gungsa.
As I opened it, I noticed bloodstains scattered across the white fan.
I slowly waved the fan while glancing around.
I addressed everyone present.
"You pathetic fools."
Strangely, my words echoed around the arena and pierced my own heart.
"I was pathetic too."
Suddenly looking at Dongfang Yan, I saw him tending to a wound on his left arm from my earlier attack.
Clearing my throat, I monotonously recited the first line of a song that all the gamblers here knew.
"I have spent thirty years at the gambling den." "……."
This was a song often sung by Ping Gungsa, gamblers, those who had run out of money, debtors, spectators, and everyone working nearby.
"With black hair, I held onto my cards, and with white hair, I laid them down."
The gamblers in the audience responded by singing the next line.
"I sacrificed a lot of hard-earned money."
I nodded along, murmuring, "I sacrificed a lot of hard-earned money."
Pointing the fan at one person after another, I continued the song.
"Is it just my money?" The gamblers chimed in.
"It can't be."
"How could you so easily throw away your friends' and relatives' money? Coming home after a long time, there’s not a single person to welcome me. Taking out the money I had hidden in the closet, I head back to the gambling den. Everyone in the neighborhood looks at me with disdain."
The gamblers echoed the final line.
"Everyone looks at me with disdain."
Holding the fan, I stood still and continued the song.
"If I do not appear again, tell them I died gambling. Even before I arrive, the cards seem to dance before my eyes today."
I locked eyes with the remaining scum of the Fallen Society and repeated the chorus.
"Today, I will be lucky. Today, I will be lucky."
The gamblers followed my lead.
"Today, I will be lucky. Today, I will be lucky."
After the song ended, I spoke to the gamblers in my original voice.
"But today, you will not be lucky." "……."
"This place will close today, so you pathetic fools should just go home. The business is over."
I shouted at the audience and the scum of the Fallen Society who were watching me silently.
"Get lost, you bastards!" In an instant, I rushed at one of the Fallen Society's lackeys, smashing his head and kicking his backside.
"Get lost, you bastard. Didn't you hear that the doors are closed? Pathetic fools."
As I randomly beat a couple of them while cursing, the addicts finally began to scatter.
"You trash, if you have a home, go home. If you don’t, at least beg for food. I’ll start by breaking the hands of the last one to leave."
I charged at the dawdlers and kicked their backsides once more.
Thud! As one who had been knocked to the ground sprang up and fled, the remaining members of the Fallen Society disbanded.
Shaking the folding fan and surveying the area, I found that very few remained.
Those who were left were likely the gambling den staff, unable to leave due to the wealth piled up here.
I looked at the gambling king, Gu Yangbok, who sat alone in the audience.
"Looks like you’re finished now?" Gu Yangbok glared at me without saying a word.
"Did you think you could win against me if all your subordinates charged at me? Did I say it was a rigged game or not? Dongfang Yan, what do you think? Isn’t it refreshing to meet someone like me after beating up those weaklings who were stumbling around from the spring medicine?" Gu Yangbok in the audience finally spoke.
"Hey, young man. Before coming here, I sent a letter directly to the Southern Ming Society."
"Ah, the Southern Ming Society."
"There’s someone obstructing me, so it will be difficult to pay tribute in the future. It’s a simple letter, but the Southern Ming Society will find out what happened. That’s because I’ve given them a lot of money over time."
I nodded.
"That makes sense."
"Did you think that if you made a mess here, all the money would flow to you? The world isn’t that simple. No matter how recklessly you act, you will eventually be blocked by the underworld. That’s why I’ve managed to live contentedly in this gambling den."
Gu Yangbok took a puff of the white smoke from the mangwu grass.
"You’re clueless about the world."
I slapped the fan down onto my palm, folded it, and threw it at Dongfang Yan.
Whack! Just as Dongfang Yan, who had just finished bandaging himself, crossed his twin swords to block the fan, I drew both a sword and flames from the black cat and slashed forward.
The clay infused with incense cut diagonally across Dongfang Yan's upper body before extending outwards.
Boom! The three startled executives of the Fallen Society scattered to the north, east, and south.
What kind of confidence did they have until now? They probably relied on Gu Yangbok, who remained still in the audience.
I put away the black cat, picked up Dongfang Yan's twin swords, and threw them to the east, then to the south.
The two swords pierced the fleeing man's body before embedding into the wall.
The one who fled to the north leaped towards the audience and shouted to Gu Yangbok.
"Chief, you should escape!" Suddenly, Gu Yangbok, who had jumped up, grabbed the executive who advised him to flee and pulled him in, slamming his head down onto the chair.
Thud! Thud! Thud! After three impacts, the executive's body crumpled beneath the chair.
Gu Yangbok, kicking the now lifeless subordinate, raised his voice.
"Who told you to run away!" I lightly jumped into the air, and by the time Gu Yangbok roared, I was standing behind him.
Gu Yangbok, who had been beating the corpse, noticeably slowed down as soon as he realized I was behind him.
He turned to me, speaking.
"Was it called the Zaha Inn…?" As he posed the question, his internal energy burst forth.
I did not deflect Gu Yangbok's energy but instead extended my hands to match his force.
The energy he had honed for quite some time surged into my core.
While contending with his energy, I called out to him as I had before.
"Uncle Gu Yang, I thought you were a good person. You didn’t even know that for a gambling den to thrive, the owner must have a good heart."
Gu Yangbok's eyes widened as he poured out his energy, staring at me with a bewildered expression.
Naturally, it was hard for him to understand why a stranger was speaking as if he had known him for a long time.
"Who are you?" But I had no intention of alleviating the dying man's suspicions.
"I’m the innkeeper of the Zaha Inn."
Gu Yangbok would understand me as the innkeeper who had been here.
I pushed Gu Yangbok's energy away as if burning it all away with the energy of the Flame Realm, then switched to the Absorbing Energy Technique to extract his inner strength from his dantian.
Gu Yangbok's desperate screams filled the arena.
As soon as I confirmed that his face had turned pale like a drained person, I quickly withdrew my hands.
Collapsing to the ground like a rag doll, Gu Yangbok looked up at me with a weary expression, as if he were about to take his last breath.
"The Southern Ming Society…" "The Southern Ming Society or whatever, I’ll handle it. Doesn’t our kind-hearted Uncle Gu have any last words?" Faced with death, Gu Yangbok suddenly asked me like a madman.
"No last words?" "None, you bastard."
I lifted my right foot and stomped down, cutting off Gu Yangbok's breath.
Thud! "No last words, huh?" I looked at the empty audience and personally announced the result of today’s duel.
"Everyone, listen well. The victory belongs to the owner of the Zaha Inn."
I walked while clapping for myself from the railing of the audience, then pulled out a torch and set fire to the pile of papers they had left behind.
It was a stack of papers with the names of gamblers and amounts written on them.
Whoosh! As I looked around, I threw the torch into a spot that caught fire easily and then pulled out another torch to gift flames to Gu Yangbok's corpse.
The burning clothes wrapped around Gu Yangbok's body.
A man who ignites fire wherever he goes, that is me.
As I tossed the torch around, flames quickly spread throughout the arena.
Since the audience area was filled with wood, it soon boiled like a massive furnace.
Strolling through the blazing flames, I sang the gambler's song alone.
"I have spent thirty years at the gambling den. With black hair, I held onto my cards, and with white hair, I laid them down. I sacrificed a lot of hard-earned money.
Is it just my money? How could you so easily throw away your friends' and relatives' money? Coming home after a long time, there’s not a single person to welcome me.
Taking out the money I had hidden in the closet, I head back to the gambling den. Everyone looks at me with disdain. If I do not appear again, tell them I died gambling.
Even before I arrive, the cards seem to dance before my eyes today. Today, I will be lucky. Today, I will be lucky."
Burning down the gambling den, singing, and feeling satisfied, I let out a long laugh.
In high spirits, I leaped into the arena, burning the corpses and spreading flames as if I were about to wet myself in a dream.
After drawing the black cat, I danced with the blazing flames.
Wrapping the black cat in the flames, I scattered it, and the fire grew fiercer.
As the flames devoured the fire, the area blazed as if the King of the Underworld had descended.
I stared at the flames, momentarily lost in thought.
How wonderful it would be if such powerful, beautiful, and merciless flames were mine.
I lay down on the warm ground, still untouched by the flames, gazing up at the night sky.
"I want to gather the stars of the night sky in one hand and rain fire upon the heads of the pursuers chasing me. Wherever I go, the sounds cease, and those who cut mountains with swords lie beneath my feet. The man who slaps the cheeks of the masters known as the Three Calamities, that is me. Not yet, but soon. Ah, it’s hot."
When I suddenly stood up, the surroundings were engulfed in flames. "……."
The man who returned only to be burned alive, that is not me.
I slashed the black cat vertically and unleashed a gust of wind forward.
Whoosh! The flames split left and right before creeping back out.
I swung my sword around in place, injecting the power of the fighting cocks to unleash a long-awaited One Cut, Two Halves technique.
The flames tore apart, scattering, and the audience area beyond was completely split, creating a wide path marked by my sword.
I sliced through the hell of flames created by the gamblers who burned themselves and escaped.
Leaving the burning arena behind, I gazed at the chaotic village of gamblers.
"What a beautiful night."
From all around, there was a commotion, and someone shouted loudly.
"Fire!" To that, I replied in a monotonous tone.
"It’s a fire show."
"Fire!" "It’s a fire show. Huh?" Suddenly, as if I had forgotten something, I spread my lightness skill and dashed out, reaching near the Phoenix VIP room before shouting.
"Bai Soja! Heo Soja! Are you there?" I chuckled while looking around.
With cries of "Fire!" echoing everywhere, the women marked by blood must feel like they are lying in hell.
I heard mumbling from inside the Phoenix VIP room.
I pushed aside the tent of the barracks and entered, asking towards the bedding.
"Are you there? Not here? I guess not."
"Y-yes…."
A desperate scream came from the bed, still not fully released from the blood.
I approached the bedding while dancing.
"When the evening glow fades and the moonlight flows… Are you here?" I yanked the foot of the bed and looked down at Bai Soa and Heo Solyeong.
The two were still crying, their eyes bloodshot as they stared at me. "……!" Outside the barracks, someone shouted while moving.
"Fire!" I glared at Bai Soa and Heo Solyeong with a stiff expression and said in a low voice. "……It’s a fire show."
Soon, Bai Soa and Heo Solyeong rolled their eyes back and fainted simultaneously.