ch23

“Ugh! Damn it! It was definitely this way!”

“Uwaaa! Yes! I got it! I got it!”

Before a single table, the groups were diverse: some clutched their heads and screamed, while others grinned, receiving pouches of silver coins from the man inside the table.

After the man inside the table handed out money pouches to several people, he began stacking cups on top of each other, performing tricks to attract customers. I watched him and asked,

“What’s that?”

“Ah… it’s a type of gambling. You have to find the cup with the bead among the three cups.”

“Cups? Oh, you mean glasses. Hmm…”

‘Gambling, huh…’

I’ve never done it before, but there were gopae and dice games in the Central Plains. Stories of families ruined by gambling were not uncommon throughout the Central Plains.

It’s astonishing that gambling has already started to develop in an era where people seem to struggle to even secure food, clothing, and shelter.

Many people gathered to watch the gambling, but there were also many who actually gambled.

‘These are the end times.’

I thought, but the lively atmosphere was unexpected, and since I had never even seen gambling before, curiosity arose.

I moved my feet towards the street gambling.

“Araya… you’re not going to actually do it, are you?”

Perhaps the dangers of gambling were well known, as Kyle warned me with anxious eyes.

I was just curious and had no intention of participating in the gambling myself, so I stood among the spectators and watched the gambling using beads and cups.

The gambler must have thought that enough people had gathered to participate again, as he began to open the game again.

“Alright, let’s put money down and win money. Three times the money if you guess right. Three times the money if you guess right.”

As expected of someone who makes a living from gambling, the gambler’s hand movements were quick.

After showing the cup with the bead, he slowly increased the speed, showing the inside of the cups as he opened them, or showing the bead being moved from one cup to another.

“It’s here, it’s here, it’s not here, it’s here, oh! It’s here, it’s getting faster! Here we go! Here we go! It’s getting faster! Watch closely!”

“Ah! I missed it!”

“……”

People watched the cups moving, leaving only afterimages in the eyes of ordinary people as they gradually sped up. Some lamented that they had missed the position, while others watched the movement of the cups with bloodshot eyes, not saying a word, afraid of losing focus.

As it got faster and faster, the spectators admired the gambler’s skill.

The movements all looked ordinary to my eyes, so I wasn’t very interested in the gambling itself, but I was interested in the gambler himself.

The transfer of power from the shoulder to the elbow and wrist, and the utilization of the reached power, were precise.

He only lacked Internal energy, and although there were some shortcomings in terms of technique, the level of completion was excellent.

If he had realized it himself in an era where learning was as precious as it is now, I would want to praise him even more.

‘…He’s playing a shallow trick.’

But just as the gambler’s skill was reaching its peak, my forehead furrowed.

The bead that was originally in the cup was bounced out in the blind spot created when the cups, which had been moving so fast that they left afterimages, began to cross each other.

The problem was that the bead was bounced out towards the gambler, not moved between the cups as shown earlier, and disappeared.

As the three cups slowly came to a stop, there were no beads anywhere.

‘To think that he’s using such talent for nothing more than fraudulent gambling.’

The distribution of power moving from the shoulder, elbow, and wrist is excellent, moving naturally even though it is conscious, but above all, his fingers are long and his wrist movements are smooth.

His physique is not strong, so it is not suitable for martial arts based on strong power, such as the Hwangbo family or the Peng family, but his movements are delicate and accurate.

If he learns hidden weapon techniques, he will easily achieve great success, and if he learns the art of seizing and locking, he will be one step ahead of others.

‘His cunning is also second to none.’

Throwing techniques such as hidden weapons are as important as martial arts, and cunning is also important.

Unlike weapons that attack from a short distance, hidden weapons that are thrown from a distance give the opponent time to prepare for that distance.

Therefore, a first-class hidden weapon master must use various psychological factors that the opponent cannot react to when throwing hidden weapons.

Seeing him deceive people so boldly without changing his expression in front of so many people, his talent was excellent.

“Alright, where is the bead! If the cup you bet on has the bead, you get three times the money!”

The cups, which had been slowing down, finally stopped, and from that point on, the gambler began to induce people to participate.

He deserves it in some ways for having such talent, but I felt resentful that he was deceiving the common people and gaining unfair profits, so I decided to teach him a little lesson.

“I’ll bet on this one.”

I placed the pouch in front of the middle cup, and with a heavy sound, it collided and spat out silver coins onto the table.

“Oooooh!”

The people cheered, excited that someone who had suddenly intruded had bet an amount of at least 40 to 50 silver coins.

Does gambling drive the people who do it crazy, or does it drive the people who watch it crazy?

The spectators were eagerly anticipating the outcome of the gambling, their faces flushed, wondering whether the bettor would be ruined or the gambler would be ruined.

Only Kyle had a pale face, burying his face inside his bamboo hat and whispering in my ear.

‘Hey!! You said you weren’t going to do it.’

‘I can just win, can’t I?’

‘…I’ve never seen anyone who said that while gambling actually win. But it looks like you bet quite a bit.’

‘It’s all my money.’

‘^%!@#%$#%#%#%$’

Kyle screamed in incomprehensible words with a bizarre face showing a variety of emotions: fear, surprise, anger, and despair, but if this gambling goes as planned, it seemed like it wouldn’t be too difficult to win.

If I lose… I’ll think about it later.

The gambler swallowed hard and began to count the silver coins in the pouch that had been placed.

“Let’s see the face of the person who bet. I’ve been watching you since earlier, but what’s with that strange thing on your head?”

“You’re making the atmosphere so hot, but you’re not even showing your face!”

“Judging by her clothes and appearance, she seems like a daughter from a noble family.”

“But was there a family with such beautiful golden hair like that?”

The reaction around me made me a little excited, and I lifted the bamboo hat back and over my head.

“Oh…”

The noise of the market was still there the moment I took off the bamboo hat, but the sound disappeared momentarily only in this place where the gambling was taking place, and then someone’s exclamation made the others barely regain their senses.

To be honest, I thought I might be a little addicted to this reaction.

“There are 47 silver coins.”

“”Oooooh.””

The specific amount of money bet exceeded 1 gold coin, and because the target was a beautiful woman, the excited crowd began to heat up even more.

Perhaps the gambler thought it was an opportunity?

The gambler signaled to a man with his eyes.

Following that fleeting gaze, I saw the man who had been clutching his head, saying he had lost money earlier.

The man who had received the gambler’s signal took out a pouch and placed it in the same position as me.

“I’ve won and lost today, but I’ll bet on this cute child’s bet, who seems like she’ll bring me luck today!”

“”Oooooh!! The stakes are getting bigger!””

‘Was he a decoy?’

If they’re all in cahoots, there’s no need to worry about how much money they lose.

Originally, it seemed like the decoy man was supposed to induce a big bet in a specific position, lose, and then sweep it all away, but when I bet a lot of money, they must have thought it was the perfect time to increase the stakes.

In fact, the atmosphere changed from excitement to something close to madness, and even other people passing by the market came to see what was going on.

There was a lot of money being bet here and there, but the mound of money piled up in the center seemed to be twice as much as the others.

Frankly, the gambler seemed to be having a hard time maintaining his composure at this point, and he swallowed hard.

“Alright! Then let’s open it up and see where the answer is!”

“Wait.”

As I watched the gambler move his hand towards the center cup, I pressed the center cup with my index finger.

The gambler was flustered when the cup he was trying to open didn’t move at all, even though the child had only raised her finger.

I can’t let that happen. The bead is in your pocket right now.

You’re planning to open this cup first to confirm the loss, and then put the bead in a suitable cup, right?

I needed to bring the bead onto the stage.

“You’re an excellent gambler, but your way of entertaining customers is lacking.”

“Yes…? What do you mean?”

“This bet has the most money bet on it in today’s gambling, but wouldn’t it be less fun to reveal the most important thing first? Let’s reveal the others first.”

“…Huh?”

“Oh. Is it the opposite this time? That would be fun too.”

“Hey! Open it up quickly! I can’t stand the suspense!”

The gambler seemed flustered by my sudden actions and the surrounding enthusiasm, but he soon regained his senses and began to proceed.

“Haha… you’re a mischievous guest. Then let’s reveal the ones with the least amount of money bet on them this time.”

“”Oooooh! Open it up quickly!””

The people who had come to watch were making a fuss, and as people began to gather, the gambler opened the cup with the least amount of money bet on it, sweating profusely.

“It’s not here! It’s not here!”

“If it’s not in the next one either, then it’s three times that pile of money.”

“It looks like it’s over 100 silver coins, what a huge game.”

‘Was he angry that I said he lacked entertainment?’

I thought he would put the bead in the cup with the least amount of money bet on it, but the gambler opened it quietly without using any special tricks.

Thanks to that, the atmosphere was heightened, and the excited gazes focused on the second cup.

“Now… I’ll open it…!”

The gambler opened the cup with one hand, and at the same time, a bead fell into the cup that was about to be opened, as if it had been in his fist.

No one could see it in the blind spot behind the cup.

‘I’ve been waiting!’

In that fleeting moment, I slightly lifted the cup I was pressing with my index finger with the Attraction Seal, and flicked a finger strike with my left hand between the bead falling.

The bead was hit by the finger strike and bounced towards the cup in the center before it could fall into the cup the gambler was opening.

I covered the bead flying towards the cup I had lifted with the Attraction Seal.

But if I left it as it was, the sound of the bead and the cup colliding with acceleration would make people feel strange, so I created a vortex of Internal energy inside the cup the moment the bead touched the inner surface of the cup.

As soon as I felt that the bead inside had lost its speed, cheers erupted from the surroundings.

“”Uwaaaaaaa!””

“She’s really winning this!”

“I’ve made more than I lost today with this one!”

“I sometimes thought this gambling was a scam, but I guess I was just unlucky.”

Unlike the excited people, the gambler had a blank expression and muttered blankly with a lost look.

“Uh… ah?… Why…? It was definitely…”

The man who had been acting as a decoy glared at the gambler with a flushed face.

“I don’t know why you look so angry.”

“Open it!”

“Yeah, open it quickly!”

Kyle also joined in the surrounding madness, urging me to open it quickly.

Even though he was the one who stopped me.

I chuckled at his attitude and lifted the center cup I had been pressing with my index finger.

“Smile, didn’t you win a lot of money?”

I said to the decoy man, but he only hardened his expression with a reddened face.

Inside the opened cup, there was a neatly carved bead made of stone, as if it were natural.

“The goddess of fortune has brought you victory.”