The God of Death and the God of War - Chapter 18
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Evil Hegemon Martial God
Chapter 18
The back alleys of Changsha are extremely complex.
So complex that even natives born and raised here sometimes get lost.
The place the guide led Jeok-un to was also located somewhere in the back alleys, a dilapidated two-story pavilion.
“This is the place.”
Following the guide inside, the interior was completely empty, with only an old carpet lying abandoned.
At first glance, one might think ‘There’s a secret gambling den here?’
‘It must be down below.’
Jeok-un’s judgment was different.
Sure enough, when the guide lifted the carpet, an iron door was revealed.
Creak-!
When the iron door was lifted, a deep, dark passage was revealed.
The passage was just wide enough for one person to barely pass through, and the smell emanating from it wasn’t too bad.
“Now, please enter through here.”
The guide pointed to the passage with a grin.
‘He’ll probably lock it from outside once I enter.’
Since the iron door was like a kind of underground vault, that would most likely be the case.
A gambling den meticulously designed so he could never escape.
It was truly like walking into the enemy’s mouth, but.
Hiss-
When Jeok-un grinned wickedly, baring his teeth, the guide was flustered.
“?!”
“Lock it tight so the guy who loses money can’t run away.”
With those words, Jeok-un threw himself into the passage.
Soon, with a heavy ‘thud!’ the door closed.
After that, a very faint ‘click-!’ sound.
The door was locked.
Upon hearing that sound, the expression slowly disappeared from Jeok-un’s face.
Stupid fools.
‘A sealed room means you guys can’t escape either.’
* * *
After walking through the long, narrow passage for several minutes.
As soon as he finally reached his destination, a voice pierced his ears.
“Well, finally our last friend has arrived.”
“They say the hardest part of mahjong is getting four people together. The words of ancient sages are never wrong.”
“Hey, did you bring a lot of betting money?”
Jeok-un didn’t respond and surveyed the room.
Befitting a VIP room, the interior was decorated much more lavishly than Paejeon-bang, and there seemed to be only one gambling table, a large and ornate table positioned right in the center.
Three people were sitting at that table.
As soon as Jeok-un saw their faces, he roughly grasped the situation.
‘Two marks and one hustler?’
A scoundrel who seemed to have been brought along to be fleeced together with Jeok-un, clearly looking like some youngest son from a nouveau riche family.
Scarface who looked like he made his living by the sword.
Among them, a glint appeared in Jeok-un’s eyes as he looked at the last man.
‘I didn’t expect them to bring Dogwi.’
He didn’t know the name, but he had heard the alias.
Dogwi, who was considered the best at gambling south of the Yangtze River.
Jeok-un recognized Dogwi but showed no sign of it and went to sit in the empty seat.
“This one’s quite taciturn.”
“Are you already concentrating? Or is this some pathetic mind game?”
The mark and the hustler spoke to him in turn.
Jeok-un didn’t answer.
The moment he sat down, the door opened and a new voice was heard.
“Oh, you’ve arrived just in time.”
An ugly man dressed in silk, it was Noh Hwang-gu.
Noh Hwang-gu bowed his head slightly and greeted with a cupped fist salute.
During the brief moment he bowed his head, Jeok-un’s eyes gleamed sharply.
Like the eyes of a hawk that had spotted its prey.
But that was only for a moment. When Noh Hwang-gu raised his head, no glint or hostility could be found in Jeok-un’s eyes.
“Nice to meet you. I am Noh Hwang-gu, who manages this place. It’s an honor to welcome a new distinguished guest.”
Noh Hwang-gu suppressed his anger toward Jeok-un and spoke with a leisurely attitude.
But Jeok-un answered without even glancing at Noh Hwang-gu.
“Nothing so honorable about it. I was just called here because I fleeced you guys so much.”
“…!”
Jeok-un was blatantly mocking.
An attitude as if he knew everything about the gambling den planting hustlers.
“Ha, haha. I don’t know what you suddenly mean by that. Paejeon-bang doesn’t engage in any….”
“Ah, save your excuses for someone else’s dog and let’s just start already.”
‘This bastard?!’
How dare he interrupt me?
Noh Hwang-gu’s anger flared at Jeok-un’s arrogant attitude, but he held it in.
He had to recover what that bastard had taken.
With that single thought, Noh Hwang-gu exercised desperate patience and soon spoke with a forced smile.
“Hmm, but I’m sorry, there’s one problem.”
“Problem?”
“This is a place where secrecy must be perfectly maintained. That means everyone’s identity must be clearly revealed…”
“You sure talk a lot. The point is you want me to take off my hat, right?”
“?!”
“Well, that’s not difficult.”
As his words were interrupted again, leaving Noh Hwang-gu’s face flushed with anger.
Swish.
Jeok-un immediately threw off his black hat.
“Uh, what?!”
‘Wait, that face…!!’
Noh Hwang-gu and everyone else were shocked.
They couldn’t help but recognize him.
Recently, wanted posters from Jegal Sega had been posted throughout the Central Plains.
“Phew, that’s refreshing.”
“Jegal Jeokun…!!”
When the scoundrel of the Jegal Family suddenly revealed himself, everyone was bewildered.
They knew he had fled from Hubei, but who would have expected him to suddenly appear in Changsha, the heart of Sadocheon.
They exchanged glances as silence fell.
But that was only brief, as Noh Hwang-gu spoke up.
“I wondered who it might be. You’re the one who has recently caused quite a stir in Gangho.”
“Well, is there a problem?”
“Hehe, what problem could there be? As long as we gamble in the gambling den.”
“As expected, we understand each other well.”
Noh Hwang-gu smiled as if pleased, but his true feelings were completely different.
‘Good, if it comes to it, I’ll just kill him and be done with it.’
Noh Hwang-gu’s inner thoughts were stained with black greed.
Jegal Jeokun was famous for committing treason against the Jegal Sega and fleeing, but on the other hand, there were rampant rumors that he had stolen precious treasures from the Sega.
‘Seeing the enormous amount of money he brought as betting funds, those rumors seem to be true indeed.’
He would strip away everything that bastard had and hidden.
Noh Hwang-gu clapped his hands, vowing to strip away all of Jeok-un’s money and treasures.
Clap!
At Noh Hwang-gu’s clapping sound, servants entered and placed alcohol on the table.
“Alcohol is provided without limit, so please drink to your heart’s content and enjoy yourself.”
“Oh, what pleasant words to hear.”
As if he had been waiting for those words, Jeok-un grabbed the bottle as soon as it was placed down and
Gulp gulp-!
As if pouring it directly into his throat, he emptied an entire bottle in one go.
“Ahh, it tastes good. Now, let’s start dealing the cards.”
Grin-
Seeing this, Noh Hwang-gu’s expression became triumphant.
* * *
‘What, what is this?!’
Noh Hwang-gu’s expression hardened.
It had only been half a shichen.
In just half a shichen, Noh Hwang-gu’s triumphant expression had completely crumpled.
“Tsk, there’s nothing special here either.”
“No, no. Brother Jeok. Does this really make sense??”
“All-in again! All-in again…!”
On the table, Jeok-un’s solo performance continued once more.
Just like at the Paejeon-bang, Jeok-un only entered when he had winning hands, and when he entered, he went all-in as if there was no tomorrow.
It was no exaggeration to call it an all-in bombing.
The result was as it is now.
A mountain of gold ingots piled beside Jeok-un, just like at the Paejeon-bang.
The only difference was about that much.
Instead of cash and bone tiles being piled up, actual gold ingots were stacked like mountains.
Moreover, the time it took to accumulate was also different.
Since the betting stakes were several times larger than at the Paejeon-bang, even though only half a shichen had passed, the gold ingots piled beside Jeok-un were truly an absurd scale.
If Jeok-un took all of this, the Gambling House Management Division might have to close its doors that very day.
It was natural that Noh Hwang-gu trembled with rage and sent a telepathic message to Dogwi.
[Dogwi, you bastard! What the hell is going on here!]
[I, I don’t know either! This, this absolutely cannot be happening?!]
But Dogwi was also frustrated to death.
The rigging wasn’t working.
He had definitely manipulated the cards, so why were the highest and best hands continuously pouring out from that bastard’s fingertips?
‘Is that bastard a gambler who surpasses Dogwi?’
Noh Hwang-gu momentarily had that thought, but soon shook his head.
‘No, even if that bastard is a gambler who surpasses Dogwi, the drug’s effects should have kicked in by now.’
Noh Hwang-gu’s greatest prepared move wasn’t the rigged cards, nor was it Dogwi, Changsha’s greatest gambler, but the alcohol.
The bottles scattered throughout this VIP room, with dozens already lying around.
To be precise, the ‘drug’ dissolved in that alcohol was exactly the greatest move Noh Hwang-gu had prepared.
‘Why aren’t the drug’s effects taking hold?’
Noh Hwang-gu looked at Jeok-un with anxious eyes.
Jeok-un had drunk several bottles of that alcohol.
To be exact, he had drunk more than ten bottles.
‘But why…!’
Just then, Jeok-un made eye contact with the anxious Noh Hwang-gu.
Then Jeok-un ostentatiously gulped down alcohol before slowly speaking.
“Hey, you’ve been staring at me every time I drink since earlier.”
“Th, that’s not it.”
“But I felt it upstairs too, the alcohol tastes really good.”
Well, shall we start now?
Jeok-un, who had interrupted his words again, opened his mouth.
“The alcohol tastes so good that I keep reaching for it even while gambling.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes, as if something was mixed into it.”
“…!!”
Noh Hwang-gu tried not to show his surprise, but Jeok-un sneered openly as if he knew everything.
That bastard knows something.
Just as Noh Hwang-gu’s eyes trembled as if hit by an earthquake.
“Hey, Dogwi.”
Another shock struck Noh Hwang-gu’s group.
‘He even knows about Dogwi?!’
“…!!”
The moment both Noh Hwang-gu and Dogwi couldn’t hide their shock.
Jeok-un was looking straight at them as if certain that the person sitting next to him was Dogwi.
“Dogwi? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Dogwi desperately feigned composure as he replied.
But Jeok-un, as if he didn’t care whether Dogwi was pretending to be calm or genuinely calm, drove them into another shock.
“Let me tell you a very interesting story.”
“…Huh?”
“Long ago, there were two brothers.”
In the grim atmosphere, Jeok-un continued speaking like a storyteller.
“They got caught up in fights between righteous sects, lost their parents, and suddenly became orphans. Living in hell, they eventually became bandits.”
“Life was hard when they begged as beggars, but living wickedly made life easier. Deceiving and killing people.”
“But one day, they ended up stealing from someone they shouldn’t have messed with.”
Ended up stealing.
Right after hearing these words, Noh Hwang-gu’s eye trembling miraculously stopped.
What came instead was killing intent.
Thick killing intent began rising from deep within his eyes.
“That bastard was very vicious. He fed the brothers something very nasty. Do you know what a lethal poison is? It’s a terrible thing where your qi and blood explode and you die if you don’t take the antidote at regular intervals.”
“Anyway, after feeding them that stuff, he told them one way to survive.”
Now the gambling had completely stopped.
Everyone instinctively felt it.
That the story Jeok-un was rambling about was based on true events.
“I, I’ll be leaving now…”
That’s why the mark tried to sneak away and escape, but failed.
Click.
Because the employees had locked the exit door.
Jeok-un continued his story regardless of whether the mark escaped or failed.
“Become spies. And infiltrate a certain place. I’ll support you to climb very high. What you need to do is secretly climb high in that place and spread drugs to cause chaos from within.”
Along with those words.
Jeok-un shifted his gaze from Dogwi to Noh Hwang-gu.
“Now, here’s the thing. Do you know what reward an informant receives for capturing and imprisoning a Heukpaesong spy who committed such traitorous acts? It’s quite substantial, beyond imagination.”
Depending on the degree of traitorous acts committed by the spy, one could obtain enormous wealth enough for three generations to live on, or even enter high positions at the ‘leader’ level.
Just as Jeok-un was about to add exactly that.
Crash!
Screech!
“Die-!”
Noh Hwang-gu, a spy of Heukpaesong, was screaming as he charged fiercely at Jeok-un.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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