The Youngest Son of the Nanyang Jin Family - Chapter 17

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Youngest Son of the Nakhyang Jin Family – Chapter 78

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The Crown Prince gazed silently at the object before him.
A bronze token of peculiar design.
I couldn’t fathom what it signified.
Yet the voice of that man, lingering in my mind, refused to fade.

“If you have any thoughts on the matter, verify it yourself. Who knows if such a rare opportunity will ever arise again?”

The man who appeared suddenly, delivered his message, and vanished without a trace.
I didn’t know who he was, nor could I have captured him.
Even Chungho, my guard captain, was so preoccupied with countering the man that he couldn’t focus on anything else—a testament to his extraordinary strength.
My own guard captain rendered helpless, unable to do anything while on high alert.
Had I attempted to seize him, we would have suffered considerable casualties.
No, in truth, the likelihood of capturing him even then was slim.
My gaze turned toward Chungho.
With beads of cold sweat dotting his forehead, it seemed far more probable that I would lose Chungho instead.
“Was he truly that dangerous?”
“…Even if I unleashed the martial arts of my sect, I could not guarantee victory.”
“To that extent?”
One surprise after another.
Chungho had been the senior disciple of the Wudang Sect.
Had his family not served the Imperial Court as a martial clan, he would have remained with Wudang and earned renown—a Powerful Expert so formidable that he was called the strongest in the Imperial Palace itself.
For such a man to say that even deploying Wudang’s martial arts, which he rarely displayed, offered no guarantee of victory?
I closed my eyes, and his image surfaced in my mind. Yet I could not discern his identity.
“Regardless, it’s done. What are your thoughts on this object?”
“It seems we must visit the stable to the northwest to understand it.”
“Ha, you refuse to admit ignorance, it seems.”
At my words, Chungho bowed his head lightly.
An enigmatic token, yet one that might grant me what I desire.
From his tone, he seemed to understand what I sought, suggesting this token was the very solution to that desire.
“Perhaps I might even learn something about it.”
“What do you mean, Your Highness?”
“Are you aware that the Emperor occasionally disappears?”
“Yes, I am aware.”
“That is what I speak of.”
Ga Inhoo was the one who served the Emperor in the closest proximity.
When I questioned him about his movements last night, he refused to answer, and no matter how many inquiries I made, there was no way to know.
There were countless suspicious matters.
Among those who had been lending their strength to the Crown Prince, there were frequent occasions when Ga Inhoo suddenly summoned them into the Imperial Palace.
After they vanished like that and reappeared the next day, they had often switched sides—no longer supporting the Crown Prince, but now serving the Emperor instead.
I wondered if this copper token might be the key to understanding that.
There was no need to merely ponder it.
If I was curious, I could simply go and verify it myself.
The Crown Prince sat in a cross-legged position and slowly closed his eyes.
“I’ll be cultivating my inner energy, so bring me a mask.”
“A mask… Your Highness?”
“Yes, any will do. Since I need to conceal my face, so be it.”
“Understood.”
Chungho, bowing his head, sent a transmission to someone.
Feeling it, I slowly drew up my energy.
To see anything using the copper token, I couldn’t remain intoxicated.

* * *

Inside a dark carriage.
I left Giru behind and turned my steps toward Dowon Village once more, recalling the Crown Prince’s face.
Though unpleasant intoxication had risen, his eyes remained resolute.
He would certainly verify what the copper token was.
Before long, the Crown Prince would discover the existence of Dowon Village anyway. After all, he had already succeeded in using it to eliminate the Emperor and his rivals.
I merely accelerated that timeline.
For the Crown Prince now, a coup d’état seemed entirely possible if he simply possessed the military strength to face the Emperor’s guards.
“Dowon Village will be turned upside down.”
Dowon Village—a paradise created by the Emperor.
It existed as a place of extraterritoriality and lawlessness for his indulgence.
To that extent, the residents were like pets to the nobles.
If one committed murder outside, they would be judged by imperial law, but in Dowon Village, with enough money, one could achieve anything desired.
Just as people cannot forget a fruit once tasted, the moment one sets foot in Dowon Village and experiences it, there is no escape.
It is a paradise where no one can object to the raw exposure of human nature.
Moreover, in Dowon Village, those who cannot be touched are limited.
Those who possess the jade token.
Without the jade token, any act was permissible.
One could trample people like dogs, and with enough money, one could purchase people to create one’s own paradise.
Furthermore, even against another masked noble, if one knew the other’s information, it was excellent for eliminating political rivals.
Most of the struggles occurring secretly among the nobles were of that nature.
The Crown Prince would soon discover Dowon Village.
And he would think.
It wasn’t a bad place at all to deal with the Emperor, I thought to myself.
I let out a quiet chuckle at such musings.
Creak—
The carriage came to a halt, and the door swung open.
Descending the deep underground stairs, I arrived once more at Dowon Village.
The moment I turned my steps toward the gambling hall of Dowon Village.
Familiar figures approached from ahead.
“Young Master—we found you!”
“There you are! Where have you been? We’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
Looking toward the voices, I saw Gu Gunbaek and Jang Chuchyeong rushing toward me in a flustered state.
But something about their appearance seemed off.
They still wore their masks as before, but the silk robes they’d been wearing were completely gone, and all the treasures they’d been laden with had vanished.
I narrowed my brow.
“What exactly have you two been doing?”
“What do you mean? We were gambling!”
You were gambling, but why do you look like that? Didn’t you win considerably?”
“We did win. But then… we lost it all.”
“What?”
“Well… he kept saying one more round, one more round… and eventually… we lost everything. My clothes got stripped off because of it.”
Jang Chuchyeong let out a long sigh and shot Gu Gunbaek a sidelong glance.
It was the expression of someone looking at a pathetic fool.
I too fixed Gu Gunbaek with an incredulous stare.
“What were you thinking?”
“Well, I was winning for quite a while when this unlucky bastard showed up. But he looked like he had a lot of money.”
“And then?”
“I tried to strip him clean with sword cards.”
“So you got beaten at your own game.”
“That guy’s skill with sword cards is no joke. My eyes can’t be fooled, so I know he wasn’t cheating… and that’s what makes me even angrier.”
Gu Gunbaek ground his teeth, seething.
Given his temperament, I would have expected him to flip the table and throw punches the moment he lost, but in this regard, he was oddly honorable.
The way he simply lost everything, acknowledging the outcome of the gamble, and how despite his anger he had no intention of beating the man—both were unexpected.
“Given your nature, I would have thought you’d resort to violence even in defeat…”
“Listen here, you fool. Do you stomp on ants when you’re angry? A strong person doesn’t carelessly beat the weak. Unless they come at you with a blade, that is.”
I nodded in agreement at those words.
While it’s a natural principle, judging by his usual behavior, it was hard to believe he upheld it so well.
“What are you talking about? He was trying to beat the man for cheating, and I had to stop him.”
“Dream on while you sleep, my disciple. When did I ever do that?”
“Just now.”
“Sigh… my disciple.”
At those words, Gu Gunbaek let out a long sigh.
Crunch—
The moment Gu Gunbaek reached out and gripped the back of Jang Chuchyeong’s neck with crushing force, it was no illusion that his face had turned a sickly pale blue.
“So, say it again. Did I do that?”
“Gack… ugh… it was… a misunderstanding.”
“Right?”
Watching Jang Chuchyeong tremble like a man staring death in the face, I exhaled a sigh and shook my head slowly.
Then.
Gu Gunbaek suddenly twisted his expression into something menacing and looked to one side.
“There he is, there. You see that bastard in the snake mask?”
At those words, I turned my head as well.
A group emerged from the gambling hall, laughing boisterously. A man still dragging women draped in silk scarves around like dogs, putting on a spectacle for all to see.
My uncle, wearing a snake mask.
“Did you lose to him?”
“Yeah. The way he handles cards—he’s a real con artist, a real one.”
“That would make sense.”
“Huh? You know him?”
“I know of him, at least.”
My uncle had been fond of gambling since childhood.
Among the many hobbies his considerable wealth afforded him, gambling was the one he’d fallen deepest into.
The large sums that changed hands, and the sycophants who clung to him whenever he won, fueled his excitement.
He’d even paid back-alley con artists to teach him their methods.
No matter how skilled Gu Gunbaek was, he couldn’t hope to beat someone who knew how the cards were shuffled, which cards were dealt to the opponent, and could remember the order of every card that would come next.
I let out a soft chuckle and approached my uncle.
As I suddenly drew near, his gaze turned toward me.
“What is it?”
“I hear you’ve stripped one of my people bare?”
I spoke with deliberate weight, keeping my voice low.
It seemed to work—there was not a shred of suspicion in Jin Baek-ryong’s eyes. He merely glanced at me, Gu Gunbaek, and Jang Chuchyeong, then let out a sneer through the gaps in his mask.
“So you’ve come to take out your frustrations on me? Hahaha.”
“My lord, pay them no mind. Surely these nobodies are just trying to build some connection with you, aren’t they?”
“Exactly. There’s no need to acknowledge them. Shall I drive them out?”
Those clinging to his side spoke up with exaggerated fervor.
With just Jin Baek-ryong’s permission, they seemed ready to order his guards to draw blades even against nobility.
How pathetic it all was.
Watching this, Jin Baek-ryong raised a hand to restrain them instead, then scrutinized me, his eyes sweeping rapidly up and down.
“You there—are you perhaps here to recover what they’ve lost?”
“Recovering what’s lost seems less profitable than fleecing you instead.”
“Hahaha, so you want to gamble with me?”
As Jin Baek-ryong laughed loudly, those beside him joined in with matching laughter.
Striking stone with an egg.
Everyone knew how skilled he was at gambling, so it seemed he thought my challenge was like throwing an egg at a stone.
After laughing for a while, Jin Baek-ryong looked at me again.
“Do you have money?”
“I never thought anyone would ask me if I had money in my lifetime.”
“Hahaha— Is that so? I made a mistake then. It feels good to meet someone like me after so long.”
“Will you do it?”
“Of course I will! How could I refuse a chance to make money? Come on, let’s go.”
Listening to his voice grow louder with excitement, I followed Jin Baek-ryong into the gambling hall.
As I took a seat at the table where the cards were laid out, Jin Baek-ryong sitting across from me touched the cards in front of him and let out a soft laugh.
“How much will you wager?”
“How much did we lose?”
“Thirty-two taels of gold.”
At those words, the spectators let out gasps of astonishment. Thirty-two taels of gold was such a large sum that even in Dowon Village, people would react with shock.
They had won quite a bit with just a few silver coins.
It made sense that Jin Baek-ryong, who loved gambling so much his eyes would spin, would take interest.
I smiled and placed a gold certificate worth one tael on the table.
At this, Jin Baek-ryong’s eyes widened with surprise.
“What? You’re betting with a gold certificate?”
“If I win, it’s a big payoff, isn’t it?”
“Hahaha! This person is truly something!”
Clap—! Clap! Clap—!
Jin Baek-ryong burst into laughter and clapped his hands.
With a grin, Jin Baek-ryong pulled out a gold certificate.
“Good, good, this is excellent. I’m delighted to meet a worthy opponent after so long. Let’s see whose luck is better, yours or mine.”
It was clear from Jin Baek-ryong’s voice that he was quite excited, as if it had been a long time since he’d gambled for such high stakes.
In the moment I showed a slight smile hearing that.
Gu Gunbaek, who had been watching the situation from the side, approached and whispered.
“Are you really going to do this? That bastard is a card ghost, you fool.”
“Shouldn’t we exorcise ghosts? And it looks fun.”
“…What? Fun? What’s fun? Cards? Are you playing cards for the first time?”
“Yes, is there something wrong with that?”
When I gave him a look as if asking what was wrong, Gu Gunbaek stared at me with eyes that had lost all words to say and let out a hollow laugh.
Soon after, harsh words came from his mouth.
“This crazy bastard….”
I couldn’t understand why I deserved to be cursed at.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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