The Youngest Son of the Nanyang Jin Family - Chapter 18

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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 79

I gazed quietly at the tiles laid upon the table.
Black swords, black circles, red swords, red coins.
Four distinct suits, each with ten tiles numbered from one to ten, came into view.
And one tile that stood out conspicuously among the rest.
Was that what they called the royal tile?
Even from the completely different illustration alone, I could discern that it was something special.
And this was a simple gambling game where the person with the highest sum of numbers on their tiles won.
I smiled, feeling the gazes of those around me converge upon me.
The stakes were so enormous that even those gambling elsewhere in the hall had quietly drifted over to watch.
Jin Baek-ryong’s skill must have been quite renowned in this gambling establishment, for most eyes fixed upon me held either pity or mockery.
Whether they knew his identity or not, they clearly understood his gambling prowess well.
I watched quietly as Jin Baek-ryong handled the tiles.
The bamboo-bound wooden tiles bore illustrations and numbers, which he concealed by flipping them over before beginning to shuffle them about.
Soon we each received our portion of tiles, and the remainder were laid across the table.
I observed the proceedings calmly.
Doing nothing, merely watching.
I didn’t even glance at the tiles I’d received, still face-down, and with arms leisurely crossed, I kept my gaze fixed upon Jin Baek-ryong’s movements without wavering.
“You’re not going to look at your tiles?”
“Even if I did, I wouldn’t understand them anyway.”
“Ha, an amusing fellow indeed. It’s laughable that you’d gamble with me knowing nothing at all.”
Jin Baek-ryong glanced at his own tiles, then turned his gaze toward me. At the look in his eyes urging me to place a wager, I tossed down one gold yuan note that I’d set beside me.
In that instant, the onlookers’ eyes widened like lanterns.
“…You wagered everything? On the first hand?”
“Madman… Why without even looking at your tiles?”
“Who is he anyway? I’ve never seen him before…”
Murmurs created a small commotion.
Most could only gape at such an unexpected action.
Even Gu Gunbaek and Jang Chuchyeong standing behind me seemed to hold their breath in shock.
Then.
Jin Baek-ryong’s brow twitched.
“You’re wagering all of that?”
“Gambling is always about going all in. Isn’t it?”
“Fine then, I shall do the same.”
Jin Baek-ryong nodded and likewise tossed one gold yuan note onto the table. Then he revealed his tiles for all to see.
There was no more money left to wager on the table.
“The Three Supreme Swords. Now let’s see what you have.”
Jin Baek-ryong smiled faintly and gestured for me to reveal my tiles.
Observing the confident gleam in his eyes, as though victory were already assured, I nodded and finally examined my overturned hand.
Two cards of the same rank.
“A pair of swords, it seems. I’ve won again. Haha, fortune truly smiles upon me today. The money just keeps flowing in.”
“Continue.”
“Hahaha— I’ve no objection, but do you have the funds?”
His gaze suggested he was asking whether anything remained after losing the gold notes. I let out a soft chuckle and withdrew three gold notes from my sleeve.
In that instant, gasps erupted from all corners of the hall.
Jin Baek-ryong’s expression hardened visibly.
“And do you possess the means to match such a wager?”
“Ah… I see. Haha, three gold notes… I never imagined another soul besides myself could command such wealth.”
“Will you play, or will you fold?”
“Well, when money is offered freely, one cannot refuse.”
Jin Baek-ryong nodded and passed the cards to me.
Was he trying to suggest that since he had shuffled once, it was now my turn?
Yet I shook my head, showing no intention of doing so, and Jin Baek-ryong began shuffling the cards again, regarding me as though I were mad.
The situation was unmistakably clear.
There was I, unfamiliar with the intricacies of card play, and there was Jin Baek-ryong, already calculating which cards would appear and which ones to deal to his opponent—this gamble was, in essence, an unwinnable battle.
Thus I lost three notes, and a new round commenced.
This time, I did not wager gold notes.
A single promissory note.
Those who glimpsed the sum written upon it could not suppress their astonishment.
The equivalent of ten gold notes in value.
Even those of considerable wealth could not easily stake such a sum, and the murmurs of the crowd grew louder throughout the hall.
The commotion was such that the Honored Guests gambling nearby ceased their activities.
One by one, they began gathering around to observe.
Before long, the space surrounding Jin Baek-ryong and myself was packed with spectators.
Yet this changed nothing of the outcome.
Once more I lost ten notes and placed another promissory note upon the table.
I continued raising the stakes with each hand.
After several rounds, the sum reached thirty notes.
The moment Jin Baek-ryong saw the promissory note, his pupils trembled visibly. Though he had surely gambled countless times before, such vast sums had never exchanged hands in his presence.
Win and one could claim a fortune; lose and the consequences would be severe.
No matter how formidable Jin Baek-ryong was, thirty gold notes represented a blow he could not easily absorb.
A gulp.
The sound of dry swallows echoed throughout the chamber.
Presently, Jin Baek-ryong revealed his hand, and once again, victory was his.
“Ha… hahaha, I’ve won again, it seems. I’m almost embarrassed by this.”
Jin Baek-ryong exhaled a sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat from his brow.
Though he had been confident in his victory, the magnitude of the sums at stake proved far greater than anticipated, and even he could not help but feel the tension.
I gazed quietly at Jin Baek-ryong and the cards laid before us.
I closed my eyes tightly and mentally visualized every hand movement he had displayed thus far.
Then, a faint smirk escaped my lips.
“So that’s how it’s done.”
“What are you saying? Has the shock uprooted your senses? Hahahaha.”
“Uprooted?”
“This amount is enough to uproot even a respectable merchant guild. Hahahaha, has the shock addled your mind?”
At those words, I stared blankly at Jin Baek-ryong.
After a moment of thought, I placed a single promissory note on the table with a scornful smile.
“Huh?!”
“…How much is that?!”
“Insane…!”
The crowd’s reactions ignited at the promissory note I had laid down.
I could also see Jin Baek-ryong’s pupils trembling before my eyes.
A hundred-yang gold certificate guaranteed by the Wunlong Casino.
No matter how wealthy the people here were, it was such an astronomical sum that most had never laid eyes upon one in their entire lives.
Truly, it was a sum grand enough to construct an entire palace.
Jin Baek-ryong’s expression and trembling eyes spoke volumes.
I gazed at him with contempt and sneered.
“…Who are you?”
Jin Baek-ryong bit his lip and stared directly at me.
In the Central Plains, only an extremely select few casually carried promissory notes worth a hundred yang.
Even Jin Baek-ryong, it would have been impossible.
His gaze fixed squarely on the promissory note.
Though suspicion flickered in his eyes—wondering if it were counterfeit—he surely knew that promissory notes issued by the Wunlong Casino were impossible to forge.
I reached out and grasped the cards.
I touched each one carefully to verify it, then slowly began shuffling the deck.
“Will you play or fold?”
He nodded.
I dealt five cards to him, then drew five for myself.
I placed the remaining cards on the table, completing the shuffle and deal. Then I leaned back in my chair and tossed the hundred-yang promissory note onto the table.
I then gazed at Jin Baek-ryong with eyes brimming with scorn.
As he racked his brain trying to deduce my identity, he had missed his final opportunity to withdraw.
In the end, he wagered everything he possessed.
“That’s not enough.”
“Don’t worry. I have no reason to lose.”
I saw Jin Baek-ryong flash a bitter smile.
Confidence that he could win despite not having shuffled the cards himself. It seemed he possessed a method to seize victory even in this situation.
I nodded and gestured with my chin.
Jin Baek-ryong then laid down one card and reached for another from the table.
Was it not the card he desired?
I repeated the action once more.
Instead, I refused to accept a new hand and turned my gaze back toward Jin Baek-ryong.
It was a signal that if I wanted something, I should reveal my cards.
Did that look in my eyes displease him?
Jin Baek-ryong furrowed his brow, yet his eyes gleamed with the certainty of victory as he revealed his hand.
“…The Linked Swords.”
Five consecutive numbers followed.
Ohhh—
From the cheers erupting throughout the hall, I could sense just how rare such a hand truly was.
Jin Baek-ryong, confident in his victory, gazed at me with eyes alight with exultation.
Watching him, I began to flip my five cards one by one.
The first card was One.
As I flipped the second card, it too was One.
The moment they saw this, Jin Baek-ryong and everyone else seemed to sense my defeat, their expressions curling into subtle smiles.
At best, a pair.
Clearly insignificant compared to the Linked Swords.
But when I revealed the third card, silence fell over the hall.
Another One.
“Surely not?!”
Gu Gunbaek, standing behind me, cried out and rushed forward.
He gripped my shoulders with both hands so forcefully that I couldn’t help but furrow my brow in pain.
Yet I did not stop revealing my cards.
As I flipped the fourth card.

One.

“What?!”
“Is, is this real?”
Even those who had been sneering began to shift their expressions.
The commotion grew louder, and all eyes converged upon me in an instant.
In proportion to this, Jin Baek-ryong’s pupils trembled violently, and cold sweat began to pour down his face.
Watching this unfold, I smirked and then.
revealed my final card.

The King.

“Oh… The Royal Hand!”
“It’s the Five Celestial Kings! The Five Celestial Kings!”
“I’ve never seen it with my own eyes before. It’s unbelievable.”
The commotion grew even louder.

The Five Celestial Kings.

The finest hand possible in sword cards, with virtually negligible odds of appearing. Among forty-one cards, there was only a single royal hand.
“Hahahaha! You absolute madman! You actually pulled it off!”
“So all of this is ours now, right?!”
Gu Gunbaek burst into raucous laughter and pounded my back.
Thump, thump—
Though the strikes were light, they stung sharply.
Meanwhile, Jang Chuchyeong beside me, unable to contain his joy, began bouncing excitedly before snatching up all the betting slips and gold notes scattered across the table.
At that moment, with a sharp bang, Jin Baek-ryong shot to his feet.
“This is cheating! This is a scam!”
“What are you calling a scam?”
“Such an impossible outcome….”
“Is it cheating just because it happened?”
“Ugh…!”
In that instant, Jin Baek-ryong seemed to sense a threat and hesitantly retreated. Then, as if realizing the situation was turning strange, his guards subtly stepped forward and placed their hands on their sword hilts.
Screeeech—!
Crash, bang, bang!
But they never drew their blades.
Gu Gunbaek’s sudden ear-flick came flying out of nowhere, striking one of the guards squarely.
Fortunately, he hadn’t put enough force to tear the man’s head clean off, but even so, the guard’s body went limp like a puppet and crashed into the corner.
“How dare you draw steel before your betters.”
It wasn’t just Gu Gunbaek who moved.
Jang Chuchyeong, as if he’d been waiting for the moment, thrust his fists forward and sent two more guards crashing down—not quite with Gu Gunbaek’s devastating force, but with considerable power nonetheless.
As a result, three guards lay sprawled across the floor in utter defeat.
The remaining guards froze in place, unable to move.
From what they’d witnessed alone, they could feel that these two men’s strength far surpassed their own.
Confirming this, I rose from my seat.
Then I slowly approached Jin Baek-ryong.
He stumbled backward hesitantly until he caught his foot on something and fell hard on his rear.
I crouched before him, reached out, and grabbed his garment.
Riiiiip—!
“…!?”
Every spectator’s expression turned to shock at the sudden turn of events.
Well, I had forcibly torn the clothes right off his body, after all.
“Bring me brush and ink.”
At my command, Jang Chuchyeong hastened to move.
He pushed through the people around him, searching every corner of the gambling hall, and soon returned hurriedly with brush and ink in hand.
I took up the brush and began writing characters on the torn cloth, and once finished, I thrust it before Jin Baek-ryong with a smile.
“Bring the remaining money by this time tomorrow. For every day you’re late, the interest compounds at four percent. Sign it.”
“…You madman…!”
As Jin Baek-ryong glared at me with bloodshot eyes, I sneered and reached out my hand once more.
In an instant, I seized his face.
Crack!
The mask that seemed impossible to remove began shattering with sound, and simultaneously, Jin Baek-ryong’s agonized screams pierced the air.
“Ahhhhhhh-!”
Snap!
Finally, his mask shattered into pieces and fell away.
As his face was revealed, the people around us gasped in shock.
Though they dared not speak it aloud, there was no one who wouldn’t recognize that face.
“…Nakh—”
“Shh!”
Someone tried to mention the Nakhyang Jin Family and Jin Baek-ryong’s name, but those beside him quickly silenced them, covering their mouths and turning away.
Concealing one’s identity in this Dowon Village held tremendous advantage.
The moment one dons a mask, desires that couldn’t be revealed outside could be exposed, yet no one would know their true identity, so there was nothing to fear.
But if one’s identity were exposed?
Things could never be the same as before.
Jin Baek-ryong stared at me with a ashen face, trembling violently.
When I thrust the cloth before him again and demanded his signature, he finally bowed his head and signed.
Now, this man could not hide and flee behind his mask.
“Excellent.”
I put away the signed cloth and rose from my seat.
As I turned my back and walked toward the exit, I saw the people blocking the way hastily step aside to both sides.
It felt much like the procession of an Emperor.
As I walked after leaving the gambling hall.
Before the Auction House not far away, I saw a group of people whispering in hushed voices.
Even from their eyes alone, they appeared quite serious.
I quietly lent them my ear.
“Did you hear? They say that item will be auctioned off tomorrow.”
“That item?”
“You know. …’s.”
“What?! Really?”
Reflecting on the words that reached my ears, I smiled.
At last, I had heard of another purpose for coming to this place.

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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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