The Youngest Son of the Nanyang Jin Family - Chapter 79

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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 with ten tiles each, 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 markings alone, so utterly different from the others, I could discern that it was something special.
A simple gambling game where the player with the higher sum of numbers on their tiles claimed victory.
I smiled, feeling the weight of countless eyes converging upon me.
The stakes were so enormous that even those gambling elsewhere had quietly drifted over to observe.
Jin Baek-ryong’s reputation in this gambling hall was apparently quite formidable—most of the gazes directed at me carried either pity or mockery.
Whether they knew his identity or not, they certainly seemed well-acquainted with his gambling prowess.
I watched quietly as Jin Baek-ryong handled the tiles.
The bamboo-bound wooden tiles bore their symbols and numbers, which he concealed by flipping them over before shuffling them back and forth.
Soon we each received our tiles, and the remainder were laid face-down upon the table.
I observed the scene in silence.
Doing nothing, merely watching.
I didn’t even look at the tiles I’d received, keeping them face-down as I crossed my arms leisurely, my gaze fixed intently 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. 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 that look—as if urging me to place my wager—I tossed down a gold coin from the stack beside me.
In that instant, the onlookers’ eyes widened like lanterns.
“…Did he bet it all? On the first hand?”
“Madman… Why without even looking at his tiles?”
“Who is he anyway? I’ve never seen him before….”
Murmurs erupted into a small commotion.
Most couldn’t help but gasp at such an unexpected move.
Even Gu Gunbaek and Jang Chuchyeong standing behind me seemed to hold their breath in shock.
Then.
Jin Baek-ryong’s brow twitched slightly.
“You’re betting 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 tossed his own gold coin onto the table. Then he revealed his tiles openly.
There was no more money left to wager on either side.
“The Three Supreme Swords. Now show me yours.”
Jin Baek-ryong smiled faintly and gestured for me to reveal my hand.
Observing the certainty gleaming in his eyes as though he had already claimed victory, I nodded and finally examined my overturned hand.
Two cards of identical rank.
“Twin Swords, it seems. I’ve won again. Haha, fortune truly smiles upon me today. Money flows into my coffers like water.”
“Continue.”
“Hahaha— I have no objection, but do you possess the means to wager?”
His gaze suggested I had squandered my gold notes entirely. Yet I smiled faintly and withdrew three gold notes from my robes.
In that instant, gasps erupted from every corner of the establishment.
Jin Baek-ryong’s expression hardened visibly.
“And you—do you have sufficient funds to match?”
“That… indeed. Haha, three gold notes, you say… I never imagined another soul possessed the capital to wager at such a scale.”
“Will you play, or will you forfeit?”
“How could I refuse when fortune offers itself so freely?”
Jin Baek-ryong nodded and handed me the cards.
Was he suggesting that since he had shuffled once, it was now my turn?
Yet I shook my head, showing no inclination to do so. Jin Baek-ryong regarded me as though I were mad and began shuffling the deck himself.
Naturally, the situation was abundantly clear.
I possessed scant knowledge of card games, while Jin Baek-ryong calculated not only which cards would appear but which hands to deal to his opponent. This gamble was, in essence, a battle I could not win.
Thus I lost three notes, and a new round commenced.
This time, I wagered no gold notes.
A single promissory note.
Those who glimpsed the sum inscribed upon it could scarcely contain their astonishment.
Ten gold notes’ worth in value.
Even among the wealthy, few dared stake such an enormous sum. The murmurs of the crowd intensified throughout the hall.
The commotion was such that the Honored Guests engaged in gambling at nearby tables ceased their play.
One by one, they gravitated toward us to witness the spectacle.
Soon, the space surrounding Jin Baek-ryong and myself was so densely packed that not a single foothold remained.
Yet this change in circumstance altered nothing.
Once more I lost ten notes and placed a new promissory note upon the table.
I continued to raise the stakes.
After several rounds, the wager reached thirty notes.
The moment Jin Baek-ryong beheld the promissory note, I observed his pupils quaver for the first time. Though he had engaged in countless games of chance, never before had such vast sums exchanged hands.
Victory would yield considerable profit, yet defeat would exact a terrible price.
No matter how formidable Jin Baek-ryong might be, thirty gold notes represented a blow he could not easily absorb.
He swallowed hard.
Throughout the hall, the sound of dry throats being cleared echoed.
Presently, Jin Baek-ryong revealed his hand, and once again, victory was his.
“Ha… hahaha, I’ve won again, it seems. I scarcely know how to apologize for this.”
Jin Baek-ryong exhaled a breath of relief and wiped the cold sweat from his brow.
Though he had been confident in his victory, the magnitude of the stakes far exceeded his expectations, and even he could not escape the grip of tension.
I gazed quietly at Jin Baek-ryong and the cards laid before us.
After a moment, I closed my eyes and visualized every hand movement he had displayed thus far.
Then, a faint smile escaped my lips.
“So that’s how it’s done.”
“What are you saying? Has the shock knocked you senseless? Hahaha.”
“Knocked me senseless?”
“This amount is enough to uproot even a respectable merchant guild. Hahaha, has the shock addled your mind?”
At those words, I stared blankly at Jin Baek-ryong.
After a moment of thought, I smiled mockingly and placed a single promissory note on the table.
“Huh?!”
“…How much is that?!”
“Insane…!”
The reactions of the onlookers ignited at the sight of the note I had placed.
I could also see Jin Baek-ryong’s eyes trembling before me.
A hundred-tael promissory note guaranteed by the Wunlong Casino.
No matter how wealthy the people gathered here were, it was such an astronomical sum that most had never witnessed it in their entire lives.
It was easily enough to construct an entire palace.
Jin Baek-ryong’s expression and trembling eyes spoke volumes.
I gazed at him with contempt.
“…Who are you?”
Jin Baek-ryong bit his lip and looked directly at me.
In the Central Plains, only a handful of people casually carried promissory notes worth a hundred taels of gold.
It was impossible even for someone like Jin Baek-ryong.
His gaze fixed intently on the note.
Though suspicion flickered in his eyes—wondering if it might be 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 began shuffling the deck slowly.
“Will you play or fold?”
A nod.
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-tael note onto the table.
I regarded Jin Baek-ryong with a contemptuous gaze.
As he racked his brain trying to deduce my identity, he had missed his last chance to escape.
In the end, he wagered everything he possessed.
“That’s not enough.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t have any 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?
He repeated the action once more.
Instead, I refused the new hand and turned my gaze back toward Jin Baek-ryong.
It was a signal—if you want what you’ve drawn, reveal it.
Did that look in my eyes displease him?
Jin Baek-ryong’s brow furrowed, yet his eyes gleamed with the certainty of victory as he exposed his cards.
“…The Linked Swords.”
Five consecutive numbers followed.
Ohhh—
The roaring cheers erupting from every corner made it clear how rare such a hand truly was.
Jin Baek-ryong, too, seemed assured of his victory, his eyes alight with exultation as he regarded me.
Watching him, I began to flip my five cards one by one.
The first card was a One.
As I flipped the second card, it too was a One.
The moment they saw this, Jin Baek-ryong and everyone else wore a subtle smile, sensing my defeat.
At best, a pair of swords.
Clearly insignificant compared to the Linked Swords.
But the instant I revealed the third card, silence fell.
Another One.
“Surely not?!”
Gu Gunbaek, who stood 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.

A One.

“What?!”
“Is, is this real?”
Even those who had been sneering began to shift their expressions.
The commotion swelled, and all eyes converged upon me in an instant.
In proportion, Jin Baek-ryong’s eyes trembled violently, and cold sweat began to drip down his face.
I took in that sight, smirked, and then.
Revealed the final card.

A King.

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

The Five Heavenly Kings.

The finest hand that could emerge from a deck of cards, with odds so slim it was practically impossible. Among forty-one cards, there was only a single royal flush.
“Hahahaha! You absolute madman! You actually pulled it off!”
“So all of this is ours now, right?!”
Gu Gunbaek burst into raucous laughter and slapped my back repeatedly.
Thump, thump—
Though the strikes were light, they stung with considerable force.
Meanwhile, Jang Chuchyeong beside me, unable to contain his joy, bounced excitedly and swept up all the betting slips and gold notes scattered across the table.
Just then, with a thunderous crash, Jin Baek-ryong shot to his feet.
“This is fraud! This is cheating!”
“What do you mean by cheating?”
“Such an impossible outcome….”
“Is it fraud just because you lost?”
“Ugh…!”
In that instant, Jin Baek-ryong seemed to sense danger and hesitated, taking a step back. Apparently realizing the situation was turning peculiar, his bodyguards cautiously 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-flicking strike had caught one of the guards squarely.
Fortunately, he hadn’t put enough force to tear the man’s head clean off, but the guard’s body still flew like a puppet, crashing into the corner.
“Who do you think you are, reaching for your swords before me?”
It wasn’t only Gu Gunbaek who moved.
Jang Chuchyeong, as if he’d been waiting for this moment, threw his fists forward and knocked two more guards down, displaying considerable destructive power, though not quite matching Gu Gunbaek’s.
As a result, three guards lay sprawled across the floor in utter defeat.
The remaining bodyguards froze in place, unable to move.
From what unfolded before their eyes alone, they could sense that these two men’s power far exceeded their own.
Confirming this, I rose from my seat.
Then I slowly approached Jin Baek-ryong.
He stumbled backward, his feet catching on something, and he fell hard on his rear.
I crouched before him and reached out, grabbing his clothing.
Riiiiip—!
“…!?”
All the spectators’ expressions turned to shock at this sudden turn of events.
Naturally, since I had forcibly torn the clothes right off his body.
“Bring me brush and ink.”
At my command, Jang Chuchyeong hastily moved.
He pushed past the surrounding people, rummaging through various corners of the gambling hall until he finally discovered brush and ink, then hurried back with them in hand.
I took up the brush and began writing characters upon the torn fabric, and once finished, I thrust it before Jin Baek-ryong with a smile.
“Bring the remaining money by this time tomorrow. For each day you’re late, the interest compounds at four percent. Sign it.”
“…You absolute madman…!”
I sneered at the sight of Jin Baek-ryong’s bloodshot eyes glaring at me, then reached out my hand once more.
In an instant, I seized his face.
Crack!
The mask that seemed impossible to remove began shattering with a sound, and simultaneously, Jin Baek-ryong’s agonized screams pierced the air.
“Aaaaaaahhhhh-!”
Crash!
Finally, his mask shattered into fragments and fell away.
As his face was revealed, the people around us gasped in shock.
Though they dared not speak it aloud, there was not a soul who wouldn’t recognize that face.
“…Nakhyang.”
“Shh!”
Someone attempted to mention the Nakhyang Jin Family and Jin Baek-ryong’s name, but those beside him hastily silenced them, clamping their mouths shut and turning away.
Concealing one’s identity in Dowon Village held tremendous advantage.
The moment one dons a mask, desires that couldn’t be revealed outside could be laid bare, yet no one would know their true identity, so there was nothing to fear.
But if that 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 fabric before him again, demanding his signature, he finally bowed his head and signed.
Now, this wretch could not hide behind his mask and flee.
“Excellent.”
I secured the signed fabric and rose from my seat.
As I turned my back and proceeded toward the exit, I saw the people blocking the path hastily step aside to both sides.
It felt much like the procession of an Emperor.
As I walked after leaving the gambling hall.
I noticed a group of people whispering in hushed voices before the Auction House not far away.
Even from their eyes alone, they appeared quite serious.
I quietly lent them my ear.
“Have you heard? They say that item will be auctioned off tomorrow.”
“That item?”
“You know. …the Divine Doctor’s.”
“What?! Truly?”
As I turned over their words in my mind, 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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