Then why are you furiously robbing the gambling house today?
I couldn’t afford to pick and choose anymore.
Once Miss Yeo Il-ye digests her realization, she becomes a Peak Expert. And how much of an expert is a Peak Expert? Even if I were safely tucked away in the deepest part of the Outcast Inn, if Yeo Il-ye drew her sword and barged in, it would be entirely possible for her to kill me and flee.
I couldn’t trust the nest called the Outcast Inn and stay coiled up inside anymore.
“Die.”
I would die because my intuition didn’t activate.
[[Gambling Technique: Intuition] has been activated.]
A baseless certainty of a pair overwhelmed me.
“A gold coin on the pair.”
[The proficiency of intuition increases.]
The condition for increasing proficiency is simple: win money following the guidance of intuition.
The answer as to why I couldn’t succeed in this seemingly simple technique until now is also straightforward.
“I’m dead.”
[The proficiency of intuition slightly decreases.]
If I lose money when intuition doesn’t kick in, the proficiency decreases.
Only by winning money through intuition can this proficiency show an upward trend.
That’s why I decided to make a big scene today.
I intentionally clung to gamblers to force them to lose money. To bring better gamblers to the table. To summon sacrifices that would provide me more experience overnight.
Could it be a troubleshooter called by Master of the Video Tower? The training stat for intuition was visibly skyrocketing.
“Wow, the pairs are aligning perfectly.”
On the surface, I appeared utterly disinterested in gambling, but when there was a chance, I showed a miserable spectacle, scratching my body. Occasionally, when an alluring tribesman passed by, I’d glance in that direction.
[Proficiency of intuition 97.84%]
Right now, my life is on the line.
All of this was a scheme to provoke the gambler before my eyes into losing his rationality.
“Better to bite my tongue and die than to avoid a fair fight with a guy like you!”—that sentiment was a desperate fanning of my sense of crisis.
Whenever my intuition rang, if that gambler didn’t follow with a bet of 7 coins, mastering intuition that night would be difficult.
[Gambling Technique: Psychological Insight] whispered that if I showed this apathetic demeanor, my opponent would be all the more eager to pounce on me.
[Gambling Technique: Hand Skill] staged the most effective movements to provoke my opponent.
With [Gambling Technique: Iron Mask], I concealed my anxiety that Yeo Il-ye might be weaving through the alleys of Sacheon to absorb her realizations and come to kill me.
[[Gambling Technique: Intuition] has been activated.]
“1 gold coin. Pair.”
“7 gold coins! Open!”
[Proficiency of intuition increases.]
[Proficiency of intuition 98.14%]
“Damn it! What the hell!”
“Hehe, hihihih.”
I strained every effort to grip and shake my opponent’s psychology. The flow of this game was gradually tilting in my favor. In fact, rather than a flow, you could say that fortune was temporarily leaning my way. Intuition is a skill with a very low activation probability from the start.
After all, the activation probability translates into an equivalent increase in win rate—it’s a scam skill.
Could it be that Lady Luck is smiling upon me today as that low probability hits consecutively?
But it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.
When great fortune strikes in succession, even a person with rage can start feeling anxious.
After losing 21 gold coins in an instant, the gambler’s expression revealed the return of his lost rationality.
‘…I have no choice, huh?’
Even if proficiency took a hit, better to hand over some money. I had to let that gambler have the flow once; otherwise, he might collapse entirely.
“1 gold coin on the hole!”
“1 gold coin on the pair.”
As I followed the gambler’s first bet, his gaze turned sharp. Did he think that this was a crucial moment? The gambler boldly tossed in 2 gold coins. I was also willing to lose, so I went along with it.
“…Open!”
But it was a hole.
What the hell?
Aren’t you supposed to know how to bet, you jerk?
*
Miss Yeo Il-ye stared vacantly ahead.
Before her stood a grand estate. In spring, cherry blossoms bloomed abundantly, and in autumn, colorful leaves adorned the estate vibrantly.
The estate was vast and beautiful, and within it, Yeo Il-ye lived her days in grace.
That peace and comfort evaporated in just one night.
Upon hearing news of bandits rampaging nearby, her father, who had hired the outcasts, was killed by their blade. Her mother became a plaything for such outcasts and was murdered.
Looking down, she saw her young self curled up in the secret vault of the basement.
Because she had been curled up in the vault, she had never seen the scene of the mansion burning before her eyes.
“Only when iron cools can it be completed.”
Can she shake it off? Even now, when she closes her eyes, those memories spring vividly. Is it possible to truly become calm after shedding this fear? Can she extinguish this fire of wrath?
The fire engulfing the vast estate soared high into the sky. It looked less like flames from a fire scene and more like a pillar of fire. Seeing it surpassing the Dao, Yeo Il-ye realized this was the very essence of her inner self—something burning without purpose.
By the time Yeo Il-ye entered the Jeomchang Faction through the hand of a friend and finished her rigorous training to become an official disciple, all means to pursue those outcasts had long since vanished.
‘Was it just reckless anger?’
Outcasts are trash. Even though she knew it was part of a process of self-reflection, Yeo Il-ye did not deny that fact. Sometimes, they morphed into bandits, and at other times, into thieves.
But how about in Sacheon? Didn’t they voluntarily soak themselves in disgrace and blood to grab money?
Having condemned the tribe of outcasts was a decision without a hint of shame.
If anyone was worthy of shame, it was only one person.
The nameless outcast who conveyed the philosophy of the unlearning.
That outcast had tried to kill her while framing her for things she hadn’t done.
Yet, outcasts were still trash.
They were the rats who would do anything for money. Those who lacked even the bare minimum of mindset one should have when refining martial arts.
But now she knows.
Or maybe she has known since long ago.
They appeared as outcasts.
But the likelihood of them being real outcasts is high.
The terror that had burned down her home enveloped Yeo Il-ye. Strangely, Yeo Il-ye felt a sense of relief. Yes, let’s start over from the beginning. Iron must heat up to shape it. So let’s just burn it all and reshape it.
Straighten out something that has melted into a horrid mass. The grotesquely melted blob re-forms. Accordingly, Yeo Il-ye’s inner self began to change rapidly. Yeo Il-ye’s burned-down house would never return to its original state. Yet, new things accumulated atop it.
A completely different form began to fill her mind.
The flames gradually waned. Nothing is eternal. The fire, exhausted from the effort to stabilize its shape, slowly weakens. Everything in the world has its rise and fall, and as the unrestrained frenzy that had sustained the fire dwindled, it extinguishes according to the truth.
Only then did Yeo Il-ye realize. The reason this flame of anger and hatred had continued from her childhood to now was that she hadn’t used it properly.
She had contorted the limbs of outcasts under the name of justice, but that, in fact, was nothing more than an act of futility.
The basement where young Yeo Il-ye had been also begins to disappear little by little.
Yeo Il-ye felt her gaze meeting her younger self. In the narrow space of the basement, she saw her young self staring back at her. Was it desire that filled those eyes? Was it resentment or hatred?
Or was it disappointment?
Yet, Yeo Il-ye calmly took one last look at that young self.
“Farewell. My young self.”
Everything in the world has its rise and fall, and transforms.
It was time for her to change from the young Yeo Il-ye into another Yeo Il-ye.
When she opened her eyes, she was back in the alleys of Sacheon.
“物極必反 火煉冷鍛.”
She thought of the nameless outcast. Who was he? Was he really the one who wields the True Twelve Dragon Swords? What relation does he have with the Nangya Sword? Perhaps he is Nangya Sword itself.
She had reached the Peak Stage.
Yeo Il-ye clearly realized that fact. The world had become unfathomably clear. Her inner power was snowballing even at this moment. The moment this snowball stops rolling, an unprecedented might that yesterday’s Yeo Il-ye could not even imagine will be grasped in her hands. Yeo Il-ye gazed down at the sword in her grasp.
“Ha…”
She had surpassed Hyeok Gi-rin of Okryong Sinhyeop, whom she so wished to surpass. But Yeo Il-ye didn’t mind one bit. What was the reason she wanted to surpass Hyeok Gi-rin? Was it not to cast aside the twisted murderous intent that had constantly hindered her from swinging her sword?
Now, that didn’t matter anymore.
Yes, now it truly doesn’t matter.
Yeo Il-ye has acquired a new goal.
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