Heavenly Demon Wi Ji-cheon.
Indeed, he was an opponent that could definitely be called a strong rival.
With a martial arts realm that was certainly more advanced than mine, and a psychology that I couldn’t possibly penetrate.
On top of that, an understanding and experience of Martial Arts Gambling Technique that was only useful in this Demon Sect.
But that’s not all.
He had thoroughly researched and analyzed me.
And based on that analysis, he had sharply struck at my weaknesses.
I was taken aback by such an onslaught from Wi Ji-cheon.
It was the first time I had ever been so thoroughly analyzed and countered.
Wi Ji-cheon was confident in his superiority, and I, in my inferiority.
And Wi Ji-cheon’s judgment was correct. My gambling skills honed over six months. While he had an unreadable mind, he was diligently learning about me and leveraging the overwhelming gap in martial arts to gain an advantage in Martial Arts Gambling Technique.
I was at a disadvantage, while Wi Ji-cheon was at an advantage.
Where does this disparity come from?
It all came down to understanding.
Heavenly Demon Wi Ji-cheon understood and grasped much about me, but did I truly understand even a fraction of who Heavenly Demon Wi Ji-cheon was?
I did not.
That’s why I tossed the bet.
I tossed the bet to probe into Wi Ji-cheon’s heart.
I chose all-in on the gambling board.
I also went all-in on the dice board.
To see through his inner thoughts, I threw 200 chips, but perhaps that was insufficient.
Wi Ji-cheon did not flinch.
My chips became 100, while Wi Ji-cheon’s became 500.
Even in this overwhelmingly disadvantageous situation, with only the outcome of the gambling left, I couldn’t read even a fragment of Wi Ji-cheon’s inner thoughts.
I hadn’t given up, but as a part of my mind began to imagine the scene of my brain crystal, with its limbs, saying goodbye to the mortal realm, Wi Ji-cheon began to unleash his signature move, Gang-hwan, covering my view with Martial Arts Gambling Technique.
And.
As the Martial Arts Gambling Technique utilizing Gang-hwan unfolded, I suddenly saw the ‘gap’ I had been waiting for.
Why did Wi Ji-cheon take out his signature move at this very moment?
With 100 chips against 500 chips.
In a situation where he was overwhelming me, why would he suddenly use a technique that could be called his trump card?
The answer was simple.
Because he judged that I was cornered.
Having shown an all-in twice, he thought it wouldn’t be strange for me to go all-in the moment the gambling started.
I questioned myself.
Am I, Ho Cheon-an, truly cornered right now?
The answer was simple.
No.
I was not in a crisis.
I was merely ‘a bit’ at a disadvantage.
And that disadvantage was just an annoying label that always followed gamblers searching for a gambling board.
What kind of place is a gambling board?
It was a place hell-bent on extorting other people’s money.
Was there ever a gambler who loses money while playing in a market’s gambling scene?
Using skills, gambling tools, or whatever means necessary, gamblers are those who struggle to get the money on the table into their own pockets.
Only someone who practices skills alone is privileged.
They lay out their board with every tom, dick, and harry to catch a fish, and it’s not uncommon to use cheating tools or shake the board from the outside.
I was someone who navigated through such boards countless times.
Compared to such boards, being a little behind in a clean one-on-one showdown against Wi Ji-cheon was merely a “little disadvantage,” and by no means could be called a crisis.
My mind was racing.
The misjudgment shown by Wi Ji-cheon. To drive a wedge into the sole gap that the Heavenly Demon had shown.
Was that the only basis on which Wi Ji-cheon determined my current situation to be a ‘crisis’?
Crack!
While following the nimble movements of Wi Ji-cheon, who was rushing towards the peak, I simultaneously searched for another basis.
Observing Wi Ji-cheon’s hands, barely visible behind Gang-hwan, familiar techniques came to my mind.
My techniques.
Seeing Wi Ji-cheon mimicking my techniques, I suddenly thought.
How does Wi Ji-cheon perceive me?
In that moment, I realized another basis for Wi Ji-cheon’s belief that I would feel ‘crisis.’
Wi Ji-cheon, who had meticulously prepared countermeasures against me, had undoubtedly thoroughly investigated my past.
I didn’t know how deeply Wi Ji-cheon dug into my past, but one thing was clear.
From the moment I engaged in gambling with the spirit of the Video Tower, the track of my actions revealed me to be the Invincible Gambler.
Even if he dug into my past of living as a Sacheon Outcast, becoming empty-handed every day, it would have been packaged as the deep intention of a Qi Person hiding his gambling prowess.
But was that truly the case?
During my training in gambling, there were indeed days when I had plenty of money but intentionally lost and came out empty-handed.
However, the times I had come out truly broke, having lost every bit of money, were far more frequent.
My purpose for going to the gambling house was training in gambling.
I boldly challenged gamblers with better skills than mine and lost.
My record before mastering gambling skills was utterly pathetic.
It was an everyday occurrence for me to leave the gambling house, broke and ridiculed by people who overestimated their abilities.
Could Wi Ji-cheon have suspected that such times existed for me?
Did he think I possessed immense Loss Resilience?
He did not.
To Wi Ji-cheon, I was the ‘Invincible Gambler.’
He likely thought my Loss Resilience was low and judged that I would feel a sense of crisis at this moment, hence used his signature move to drive a wedge into me.
And a signature technique inevitably shows gaps.
Boom!
Wi Ji-cheon’s mistake in misjudging my capabilities. And the small gaps that inevitably appeared due to his signature technique.
With those two overlapping, a hole was drilled into Wi Ji-cheon’s impregnable defense.
Tap.
Through the small gap, seeing Wi Ji-cheon’s clear intent, I opened my mouth without hesitation.
“100 in the center.”
Wi Ji-cheon’s expression remained unchanged, but I could feel it.
Bam!
A crack had formed in Wi Ji-cheon’s impregnable wall.
After organizing the 100 chips, I took hold of the cup and felt certain.
Today’s showdown, marking the end of the past six months.
I had won.
*
“Left.”
“Wrong.”
“Right.”
“Correct.”
“Center.”
“Wrong.”
Wi Ji-cheon scanned his chips with his eyes. The mountain of chips that had loomed like a mountain had drastically decreased.
300 chips.
The game of gambling, which had started with 100 versus 500, was now even.
After my successful Jeon-ip, Wi Ji-cheon began to falter.
Wi Ji-cheon unleashed all the skills he had honed over the past six months, but.
“Center.”
“… Correct.”
All were read by Ho Cheon-an.
“I’ll bet ten on the left.”
The tide of the game began to turn.
‘Why am I being pushed so helplessly?’
Wi Ji-cheon pondered over and over in the ongoing gambling but found no answers.
Only the chips Wi Ji-cheon kept possessing continued to dwindle.
As the chips dropped to 200, one thought became clear in Wi Ji-cheon’s mind.
‘I need to buy time.’
Why was he being pushed so helplessly now? He needed time to find the answer.
For that, there was no choice but to stake a large amount of Military Currency and win.
Swish!
Wi Ji-cheon paused his thoughts and devoted all his attention to deciphering Ho Cheon-an’s movements.
Unlike the underground gamblers or Wi Ji-cheon, Ho Cheon-an had not created his own Martial Arts Gambling Technique.
However, he did apply the essentials of Martial Arts Gambling Technique to his own skills.
Using Qi to implement variables that couldn’t be used in a regular gambling board.
Ho Cheon-an’s techniques were remarkable even before, but now that he had mastered the essence of Martial Arts Gambling Technique, his skills displayed even more rich and dazzling variables.
With all his might, Wi Ji-cheon focused on comprehending those techniques and pondering the variables he couldn’t grasp in his mind.
Tap.
As the cup stopped, Wi Ji-cheon’s pondering deepened.
Left or center?
And how many chips should he place?
Wi Ji-cheon looked down at his chips and abruptly sliced half of them to push into the center of the gambling board.
A total of 100 chips were placed on the board.
“It’s the center.”
In that moment, Ho Cheon-an’s eyebrow shifted slightly. Capturing that sight, Wi Ji-cheon realized what his mistake was.
He judged that Ho Cheon-an’s slight movement of the eyebrow was not a mistake. Because he had confirmed how solid Ho Cheon-an’s fundamentals were daily over the past six months.
Did the previous eyebrow movement influence the game?
No.
Had it been psychological warfare before the decision was made, it would have made sense, but why show it after the choice was made?
Then why did the eyebrow move?
‘Did you have such confidence that I would choose the wrong cup before even I selected it?’
That was a display of calmness.
Though 100 chips were exchanging, it showed a calmness that allowed him to pick up even the smallest things.
As Wi Ji-cheon watched Ho Cheon-an slowly raise the cup, he thought.
‘You’ve never thought you were in crisis from the very beginning, have you?’
Wi Ji-cheon sincerely smiled, revealing his inner thoughts.
What an exceptionally tough guy.
Despite failing at two Jeon-ips and being in a 100 versus 500 situation, even facing Wi Ji-cheon’s signature technique, Ho Cheon-an remained unfazed.
It was then that Wi Ji-cheon finally realized what he had done wrong.
[The efforts of six months of a martial artist discussing the world’s number one, and I will buy it with the skills of the world’s number one gambler.]
‘I haven’t fully acknowledged you.’
Ho Cheon-an called himself the world’s number one gambler, but.
Wi Ji-cheon merely considered Ho Cheon-an a gambler possessing first-class talents.
The weight of the title of the world’s best.
He hastily presumed that he couldn’t bear that weight.
No matter how much he prepared and analyzed, what good was it?
He had left behind a clear gap of not fully acknowledging the opponent.
Ho Cheon-an had indeed discovered and delved into that gap, so his current defeat was only natural.
Confirming that there were no dice in the center cup, Wi Ji-cheon laughed.
Having lost 100 chips, he was relieved that he still had 100 chips remaining.
Wi Ji-cheon opened his mouth, grateful that there was an opportunity left to determine the true victor.
“You are the world’s number one gambler.”
“… Huh?”
Ho Cheon-an showed a confused reaction to Wi Ji-cheon’s seemingly random words. Seeing Ho Cheon-an like that, Wi Ji-cheon chuckled.
“I’m just glad there’s still a chance to have a proper match with a true world’s number one gambler.”
Feeling the focus return to Ho Cheon-an’s gaze, Wi Ji-cheon took the cup and shook it.
Swish swish swish!
A more dynamic and dizzying Gang-hwan unfolded than ever before.
Ka-pow!
In perfect harmony with the movement of Gang-hwan, gambling techniques poured seamlessly.
Wi Ji-cheon’s gambling, that had even sealed every emotional fissure, was more complete than ever.
Tap.
Having showcased all the gambling tricks he was capable of, Wi Ji-cheon felt a sense of relief soaring from deep within.
Having completed a game where he poured out everything, he had no lingering regrets.
Ho Cheon-an observed Wi Ji-cheon’s expression and calmly stated.
“100 in the center.”
Wi Ji-cheon flicked his cup.
There were dice in the center cup.
“Congratulations.”
Wi Ji-cheon laughed heartily and showed Ho Cheon-an the victory sign.
“You won.”
After a long gambling battle of six months.
At the end of a lengthy journey, Ho Cheon-an finally met the conclusion of victory.
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