I never expected the members of the Dark Dragon Sect to take me to Julu instead of heading directly to their main hall.
The moment I saw Julu, my head started spinning.
Right, it really doesn’t make sense for a newbie sect member to get involved in a faction-level conflict.
One of the higher-ups had dispatched his subordinates to capture me.
If I were to write a scenario…
They must have held a welcome party for new recruits at Julu.
[But one person is absent? What’s going on?]
[Sniff, sniff, One of the executives, yesterday that guy from the Yongji Maeng vaporized our new recruit, U-reung. He really wanted to join the Dark Dragon Sect…]
[What?! Something like that happened? There’s someone who touched our family? You guys! Go bring him here right now!]
It must have felt something like this.
The situation was much better than I had expected.
“Come in!”
Alright, I will come in.
I last checked my angles, thinking that if it really felt wrong, I would just bite down hard and flee to Bicheongmacha, but this felt doable.
The Dark Dragon Sect members pretended there was something serious going on, but in reality, they were having a good drink at Julu welcoming the new recruits. In the end, that executive must have called me to maintain his face, so let’s give him a proper show.
With a drink in me, if I made a sincere apology and displayed some martial arts flair, the average guy would probably be blown away.
If all goes well, I might even form a connection with a higher-up from the Dark Dragon Sect, and that could open the door for me to join.
Thinking that, I entered.
Creeeak.
The quietness inside the inn was so profound I could hear the floor creaking, and seeing the frozen newcomers told me things had gone sideways.
“We’ve caught him!”
“Bring him up.”
The guy behind me poked me in the back with a scabbard. It was slightly unpleasant, but I swallowed my discomfort and went up to the second floor.
On the second floor, a stunning beauty sat in a chair with her legs crossed.
The moment I saw her, I realized who she was.
“Best Beauty in Yunnan” Dokgo I-seol.
A Peak Expert and the daughter of the Black Cloak, Dokgo Yingzhe.
…I clearly heard she declared she wouldn’t get involved in the Dark Dragon Sect’s affairs, enjoying a quiet life away from the power struggles. So why is she involved in welcoming new recruits?
“I am Dokgo I-seol.”
“I’m from Yongji Maeng.”
“Right, Yongji Maeng, do you know why you’ve been summoned here?”
“I don’t know.”
“How dare! That guy…!”
Dokgo I-seol held out her hand to stop her seething subordinate, a thin smile on her lips.
“Don’t know, don’t know… Do you remember a guy named U-reung?”
“I remember. We crossed paths yesterday.”
“That U-reung was a prospective member of the Black Dragon Sect.”
How should I respond? I recalled information about I-seol. According to what I knew, she was genuinely an authentic outcast. She revered the law of the strong and didn’t abide by laws but adhered strictly to her own principles.
To think the esteemed individual here was Dokgo I-seol. Honestly, I was taken aback by the unexpected appearance, but I focused my gaze firmly on her.
If I ran away, it would lead me to Bicheongmacha anyway.
I’ll have to give it a shot.
“I had no idea that the Black Dragon Sect cared even for foreigners before membership.”
“Oh…?”
I noticed her eyes gleaming. I sensed the tension from her subordinates rise and quelled my anxiety.
“I won’t go into the details of who started the conflict or why it happened. If a martial artist draws a weapon to duel, isn’t it their responsibility to bear the results?”
“Huhuhu!”
Dokgo I-seol chuckled lightly. Perhaps she found interest in my defense.
“You’re quite spirited. Yes, you’re right. A martial artist should take responsibility for their actions.”
Dokgo I-seol crossed her legs and continued.
“Therefore, you’ll have to pay the price for disrupting the Black Dragon Sect’s event.”
“That’s unreasonable.”
I boldly countered her statement.
“Didn’t you just say a martial artist should take responsibility for their actions? Then the reason U-reung is not a new recruit is his own responsibility, so why ask me?”
“Unreasonable…”
Dokgo I-seol spoke in a relaxed tone.
“Alright. If you can’t accept it, let’s place a wager with my lady.”
Oh no.
What she meant by that wager was definitely a ploy to rationalize something nonsensical.
Now, her actions seemed like an expert challenging a novice with the line, “If you can take my three strikes, I’ll spare you!” She believed she could suppress me with just a single strike, hence pretending to give me a chance.
It was obvious she’d propose a bet I could never win.
Though she might look like she was establishing her own grounds, all she was doing was using her strength to intimidate.
“Seems you’re quite capable, but you aren’t a match for my lady…”
Dokgo I-seol was indeed a beauty fit for the title “Best Beauty in Yunnan”. But the way she swayed the fan in her hand while contemplating her little underhanded tactics was more irritating than beautiful.
I really wanted to give her a smack.
“Yet making a duel with conditions would be rather undignified…”
Enjoying devising a plan to deal with me, I kept my eyes sharp, monitoring the nearby windows, making sure to be ready to leap out at the moment she made some ridiculous suggestion. I wasn’t sure if my gang could coordinate in time, but that option was definitely better than accepting a nonsensical wager.
“Alright, this will be suitable.”
Dokgo I-seol’s gaze fell toward a corner of the first floor. In my current state, I wouldn’t see that spot unless I turned around to look down. With a satisfied smile, it seemed she was coming up with some devilish idea.
I need to bail…
Just as I thought and tensed my legs.
“I may not engage in gambling, but I do know how to roll the dice.”
…Huh?
Dokgo I-seol masked her smile with her fan.
“Let’s settle it with a dice game.”
The tension in my legs instantly faded.
*
“The conditions are simple. You will win by defeating everyone here in a dice game. If you lose even once, I win, and if you win against everyone, you win.”
“That’s unfair.”
“Indeed. It’s a special consideration just for you.”
Dokgo I-seol lightly retorted at Ho Cheon-an’s words.
“If you wish to leave this inn, you will have to face everyone here. Just arranging a one-on-one match is a significant favor, keep that in mind.”
Ho Cheon-an stared at Dokgo I-seol and silently nodded.
“Fine.”
A table was placed in the center of the first floor, with a single die on it.
Dokgo I-seol observed the scene from the second floor.
Her subordinates lined up behind her, and the newcomers, showing nervousness as they continuously swallowed nervously while Ho Cheon-an remained nonchalant.
Watching Ho Cheon-an, Dokgo I-seol thought.
‘He is indeed enticing.’
She realized from the moment Ho Cheon-an stepped into the inn that he was an expert.
He was the kind of Peak Martial Artist trained to this level in this town.
A vibrant gait. A well-toned physique. Controlled qi. His serene gaze was even harder to decipher. Having only waited for the runts, now that she met a proper martial artist, Ho Cheon-an’s presence loomed larger in her mind.
‘And I also admire his temperament.’
Dokgo I-seol reflected on the reactions of the other guys she had seen. Usually, they gazed at her in a daze, attempting to capture any little detail of her beauty in their memories.
But Ho Cheon-an’s reactions were strikingly different from the others.
Throughout their interaction, he barely acknowledged her beauty, only focusing on assessing the surrounding threats.
That behavior struck a chord with Dokgo I-seol.
‘How long has it been since a man showed no sign of being fazed by my presence?’
While the command to capture Ho Cheon-an had initially been a means to manifest her power before the underlings below, those thoughts had long since fled her mind.
The value of Ho Cheon-an in front of her surpassed that of the nineteen below combined.
Dokgo I-seol wanted to take Ho Cheon-an as her subordinate.
“Start!”
“Yes, yes…!”
With the shout of I-seol’s subordinate, the nervous newbie sect member rolled the dice. The twenty-sided die rolled across the table. The number the die landed on was…
“15?”
“It might end on the first round.”
The game was straightforward; the higher number wins when rolling the die. Yet a high number came up right from the start.
Dokgo I-seol watched Ho Cheon-an with an easy gaze.
In her mind, Ho Cheon-an’s defeat was only a matter of time.
There were forty members of the Dark Dragon Sect in this inn. Even if luck was on his side, beating all forty didn’t seem plausible at all.
Dokgo I-seol planned to require Ho Cheon-an to become her subordinate for losing the wager.
‘Better to come under me than remain a drifter without backing.’
She glanced at her subordinates. Instead of wasting time over power struggles in the sect, one by one, they each became Peak Experts. Among them were many who had come to serve I-seol by similar means as Ho Cheon-an, but now they were all loyal subordinates.
Dokgo I-seol was sure Ho Cheon-an would be no different.
‘Yongji Maeng’
Turning her thoughts over that name while watching Ho Cheon-an handle the die, she felt excited.
‘I look forward to the day you kneel and pledge your loyalty before me.’
While Dokgo I-seol was lost in her sweet daydream of Ho Cheon-an as her subordinate, he rolled the dice.
