There was always a sky above the sky, and there were Suzhou and Hangzhou on the land.
Hangzhou was a city worthy of being called heaven on earth due to its beautiful scenery. However, the true value of Hangzhou was revealed after the sun that shone on the beautiful scenery slowly disappeared behind the mountains.
A city that never slept.
When the five-colored lanterns hanging on every street brighten the darkness, the splendid night of Hangzhou, said to be where all the joys of the world gather, begins.
The bustling voices of those who filled the streets.
The laughter of those who flocked to the stalls on every street.
And somewhere, the sound of the zither played by a courtesan and the beautiful singing of a song mix and flow.
That place was Hangzhou.
But a place was not always everything that was seen on the outside.
Entering the small alley next to the magnificent main street, the world that was as bright as day slowly vanished, and only a dark and gloomy alley greeted the visitor.
It was a completely different world from the one just a few steps away. Even the most seasoned Hangzhou soldiers and officials wouldn't dare to enter there without a certain level of determination.
The first thing you saw when you entered the alley was the sight of people with dangerous eyes gathered in groups of three or four, smoking.
Bright light created deep darkness, too.
Naturally, Hangzhou's night streets, the most splendid in the world, had a darker side than any other city.
As you went further down the alley, small doors that would never be noticeable from the outside came into view.
When you passed the guards and entered the door, you could see the inside filled with thick smoke.
A musty smell that would make the bones ache and face contort, and heat that caused subtle discomfort. A place where angry, despair-filled screams and firecrackers like cheers containing all the joy in the world coexisted.
This was a gambling hall in Hangzhou.
Five men were sitting in the center of the highest stakes gambling hall in Hangzhou, the Joyous Harmony Hall.
Tak!
The man who threw down the cards smiles triumphantly.
"I won."
"Damn it."
"He is sweeping it all away."
The man with his hand extended sweeps away all the silver piled on the board towards him.
"You seem to be lucky today."
"… enough as much as you want, because you will leave empty-handed."
"It would be nice if we could at least get out safe with our heads attached, right?"
Threatening words came forth, but the man didn't care. No one was allowed to use violence within the gambling hall. That was the principle of the Black Ghost Tower who ran this hall.
Even the notorious leaders of the Evil Faction, the high-ranking officials who visit them, and the merchants dressed in long robes to kill time never break the principle.
If anyone broke the principle, the Black Ghost Tower would chase them to the end of hell and kill them by peeling their skin off.
The man's mouth twitched as he looked at the piles of silver coins, which were so thick that he couldn't even organize them.
Those who hung around the gambling tables knew the nature of gambling better than anyone else. There was no such thing as an eternal winner at a table. These silver coins, which were piled now, could vanish from their grasp in just one game.
Even knowing that, those who couldn't forget the thrill of a single victory were the ones who risked everything they had here, fearing the slap of a whistle.
But…
"Heheheh."
A bitter laugh escaped the man's mouth again.
Even at a gambling table, there were times when an absolute win was guaranteed. That was when a rich kid who didn't even know what gambling was got involved in it.
The man glanced up and looked at the person sitting across from him.
A red-colored long coat, which looked ominous at first glance. His longer hair, which looked like it was never combed properly, was disheveled, and his lips, visible under the hair which half covered his face, were dry and cracked.
Although he had a strangely eerie expression, the man did not feel any threat from the person sitting in front of him.
'That stupid brat.'
It was obvious that he had come to gamble with the money he had saved. Judging from his calm demeanor, he seemed to have some skills as a wandering warrior, but that was about it.
Whether one was a skilled warrior or a world-renowned warrior, one would not dare to cause trouble in this gambling hall. If you did, you would become a cold corpse before you could even raise your voice properly and rot away in a back alley of Hangzhou.
No, even if you didn't have the protection of the Black Ghost Tower, it would be the same.
The man didn't need help from others.
That was because he was none other than the Black Ghost Tower's Hangzhou branch leader, Chae Gyu, the Black-Hearted God of Death.
"Come on, if you want to get your lost money back, let us start the next round quickly."
"Tsk."
The men threw five pieces of silver each at the center of the round table. Chae Gyu, who won, began to gather the coins and shuffle the cards.
"Eh. Third branch leader."
The person sitting next to him asks.
"What are the higher-ups planning to do?"
"What?"
"I mean the Yangtze River case."
Instead of answering, the man bit his long bamboo pipe with a trembling face. The pure white smoke escaped up from his mouth.
"Alliance lord… no, Jang Ilso is doing that, and we are just going to watch?"
"Why are you asking me that? What does a mere branch leader know?"
"But you know better than I."
"Stop talking nonsense. From where the hell do you think you are bringing up the stories from outside into the sacred game of gambling?"
"Tsk."
The man leaned back in the chair with a displeased look. Only smoke came from the bamboo pipe that he was smoking.
"Here, take the cards."
Clak!
Chae Gyu, who had dealt the cards, turned over one of the cards in the center.
"A reverse."
Those sitting at the round table exchanged the cards. A moderate battle of wits and a subtle tension. Chae Gyu picked up a handful of silver coins in front of him and threw them into the center.
"10 coins."
"Damn it… coming out so hard from the start. I will be dead."
"I will follow the same."
Chae Gyu's gaze then turned to the wandering warrior across from him. The warrior, who seemed to be slightly worried about his cards, nodded slightly and pushed all the coins in front of him.
Drrrk.
Chae Gyu's eyes were filled with greed as he saw the coins pile up. The money gathered there alone would be his annual salary.
"Right, let us open the cards."
"I will open three."
The man sitting to the left opens the cards with slightly trembling hands. The warrior on the other side also opens his cards.
"Four."
As the warrior's hand went to the silver pile in the center, Chae Gyu reached out and grabbed his hand.
"…."
"You are being too hasty."
Chae Gyu tapped his cards with his free hand. The cards that fell to the left were five. Chae Gyu won.
"Hahaha. I am sorry, what should I do, sir?"
Chae Gyu swept all the silver cards in front of him.
"It seems like your luck was pretty good at first."
"That is how it is with gambling."
"If you continue, you end up losing stuff in one go. That is gambling."
The people sitting to the left and right spoke calmly. Chae Gyu quickly sorted out the pair of cards and three 5 coins to the center.
Clank. Clank.
The coins flew in from the left and right, but the wandering warrior sitting across from him didn't move his hand.
"…What is it, sir, out of money?"
"Then you should get up. There are a lot of people willing to sit there."
The tip of the warrior's chin moved slightly. Chae Gyu could see the contorted eyes of the warrior despite the hair covering his face.
The warrior, who has been silent till then, slowly puts his hand into his pocket. Chae Gyu's eyes grew dim.
'This bastard?'
He thought that the guy would cause a scene, and that was the moment when he decided to be on guard.
Tak!
Suddenly, a bundle of papers that the warrior took out of his pocket fell to the center of the table.
"… what is this?"
"It is a money slip."
"Money slip? Why is it yellow? It seems like it has been decades since…"
"How much is all that? What nonsense?"
As Chae Gyu looks at him with shocked eyes, the wandering warrior's dark lips slowly open.
"Can I put that as a stake?"
"… wait a minute."
Chae Gyu briefly apologized and raised his voice.
"Yah, fucking rat bastard!"
As soon as he said that, a rat-faced man who was handling the tables, wandering around here and there, ran to Chae Gyu.
"What's the matter, sir?"
"Look at that. Can you exchange that slip?"
"Slip? Ah, this…"
The rat-faced man quickly checked it with narrowed eyes.
"It is a slip from the Continental Golden Hall. But it was issued… over a hundred years back."
"Can it, or can it not?"
"Of course it can, but I cannot give a full price for this. We also have to sell this and… will give a fair price."
Chae Gyu gestured to the warrior.
"So?"
The warrior nodded faintly if it didn't matter.
Chae Gyu felt strangely uncomfortable at that reaction but decided to ignore it.
"Then I will exchange it for silver. This seems like a lot."
"No."
At that moment, for the first time, negative words came out of the warrior's mouth.
"Uh? Any problem…"
"Let us go with silver coins."
"Uh, you want silver coins?"
The man slowly nodded. Then he slowly raised his head and looked at Chae Gyu.
"Raise the stakes."
"… with one big silver coin?"
"Yes."
One silver coin was worth fifty copper coins. This guy had just raised the stakes 50-fold in an instant. If it were normal, even Chae Gyu wouldn't have been able to interfere.
But Chae Gyu's eyes were filled with greed that couldn't be hidden now.
'This wanderer seems to have turned in from somewhere. He crawled in here like a fool.'
This was a place where only the best of the best gathered in Hangzhou. It wasn't their business to rob a kid who didn't even know what a gamble was. It might be dangerous if it were a game of luck, but this was a place where luck had no place to interfere.
"Yah, you are really angry, I see. Okay! I will change mine to silver."
"… The stakes are too much. I don't have money for that."
"I will lend you money, so don't even think about running away."
"Damn it. It isn't just about getting your underwear robbed, it is about costing you your life."
The people at the table also pretend to joke around and join in the stakes. Who would turn down the chance to win so much money?
Those who were filled with greed pulled their chairs closer. When the stakes changed to silver coins, those whose eyes quickly turned fierce began to mix cards.
In this gloomy gambling table, only the warrior wearing a red robe watched everyone with indifferent eyes, unchanged from the start.
Despair and joy, fear and ecstasy. At the end of the world, all those emotions mixed and swirled.