The Underworld Alliance's main building.

Behind the Alliance Leader's office on the top floor existed a dark room.

Two people who were not yet members of the Underworld Alliance stepped into this space, whose existence was known only to a few people aside from the Alliance Leader.

"You've arrived."

The Peak Master of the Four Emperors Peak, who had been sitting... no, Cha Seokdu, who was now the leader of the Underworld Alliance, rose from his chair.

"I should have gone out to meet you myself. I apologize for the discourtesy."

Cha Seokdu, who had never bowed his head to anyone in his entire life, bowed politely.

"It is fine. Now that your standing has changed, it is your destiny to be heavier in your seat."

"Don't mind it, little brother. If we cared about every little thing like that, we wouldn't have come here in the first place."

Hyeoltu and Yeom Gwibi.

The two sat down before Cha Seokdu, as if they were the masters of this space.

"Have you been well??"

Hyeoltu let out a laugh at Cha Seokdu's question.

"You didn't call us here just to exchange such pleasantries. Get to the point. Why did you summon us?"

"..."

"Are there bastards refusing to listen?"

Cha Seokdu offered a weak smile.

"Doing things I'm not used to is taking quite a toll on me."

"Tsk tsk. Is there any other reason the Underworld has lived being beaten by the Orthodox faction? Still, it looks like you've roughly set up the pillars. It couldn't have come from your own head... you must have had a decent fellow helping you?"

At Hyeoltu's words, which sounded as if he already knew everything, Cha Seokdu obediently nodded.

"I was lucky."

"That too is your fortune."

"Thank you."

Yeom Gwibi, who had been listening from the side, let out a nasal sound, 'Hmph.'

"It's unlikely you called us here to blatantly wreck the place, little brother. Perhaps, are there ones gnawing at the pillars?"

For Cha Seokdu, who had only ever dealt with bastards who only knew how to say 'I eat' or 'I fight,' he somehow felt a sense of refreshing clarity in this stuffy dark room.

He leaned his body further forward and whispered.

"They are meticulous. They are secretly hiding within the faction and leaking information while pretending it is for the Underworld Alliance's benefit."

"It is said that schemes are inherently more terrifying than hidden moves."

Cha Seokdu slightly shook his head and replied.

"It's not at a level we can just overlook."

At Cha Seokdu's attitude, even Hyeoltu hardened his face stiffly.

"Are there any bastards you suspect?"

"I don't even know that much yet."

"Hmm..."

After deliberating, Hyeoltu spoke.

"Then there really isn't much we can do for you right this moment."

"I apologize. I just felt that my mind would be a little more at ease if the two of you came..."

"Heh, now that you're playing politics, you're wielding Orthodox mental arts with your tongue. Hmm..."

After a brief silence, Hyeoltu nodded, having read Cha Seokdu's intentions, and continued his words.

"We will look for them slowly, so do not worry too much."

Cha Seokdu, whose expression brightened significantly at Hyeoltu and Yeom Gwibi's words, finally realized his mistake and opened his mouth.

"I apologize. I only talked about my own matters too much. Was your journey here not exhausting?"

Hyeoltu slightly raised the corners of his mouth.

"It was fine. I met an amusing fellow on the way here."

"I heard you arrived with Jin Sowoon?"

"Yeah. He's an even more amusing fellow than the rumors suggest. Even if the Underworld Alliance actually had a joint successor, I doubt they could match up to him."

Cha Seokdu nodded in agreement.

"He is certainly... a friend with some peculiar traits."

Hyeoltu's expression instantly turned serious as he spoke.

"From what I've heard, you were the one who sent the invitation. What is the reason you went out of your way to do something that wouldn't be good for either you or him?"

"... Have you ever heard of the Underworld Night March?"

Hyeoltu nodded his head.

"Yes. I did hear the absurd rumor that the Black Flame Dragon led the ghosts of the Underworld."

Rumors circulated that the Black Flame Dragon was the one who led the Underworld Night March, which had served as a crucial justification for the formation of the Underworld Alliance, but he hadn't believed them.

Perhaps he could have entrusted his body to that event due to some connection with an Underworld sect, but it wasn't the kind of event a fellow who had just passed twenty could have led.

However, as if to shatter Hyeoltu's assertion, Cha Seokdu shook his head.

"To be honest, that is somewhat true."

"... Eh?"

"... Oh my?"

Hyeoltu and Yeom Gwibi unconsciously shifted in their seats.

Soon after, Cha Seokdu recounted in detail the story of how Jin Sowoon had barged into the Four Emperors Peak during the Murim standard exam.

It was not a short story, yet throughout the entire telling, Hyeoltu and Yeom Gwibi never lost their focus for a single moment.

Having heard the full story, Hyeoltu let out a low groan.

"Hoh... To think he really was the one who led it."

By now, those rumors had faded, and it was known that the one who made the greatest contribution to the formation of the Underworld Alliance was Cha Seokdu himself, but strictly speaking, it was Jin Sowoon who had fired the flare for the Underworld Alliance's formation.

"Thus, I invited him to this founding ceremony."

Hyeoltu asked sharply.

"... Are you placing as much expectation on him as you are on us?"

Cha Seokdu awkwardly scratched the back of his head before speaking.

"How could that be the case, but..."

With a glint in his eyes, he spoke.

"I am expecting something unexpected to happen."

Hyeoltu and Yeom Gwibi shared a strange smile as they met each other's eyes.

"How amusing. A competition with the Black Flame Dragon."

"Hmm... This girl only wants to have a lovers' quarrel with her darling, though."

For a moment, Cha Seokdu wanted to ask who 'darling' referred to, but remembering the flames Yeom Gwibi would hurl at him afterward, he kept his mouth firmly shut.

* * *

The Underworld Alliance's eve festival had an atmosphere closer to the back alleys of a famous tourist city rather than the banquets commonly held by Orthodox sects.

In a word, it was an absolute mess.

"Take your pick, choose anything! It's your loss if you don't, a jackpot if you do! It's not an opportunity that comes around just anytime. The hidden weapons most frequently used in the Underworld Murim..."

From bastards selling hidden weapons in the training ground...

"Now, look forward to this. I'm going to swallow this sword now. You must never copy this!"

To traveling troupes showing off strongman feats in front of martial artists...

"Now! This is not an opportunity that comes every day. This is that very spiritual elixir made by the Mount Tai and North Star of the Orthodox sects, the Shaolin Sect! It's called the Lesser Restoration Pill! To commemorate the Underworld Alliance's founding ceremony, this Lesser Restoration Pill is just ten silver nyang today only!"

Oh, my. There was even a guy selling Lesser Restoration Pills.

Wow! I definitely shouldn't miss this opportunity, right?

No matter how ignorant the bastards of the Underworld were, I wondered if there would actually be anyone who would fall for such a scam...

"I want to buy that Lesser Restoration Pill."

Oh, the sucker was right here?

I grabbed the scruff of Tang Seo-hee's neck as she was about to spring forward at any moment.

"That's enough. You shouldn't eat things like that."

"I have money, you know!"

"It's not a matter of money. If you mistakenly eat a mix of unidentifiable medicinal herbs, you'll just get terrible diarrhea."

Tang Seo-hee narrowed her eyes petulantly and asked.

"How do you know that?"

How did I know?

Because I tried eating it in my past life.

Absurdly enough, I had even tried eating a Greater Restoration Pill in my past life.

I thought eating that would propel me to the ranks of a Peak Realm expert.

Peak Realm expert my ass; in reality, it was a medicine that almost made me ascend to the heavens from diarrhea.

"... Please don't try to know any more. You'll get hurt."

By the way, where on earth did that bald head go? When there's a guy shamelessly selling the Shaolin Sect's spiritual elixir like that.

Shouldn't he catch him and beat him up?

I looked around.

"I don't see Senior Ilmyeong anywhere."

"He already moved off, saying he found someone to impart his teachings to."

"Is that so?"

Still, Ilmyeong probably wouldn't cause trouble like Tang Seo-hee. Well, it wasn't like he was someone who would get beaten up even if a fight broke out.

It was just that he was overshadowed by Yong So-ah's shining name; if not for Yong So-ah, it would be Ilmyeong's name ringing loudly throughout the world right now instead.

Even within this Underworld Alliance, the people who could harm him could be counted on one hand, and if things got truly urgent, he could just run away.

I looked at Tang Seo-hee and spoke.

"Then let's just move around by ourselves."

"That sounds good!"

Excited, Tang Seo-hee grabbed my hand and began dragging me along.

"I want to buy those hidden weapons."

"Those are made of rotten iron. They'll break after one throw. Besides, doesn't the Tang Clan make hidden weapons too?"

"I want to play that knife-throwing game."

"When normal people throw those knives, they switch them to unsharpened ones. They won't even stick into the wooden wall."

Tang Seo-hee clenched both her hands into fists and shouted.

"I want to enter the boulder-lifting contest!"

"Is that okay when you can't use internal energy? That's a contest of external arts, you know?"

"..."

The grip strength of Tang Seo-hee holding my hand weakened, and when I turned my head, I saw that her cheeks were puffed out like balloons.

"... If it's like this, there's no point in coming out."

Oops, we came out here to drain her energy.

I quickly bought two candied snacks sold at a stall and handed them to Tang Seo-hee.

Tang Seo-hee skillfully pulled out two needles from her embrace, poked the candied snacks repeatedly, checked the needles, and then handed one back to me.

"Let's look for something appropriate."

"Then I at least want to do that!"

Munching on her candied snack, Tang Seo-hee pointed to one side.

Over there, ten men were standing in front of a small table, holding their chins in deep thought.

"Now, put your money down and win big! The very game even passing kids can guess! Makeup money for the ladies, liquor money for the men, one penny of allowance for the kids! Just one penny! One penny! Put your money down and win big! It's not something that comes around every day. The very game even a passing dog can guess! Find the bean, the bean!"

Three liquor cups were overturned on the table, and the man was shuffling the three cups dizzily to change the position of the bean.

'Gambling?'

Truly ammaaazing. Of all things, now there's even gambling?

What's even more amazing is that gambler. To think he had nowhere else to set up a gambling table so he set one up here, in a place filled with martial artists.

Anyway, it didn't look particularly dangerous, and the price wasn't expensive.

Tang Seo-hee needed to learn a bit about the world too. It didn't seem bad for her first lesson.

I readily nodded my head.

"Let's do that."

As the two of us approached the table, each biting into a candied snack, the onlookers subtly stepped back to make way.

The gambler smiled as he looked at Tang Seo-hee.

"Oh my, a cute young lady and a handsome young man have arrived. How about it, care to play a round?"

"I'm confident I can guess them all right!"

"That's right! It's a game even a passing dog can guess right. I will begin."

The gambler showed them the red bean in the middle cup before swiftly beginning to shuffle the cups.

"Now, put your money down and win big! It's not something that comes around every day. The very game even a passing dog can guess! Find the bean, the bean!"

Amidst the quite rapidly moving cups, Tang Seo-hee focused and tracked the bean.

And the moment the gambler stopped his movements.

Tang Seo-hee placed ten silver coins in front of the far-right cup.

"Hic! T-Ten nyang?!"

"Why, is that not allowed?"

Why was she so gutsy?

I tried to stop Tang Seo-hee.

"These things are just for fun. Do you not have copper coins?"

"I only have silver coins. And I'm confident, you know!"

Come to think of it, this was Tang Seo-hee, the precious daughter of the Sichuan Tang Clan who wouldn't know how difficult living in the world was; why would her pockets ever run dry?

I decided to just leave her be.

Everyone's gazes converged on the table.

Gulp.

When the tense swindler opened the cup Tang Seo-hee had bet her money on...

"Ugh... How did you guess this right?"

A red bean popped right out!

"Waaaaah! I guessed right! I guessed right!"

As Tang Seo-hee jumped up and down, the gambler put on an ailing expression and began rolling the cups again.

Tang Seo-hee puffed air from her nose and pointed to one spot with her finger.

"This time, it's here!"

In front of the far-left cup, Tang Seo-hee bet a total of twenty nyang, including the silver coins she had just won.

However, the moment the gambler opened the cup.

The bean was not there.

'Hah, look at this guy.'

While I burst into a dumbfounded laugh inwardly, the gambler teased Tang Seo-hee.

"Oh my! Cute young lady, you didn't guess right this time."

As the gambler swept away the entire twenty nyang, Tang Seo-hee pulled out another twenty nyang from her embrace.

"Now, put your money down and win big! It's not something that comes around every day. The very game even a passing dog can guess! Find the bean, the bean!"

The gambler's hands moved faster than before.

As if determined not to miss a single moment, Tang Seo-hee even drew upon her internal qi to track the cups.

"It's here!"

A situation where tension had reached its peak not only for the gambler but also for the onlookers.

When even passersby had started to gather one by one at the increasingly large stakes.

The swindler slowly lifted the cup.

"Huh? Huh? Why, why? Why is it not there?"

Tang Seo-hee stood blankly with an expression like her world had collapsed.

The gambler intentionally drooped his eyebrows downward.

"That's a shame. It would've been good if you were just a liiiitle bit faster. What do you say, want to play more?"

"... Do you accept gold coins too?"

"... G-Gold coins?"

For the first time, the gambler's pupils dilated.

"W-Well. If you want to play."

"Good, then with a gold coin..."

I stepped forward, blocking Tang Seo-hee's front.

"Let me have a go this time."

"Huh?"

"Are you going to have all the fun yourself?"

Tang Seo-hee hesitated for a moment before speaking.

"... If you guess wrong, I'm going to play again."

I nodded at her.

"Let's do that."

"..."

When I jingled my silver coins and signaled with my eyes, the gambler smacked his lips in regret, seemingly disappointed at losing his sucker.

However, upon hearing that the sucker would play again, his eyes sparkled as he started shuffling the cups.

"Now, put your money down and win big! It's not something that comes around every day. The very game even a passing dog can guess! Find the bean. The bean!"

Three cups.

A game where you could earn money just by guessing the position of the bean you first saw.

Just as the gambler said, this was a game even a passing kid could guess right.

The gambler looked up at me blankly.

"Where will you bet?"

"Where, you ask?"

But I knew.

It was absolutely impossible to win this game against the gambler.

Because from the very beginning, this entire game was a scam.

"All of them."

"Huh?"

I placed one silver coin in front of each and every cup.

"What are you doing? Open them."

I knew it was a scam from the start.

Because I had felt it since the very first time he shuffled the cups.

The reason I just let it happen despite that was because I saw something peculiar from this gambler.

The gambler deliberately put on a bravado.

"Goodness me, there's always guys like this. Now, look."

The gambler flipped all the cups simultaneously.

Clearly, there had been a red bean in one of the three cups.

"Now, now, next. Cute young lady, would you like to take your spot again?"

I grabbed the hand of the man who was about to cover and shuffle the cups.

"W-What! What the hell are you doing!"

"Trying to pull a scam here."

"A scam? What scam! You clearly saw..."

I opened the cup where the bean had just been once again.

The red bean that was supposed to be there did not exist.

The flustered gambler flinched his body.

"T-This... Fuck! Boys, hit him!"

The people standing around the table watching must have been his gang, as they all simultaneously tried to strike away my hand holding the gambler, but...

SMACK-SMACK-SMACK-SMACK!

With Tang Seo-hee's hand blades swinging in an instant, they all let out gasps and collapsed to the ground.

"... I-It was a scam?"

At some point, Tang Seo-hee had reverted to the object of terror for Underworld figures, the White-Handed Divine Maiden.

"Gambling like this is inherently all like that."

"... Is it really, really like that?"

Tang Seo-hee glared at the gambler.

"Eek!"

The gambler looked at Tang Seo-hee as if he had seen a ghost.

"P-Please spare me! I'll return all the money I ripped off earlier and all the money I earned today."

I stroked my chin as I looked down at him.

"Hmm? No. You don't need to return that."

"Pardon? W-What do you mean?"

"How did you do what you just did?"

"W-What are you referring to?"

Normally, gamblers didn't put a bean in from the start when the game began.

And they would slip the bean back in after the sucker had chosen a cup.

That was why this gambling trick didn't work on decent martial artists.

However, except for the first time when he deliberately let her win, this gambler had never put the bean back in.

"How you made the bean and then made it disappear."

What I was curious about was the very existence of that bean.

Much like Hyeoltu encasing his voice within qi and throwing it, this gamble involved packing a red hue within qi to form it like a bean.

A curiosity that this, too, might somehow serve as a clue to solving the secret of the Void Destruction Fist.

The gambler's pupils expanded.

"Ehh? T-That's my sect's secret art..."

You even have a sect for something like gambling? Amazing.

"Yeah, I'll let you keep that money from earlier. Hand over that secret art."

"B-But... If my master finds out..."

Oho, you even have a master?

Then it makes sense to be conflicted.

To relieve him of his dilemma, I opened my mouth and clapped my hands.

"Now, it's not an opportunity that comes around every day. The best terms that even a passing dog would accept! If you don't want your wrists and ankles twisted backward, hurry up and make a choice! Now! Take your pick, choose away!"

I tried copying his pitch, but his expression wasn't good, perhaps because my tone was off.

Hah, do I really need to send a few heads flying?

* * *

After having the sect's secret art passed down to me free of charge by the gambler.

I tried to lead Tang Seo-hee, who seemed slightly sullen after learning of the world's cruelty, back to our lodgings.

However, Tang Seo-hee kept her feet planted on the ground and didn't budge an inch.

"... We have to bring Ilmyeong back too."

"Eh?"

"The world is a scarier place than I thought. Ilmyeong could fall victim to someone too."

Hey, do you really think the great Ilmyeong is anything like you?

However, Tang Seo-hee even heaved her shoulders as she shouted.

"We have to save Ilmyeong! He might be trembling in fear somewhere!"

In my past life, Ilmyeong hadn't been afraid even when facing the Asura Demon Slaying Squad all by himself.

Would such a person be afraid of a few Underworld scrubs?

However.

"My intuition is telling me! We have to go save Ilmyeong!"

Given Tang Seo-hee's bizarrely energetic words, and the worry that this bald head might be beating up random Underworld bastards under the pretext of spreading the teachings, I nodded.

"Let's do that. The night is getting late, anyway."

When I asked the passing servants about the whereabouts of the bald head, surprisingly, his tracks were quickly revealed.

Then again, a monk wearing monk's robes among Underworld bastards.

He couldn't help but stand out even if he tried not to.

After tracing and tracking his whereabouts like that, we arrived at a strange place.

'A gambling den?'

Makeshift tents were spread out across the entire small training ground, and countless people were gambling beneath them.

What was this guy doing to end up all the way here?

As I was looking around at the seated people, Tang Seo-hee spoke.

"Jin Sowoon! Over there! He's right over there!"

Just as Tang Seo-hee said, the bald head was sitting right in the middle of the gambling den.

As we drew closer, a peculiar sight entered my eyes.

Wasn't Ilmyeong, who said he was going to preach, holding gambling tiles?

'What is this? Does he plan to break his vows?'

Moreover, his condition didn't look good at all.

Why was his entire body trembling violently?

I called out to him.

"Senior Ilmyeong, what are you doing here?"

Ilmyeong turned his head at my call.

Ilmyeong's complexion was beyond pale; it had turned pitch black.

"B-Benefactor Jin... P-Please! P-Please save me!"

... No, seriously, what on earth are you doing here?