Chapter 22
“Casino?”
The main house of the Andong Kim clan.
While adjusting his attire in front of the mirror, Kim Hyunwoo raised his voice after hearing the servant’s report.
“Is that true?”
— “Yes. Officially, the land use is registered as a welfare facility, but it’s certain. The building structure under construction in the central commercial district, the type of goods arriving at the nearby warehouses… everything points to it.”
“Haa.”
Kim Hyunwoo ended the call as if he didn’t need to hear any more.
He smirked, recalling the image of Kim Chang-woon passing by him.
“So, when you said it was charity work, I wondered what scheme you were cooking up… and it turns out you were setting up a gambling den?”
To think you’d be crawling on the ground for scraps just because you couldn’t get your hands on some money.
How utterly vulgar.
With that scoff, Kim Hyunwoo immediately lost interest in Chang-woon.
“If you have enough power and authority, money can be acquired from anywhere.”
And the proof of that… was himself.
Major corporations were lining up, begging to sponsor him, while noble families sought the honor of associating with him.
At the Formal Assembly, he had to weigh which company’s patronage to accept.
And recalling the noble family figures he had met in person, he pondered which of them should be included in his “plans.”
All of it was thanks to the presence and prestige he had displayed at the reception.
“Master.”
Just as Kim Hyunwoo was silently mocking Chang-woon, his bodyguard Ho-chul approached at the perfect moment.
“All the guests you invited have arrived. They are waiting at the arranged venue.”
“Anyone absent?”
“Yes. Cho Seong-hwan, young master of the Pungyang Cho Clan, and a few other noble heirs did not attend. They said they had ‘other engagements’…”
“Hmph.”
Those who decided to align themselves somewhere else.
The ringleader was likely Cho Seong-hwan.
‘Considering he was the one who lasted the longest against me at the Formal Assembly, he must think he stands a chance.’
And that brazen idea probably came from that woman who knocked him flat at the banquet hall.
If some lowborn wretch off the streets could humiliate him, then perhaps they thought they could, too.
Such presumptuous thoughts.
“How laughable.”
As he muttered to himself, the automatic doors recognized Kim Hyunwoo and began to slowly open.
Guwoooong—!
Beyond the doors lay a banquet hall filled with lavish decorations and fine food.
The company executives and nobles who recognized him immediately bowed in greeting.
“Thank you all for attending.”
Responding with a light greeting, Kim Hyunwoo strode leisurely into the banquet hall.
It wasn’t the Andong Kim clan that had invited these people—this was Kim Hyunwoo’s personal affair.
He had even made it clear that Lord Kim Junghun knew nothing of this “private” event.
In other words, everyone gathered here had come with that in mind.
‘They’re investing not in my clan’s reputation or my father’s shadow, but in my own power and potential.’
Not my father’s people—mine alone.
Surveying the faces in the hall, Kim Hyunwoo wore a satisfied smile.
‘This is just the beginning.’
A goal he couldn’t yet speak of to anyone.
And yet, one he would someday, without fail, accomplish.
For the sake of his ambition.
****
“Ahhh~!”
The Pyeong-un Tavern stood empty, without a single customer.
After finishing off a perfectly prepared bowl of ox bone soup at the table, a deep groan of satisfaction escaped my lips.
“Ahhh—this is why you live in Joseon!”
“...”
“But seriously, that Moo-yeong punk really messed up the mechanical arm. How much will it cost to fix? I know a guy down on the lowest level who’s good—want me to introduce you?”
“Ah, n-no! It’s not an expensive item! Please don’t trouble yourself…”
“No, no. We’re going to be working together on something big—I’d feel bad just letting it slide.”
Upon learning my noble status, Dolsoe had noticeably become more polite.
But by now, he must be wondering.
After all, I smashed Dolsoe’s arm while he was guarding the door, destroyed the surveillance cameras…
And then I showed up in such a threatening way—so why was I suddenly sitting in a tavern, calmly downing a bowl of ox bone soup?
The reason was simple.
After hearing my plan, the tavern mistress had abruptly said, “Why don’t you have a meal first?”
Clearly, she wanted some time to think over this sudden, major proposal.
After waiting for a while—
“You just dropped in out of nowhere with something this big… it’s like a bolt from the blue.”
The tavern mistress arrived with a tray piled high with fresh melon, then sat down across from me.
“Should I bring some rice wine for your bodyguard?”
“No.”
“Why not? Can’t hold your liquor?”
“I don’t drink while on duty.”
“My, my—such a proper gentleman.”
Sitting beside me, Taewoong exchanged a few brief words, but only for a moment.
“So, what the young master is saying is…”
The tavern mistress, carrying a bowl filled to the brim with rice wine, finally shifted the conversation into gear.
“You want to set up a gambling den… for the noble gentlemen upstairs?”
“That’s right.”
“In other words, you’re asking for my help so those high-and-mighty noblemen can have a place to throw their money around?”
I bit into a slice of melon from the tray and replied.
“You can’t just let any random mutt or cow walk into what will be the largest casino in Joseon. But I also can’t personally handpick every single employee.”
“And even if you did, there’s no guarantee they’d be decent people, right?”
“Exactly. Which is why I want you to run the new casino.”
If you have money, you can find people.
But anyone who’s ever run even a small corner shop knows this—
Starting a business in a place where you have no connections, just by throwing money at it?
Possible, yes.
But not cost-effective.
‘Like in any business, the biggest problem is people.’
A childhood friend.
An uncle you’ve known all your life.
A respected elder in the neighborhood.
A network built over years of trust and verification—connections.
And Park Bok-ja, sitting right in front of me, was exactly the person who could provide that.
Throughout Hanseong, small-time gambling houses were scattered everywhere.
And this “tavern mistress” Park Bok-ja controlled more than half of them.
“What, you don’t want to do it?”
“If I said I didn’t, do you think my head would remain safely on my shoulders?”
Her polite tone was laced with insolence.
Not exactly refusing, but not wanting to do it either.
Well, it was understandable.
There wasn’t a single commoner in Hanseong who didn’t harbor some resentment toward the nobility.
“Phew—!”
Park Bok-ja downed the entire bowl of rice wine in front of her.
Her face, which had been clouded with hesitation until now, sharpened as she fixed her gaze on me.
“I’ll ask you one thing.”
“Ask away.”
“Why me?”
She continued.
“It’s true I run a pretty sizable operation, but there are people out there who are much better at business than I am.”
With the kind of information network you must have, you could easily find a much larger organization to work with.
And by doing so, you’d make far more money with much less trouble.
“So why is it that the young master came all the way to this little hole-in-the-wall to pester someone like me?”
The reason I came to the Pyeong-un Tavern instead of anywhere else?
That was simple.
I picked up another slice of melon and opened my mouth.
“The orphanage just upstairs.”
“……!”
“You’re the one funding it, aren’t you?”
At those words, the expressions of both the tavern mistress and Dolsoe, who was guarding the door, shifted.
“And why, out of nowhere, would you bring up some orphanage that has nothing to do with this?”
Clear hostility.
Seeing it confirmed only made me feel more at ease.
Still, maybe I should give it one more push—just in case.
“I’m only saying this because I’m concerned. I know you’re pretty famous in this business… but with just broker fees or the small operations your friends are running, it’s hard to keep things going, isn’t it?”
“Young master.”
I deliberately prodded her by bringing the children into the conversation, knowing it might irritate her—and it worked immediately.
“If you even think about threatening me and laying a hand on that orphanage… those kids…”
Unlike my casual tone, Park Bok-ja’s voice as she addressed me was as hard as stone.
“Then noble power or not, I won’t sit still.”
Her expression radiated not just hostility, but killing intent.
Seeing that made me smile without thinking.
‘Yes. That’s exactly how you should react.’
Even knowing that coming at me would mean certain death, she still responded like that.
Sure enough, this was the same “tavern mistress” I had met in my past life.
A person who had lived her entire life in the underworld.
One who knew the dark side of Joseon better than anyone—and yet still managed to hold on to her unique humanity.
And a righteous woman who, for the sake of that humanity, was brutally murdered by the hands of the nobility.
For the business I was about to undertake, she was the perfect asset.
“That’s exactly it.”
“…What?”
“The reaction you just showed—that’s the reason.”
There was a time when a certain news outlet reported that one hundred thousand children in Hanseong were starving to death.
Do you know what the court’s response was after an audience with the king?
[This year’s newborn count is two hundred thousand, so statistically there’s no issue.]
[It’s simply the natural resolution of the overheated birth rate problem.]
[There’s no need to alter the existing budget plan.]
‘Ah yes, such a warm and compassionate answer, wasn’t it?’
And the best part—no one voiced a single complaint after hearing such a reply. Truly, a fine example of 22nd-century “advanced” Joseon.
‘If this is the state of the so-called high officials who are supposed to care for the people, there’s no way welfare policies or aid programs will function properly.’
And yet, in this hellhole of a Joseon, someone is spending their own money to run an orphanage?
With zero outside support?
There are only two types of people in Joseon capable of that.
A madman.
Or an idiot who’s insanely kindhearted.
‘And those kindhearted fools are exactly the type I need for my plan.’
Park Bok-ja looked puzzled.
Watching her, I handed her a data chip.
And the moment the chip’s code was read by the ocular scanner implanted in her eye, her expression shifted rapidly.
“This is…?”
“It’s the real picture of the ‘casino’ you’ll be running.”
The casino’s operational plans and projected profits.
The size of the payments that would go to Park Bok-ja herself and her subordinates.
A detailed blueprint of where the casino’s earnings would be used, along with a list of spin-off ventures that would follow.
After going through all of it, Park Bok-ja’s eyes twitched.
‘She’ll realize soon enough that this isn’t an ordinary matter.’
Before coming here, I had destroyed every surveillance camera and recording device in this tavern.
Why?
Because I didn’t want my face to be seen?
If that were the case, I wouldn’t be sitting here eating melon.
What I had just handed her went far beyond the level of a “big job.”
Me, leisurely chewing melon, flanked by two bodyguards standing watch at my side.
Seeing that, Park Bok-ja would quickly understand—
That I had never intended to let her go from the very beginning.
“If this plan you’ve given me is correct, then you’re…”
“…”
As if forcing herself to speak the words, Park Bok-ja finally opened her mouth.
“You’re plotting treason?”
“Treason? Don’t use such grim words.”
First Yu Sang-hyeon, and now her—
Why does everyone talk as if I’m committing some kind of crime?
“I’m preparing for a revolution.”
---The End Of The Chapter---
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