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Chapter 43
It had already been a month since the chaotic Hanseong Rift Opening Project had successfully come to an end.
The death of Cho Seong-hwan had thrown the entire noble class into an uproar.
Kim Junghun was frantically running about, rallying the senior figures of the Andong Kim clan to suppress the chaos.
Meanwhile, Kim Hyunwoo was busily flaunting his own power to the world, expanding his influence as much as he could.
The political stage of Joseon had become nothing short of a snake pit, a battlefield of schemes among the noble houses.
And in the midst of such bloody times, what was I—the very center of it all—doing?
Shwipak–!
“Ohhh?! That’s in! It went in!”
“Well done, Lord Jeong!”
With hollow applause and empty cheers, I clapped along as a red ball soared high into the sky.
The place I was in now was a gyeokgu* field, perched at the very top level of Hanseong.
Watching horses gallop across the sandy ground, it was hard to believe this was Joseon of the 23rd century.
“Luck is with me today! The ball just sticks right to the mallet!”
“Ho there, Young master Chang-woon!”
The host of this gyeokgu match, Lord Jeong, came over and prodded my back with his finger.
The nobles gathered here weren’t part of the elite lineages. They were second-rate nobles, men who flitted from one minor post to another.
Like any other noble house, they had more money than they knew what to do with, but politically, they were nobodies.
So why, you ask, was I suddenly playing gyeokgu with these dandies instead of dealing with shady types like Hahoe or Tavern mistress?
One doesn’t get it.
As ridiculous as it might look, this was me working hard.
“What say you? Care to join the next round?”
“Oh no, I’ll pass on gyeokgu. I’m not skilled in horseback riding.”
“What? A young master of the illustrious Andong Kim clan can’t ride a horse?”
“A true noble must master horseback riding and other cultured pursuits. Even if you’re a concubine’s son, neglecting such things is disgraceful.”
“Hahaha, please, Lord. Spare me.”
The moment they got even slightly familiar, they brought up my origins and tried to sneer.
Habitually rude bastards.
Wearing a forced smile across my face, I could suddenly sympathize with the misery of salesmen in this age.
But sales is, at its core, about patience.
If I kept flattering these noble lords and humoring their egos, opportunities were bound to arise sooner or later.
For example…
“Come to think of it, Young master Chang-woon.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
“That thing you set up in the central layer of Hanseong… you called it a ‘casino,’ right? Like the ones in Busan?”
“Ah, that?”
Just like this.
Feigning a casual look, I took up Lord Jeong’s words.
“Some friends wanted to try their hand at business, so I put up a little money. I only lent them my name, really.”
“Is that so? For someone who only lent his name, I hear your name mentioned quite often….”
“I bought a small share with my pocket savings, that’s all. I thought they were just putting together a small playground… but it turned out far more successful than I imagined.”
“Casino? You just dressed it up in English. Isn’t it nothing more than a street gambling den? In times this grave, such vulgarity…”
“Hahaha, true enough.”
Grave times indeed.
It wasn’t wrong.
While the greatest noble family in Joseon was collapsing, who would look kindly on some wastrel squandering his time on gambling?
But just look at those faces staring at me.
Expressions like starving dogs waiting for scraps.
That wasn’t disinterest. That was them begging for an excuse to frequent the gambling hall.
‘Time to scatter a little bait, then.’
With a smile full of trust, I whispered into the pigs’ ears.
“Even Young master Kim Hyunwoo of the main branch has invested in this venture.”
“W–what?”
“Is that true?”
Just as I expected, the moment Kim Hyunwoo’s name came up, their faces changed instantly.
‘Of course. As true as it gets.’
It was money I’d received in return for exposing Cho Seong-hwan’s crimes, but the fact remained that Kim Hyunwoo had funded my facilities.
Slowly, I began to roll my tongue, seasoning the story of the business I had created.
“Most of the revenue from my establishment goes toward charitable causes—relief for the poor, donations, and running orphanages. That’s precisely why Young master Kim Hyunwoo valued the endeavor and granted me permission to do it.”
“Mm… hmm….”
“To think there was such a background….”
The old nobles nodded knowingly, but of course none of them truly believed the talk about charity.
In Joseon, the only ones who did such things were lunatics—or pitiful fools with nothing better to do.
‘The only thing sticking in their ears is the name Kim Hyunwoo.’
The most powerful ability user in Joseon, heir to the Andong Kim clan.
If someone like him entrusted money to a bastard like me and allowed a casino to be built?
They could only come to one conclusion.
Slush funds.
The moment they combined the keywords “casino” and “Kim Hyunwoo,” my establishment transformed in their minds into a tax haven for the very man behind this political purge.
“Th-then, Young master Chang-woon!”
Having completed their own delusions, the old nobles pressed me further.
“Are there… perhaps other powerful houses—no, other illustrious clans whose scions also frequent this casino?”
“Yes. We haven’t officially opened yet, so I couldn’t host too many, but….”
I paused deliberately here.
“Was it the day before yesterday? They said the third wife of the Yeoheung Min clan paid a visit.”
As I spoke, I carefully watched their faces.
The pigs’ eyes had changed.
From the hungry glare of starving dogs… to the desperate look of mutts needing to relieve themselves.
The bait had been taken.
“…Well then, would you care to take a look for yourselves?”
The instant my words ended, both their heads bobbed up and down eagerly.
With the bloody winds tearing through the upper echelons of society, they hadn’t been able to sleep soundly for days. And now, a gambling hall backed by the Andong Kim clan had appeared.
If even someone from the illustrious Yeoheung Min clan was stepping inside, then of course they’d think it was their turn to leave their mark.
I immediately connected the comms and reached out to a busy Tavern mistress.
“Tavern mistress. You got the coordinates I sent? Send me a VIP helicopter there right now.”
– Young master, more fish already? How many this time?
Tch, fish, really?
How could he call counting our noble guests “fish”? What sacrilege.
“Two. When they arrive, assign attendants to treat them with the utmost care. Got it?”
– If we catch pigs, we suck the marrow from their skulls too. Just wait a bit.
How much time had passed?
Before long, a helicopter from the casino touched down lightly on the landing pad beside the gyeokgu field.
Staff in neat uniforms and with courteous bows waited.
Once I handed Lord Jeong and his friend over to them, my part was done.
The rest was up tothe Tavern mistress, who had more than thirty years of experience running gambling dens, to roast those nobles over a slow fire.
‘At first, they’ll pretend it’s just rubbing shoulders with scions of noble families, or claim they’re supporting Kim Hyunwoo’s political funds…. But that’s only a matter of time.’
Awaiting those noblemen’s first step inside the casino were agents recruited from Pyeong-un Tavern.
With regular events and every kind of marketing trick, they’d begin training the customers. And once nobles, desperate for entertainment, took the bait?
They’d tumble endlessly into the abyss.
Because gambling, by its very nature, is exactly that.
“Oh, our Young master has arrived!”
After luring the clueless noble pigs into the swamp of gambling, I strolled leisurely into the casino office.
There, Tavern mistress, busy at work, handed me something.
A neatly compiled stack of papers.
In this age, paper documents were rare.
“This is the monthly profit report. It lists everything—the first salaries of our organization members, incentives, and all operational expenses—leaving the net profit.”
Paper documents, in the 23rd century, when even school supply lists were digitized?
It was laughably outdated, but this was my own know-how carried over from a past life.
In a world ruled by hackers and data-gathering AIs, paradoxically, analog methods were the most secure way to protect information.
“Hard to believe, isn’t it? Less than a month since opening, and already hundreds of billions of won piling up in the casino.”
I said, shaking the papers in my hand.
A monthly net profit of 42 billion won.
Using “charitable work” as a flimsy excuse, we’d set the house edge—the take rate—much higher than normal, and money was pouring in like a flood.
“I’ve already made hundreds of times more than I did in my entire life. But what’s even more shocking… is that we’ve only utilized five percent of the casino’s facilities so far.”
Speaking with a tone of jaded disbelief, the Tavern mistress turned her eyes to the monitor installed in the office. On the screen, the casino building came into view.
Inside the fully completed VIP lounge on the tenth floor, about a hundred nobles I had brought in were laughing and chatting as they threw money to the ground like it was worthless.
And then there were the remaining floors, from the first to the ninth.
Thousands of gaming machines and tables were waiting there, biding their time for the guests who would one day arrive.
“Young master.”
“Go on.”
“These trash nobles we’re bringing in now? They’re nothing but the primer. The real game starts afterward.”
“As expected, Tavern mistress—you’re quick on the uptake.”
And she was right.
Trailing in behind those old fools would be the true targets: scions of noble families, corporate tycoons, executives, and emissaries from Japan and the Middle Kingdom.
Every rich bastard who came to Hanseong—I planned to drag them all inside.
The largest entertainment complex in Hanseong, the grand basin into which every stream of black money would flow.
And when the time was right, I would grab that fortune and disappear. Straight into the arms of General Yu Sang-hyeon, who was steadily building power in the northeastern front.
“If we’re going this big… our little gang won’t be enough. We’ll need more people.”
“How many more?”
“Just for direct hires? Around twenty thousand. That’s the bare minimum needed to operate a business of this size.”
Twenty thousand.
A jaw-dropping number, but not impossible.
Originally, I had intended to set up training institutions, craft curricula, and raise talents to supply the ranks—but the problem was time.
If I sat around doing all that, the revolution would break out before the casino was even ready.
That left only one method: draw manpower from other businesses.
“Think you can manage it?”
“Oh my, now you’re insulting my pride.”
After estimating the numbers, I asked the Tavern mistress. She flashed a sly grin in return.
“Don’t forget, I used to rule over half the Special Control Zone. My prime years have come back to me. Do you really think there’s anything I can’t do now?”
Her eyes burned with that unmistakable fighter’s aura.
As a business partner, there was no gaze more reassuring.
I bared my teeth in a grin and handed her the documents I was holding.
“For the time being, I’ll live like a pauper. Every last won here, and every bit of profit that comes my way—pour it all into this place. In exchange…”
I locked eyes with the Tavern mistress and spoke.
“Within half a year, I want the entire facility running. Can you do it?”
Her lips curved upward.
“Three months will be enough.”
The smile on her face didn’t fade.
Unlike in my past life, this time it seemed I’d chosen one hell of a partner.
[TL: Gyeokgu is a traditional Korean sport similar to polo, played on horseback with a ball and mallets. ]
---The End Of The Chapter---
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