Chapter 102: Information Gathering (2)

Chapter 102. Information Gathering (2)

When afternoon rolled around, Seo Jun-Ho dragged Ply out of Dewdrop Inn. He looked through a thick pile of pages as they walked. He was skimming through the information that Ply had given him.

"Moneybug, is there a single person in this city who doesn't owe you anything?" Seo Jun-Ho asked, dumbfounded.

"Ahem, well. As I said, I'm pretty important around these parts...There's no place that my money can't reach around here."

"This city is a mess."

"..."

Unsurprisingly, Ply didn't have much information on nobles. But it didn't mean that he had none.

'No matter how poor they are, there wouldn't be any noble families who would borrow money from a loan shark.'

But shockingly, there were some noble children who would borrow money for luxury goods or for gambling. To conceal their actions from their parents, they would borrow from loan sharks.

"Why aren't you collecting their debts? It's a lot of money. You could just go to their parents to get your money back."

"Why would I? Even a single day's worth of interest is a lot."

"...Are you sure that you'll be able to get your money back?"

"Yes." Ply spoke with the confidence of a professional. "Do you know what nobles value the most? It's their reputation. The amount I let them borrow is based on what their name is worth."

"What if they refuse to pay you back?"

"A noble's biggest fear is giving their political rivals an upper hand. If they refuse to pay, I can sell their information, and they'll be humiliated in social circles."

"I'm impressed that you've survived this far."

"You learn some things when you're running a sca—I mean, a business."[1]

Truthfully, Seo Jun-Ho was a bit impressed. "What surprised me the most is the way that you had all this information memorized."

"Despite my appearance, I've got a good head on my shoulders." It was true. Ply knew about everyone that had borrowed, was currently borrowing, or would borrow money from him in the future. His knowledge in this field was unmatched.

'This guy...he's more useful than I thought.'

He had definitely been worth the effort when Seo Jun-Ho had beaten him up a little.

Ply suddenly grew serious. "When you enter the gambling den, you have to be on guard."

"Why?"

"Haus has professional gamblers in each of his establishments. They prey on the guests and take everything from them, including the clothes on their backs. Especially that guy named Fivur.[2] When he sits down for a game, he takes everything on the table. Don't play with him, no matter what."

A moment later, Ply ducked behind a wall and pointed at an unassuming building. "That's the gambling den."

"Got it. Go wait at the inn. I don't want them to think I'm with you." Seo Jun-Ho ordered.

"Yes, sir." He quickly turned to leave. Forget the inn, he would go straight to his office where his subordinates were hiding.

"If you're not there when I come back..." But Ply froze in his tracks upon hearing Seo Jun-Ho's following words. "Well, you better be there."

"Dammit..." The likes of Seo Jun-Ho would have no trouble finding their hideout anyway. Moreover, if Seo Jun-Ho simply asked Haus later, Haus would quickly snitch on Ply. As such, Ply turned around and smiled brightly. "I wouldn't do that. I'll be waiting at the inn."

Seo Jun-Ho smiled as he scampered away and turned back to the gambling den. Two large bouncers stopped him at the door.

"Your money?"

"I have more than enough." When he showed off his gold coins, they grinned and thumped his shoulders.

"Get out there and win."

"It's the perfect night to make some money. Go on in."

"Thanks." He smiled and walked by.

The gambling den was thick with the stench of alcohol and cigarette smoke.

"Ick, what an unpleasant smell." The Frost Queen frowned and covered her nose. Seo Jun-Ho nodded in agreement.

"It's hard to tell if this is a gambling den or an opium den..." As he passed through the smoke, he started to see some players gambling away their money.

"Shit! Is the roulette wheel broken?"

"Tsk, one more time! Another game!"

"Please, number 3...number 3... No! Why do I always lose?!"

"It's not much different from Earth." The people were playing with magic roulette wheels, cards, and dice. And of course, most of them were cheating.

"Yes! A straight!"

"That's crazy. Looks like Fivur's gonna take all the money tonight."

"Tsk... I wish that were me. Should I play a round?"

"Nah. You can't play with that amount of chips. Dozens of gold coins move around every game."

'Fivur...'

It was the man that Ply had mentioned. He walked over to the table where people were starting to gather.

"Hahaha! Waiter! Get a glass of wine for everyone in the audience!"

"Wow!"

"Fivur! Fivur!"

"He sure is intense."

The game they were playing was poker.

'The perfect game for attracting an audience.'

Seo Jun-Ho didn't really have much experience with gambling, other than the bet he had made with Gong Ju-Ha, but he knew the rules thanks to movies and TV shows.

"Can I play?" he asked as he sat down at an empty seat.

"Well, you have a face I haven't seen. Come join." Fivur grinned.

"I just got here yesterday."

"And you came to gamble straightaway. Haha, I like your style." Fivur raised his glass. "The stakes are pretty high today. Can you afford it?"

"Of course..."

There was quite a lot of money on the table since all the chips scattered on it were worth one gold each. Fivur whistled as Seo Jun-Ho exchanged his gold for a hundred chips.

"You must be pretty good at poker. You seem confident."

"Not really. After all, gambling is about luck, not skill."

Fivur laughed. "You're right. The game's based on pure luck." He stared greedily at Seo Jun-Ho's chips.

The dealer shuffled the deck and dealt all the players a hand.

'What a shitty hand.'

Seo Jun-Ho knew that he was doomed from the moment he joined the game. He knew that there was no way that he could bluff against professional gamblers, but he still made the decision to gamble.

'Help me out...'

He met eyes with the Frost Queen, who was sitting on the game table.

'I trust you...'

He was willing to lose some money for now. At least, until she figured out the rules.

***

Seo Jun-Ho shook his head. "Fold."

"Ooooh!"

"He's amazing! He folds perfectly every time!"

"Beginner's luck, maybe?"

"This is the first time I've seen Fivur lose money!"

Seo Jun-Ho had been playing for about an hour. He had started with 100 chips, but he now had 270.

"From the left, high card, high card, one pair...Ah! Fivur's changed his hand again. He has a two-pair now." The Frost Queen floated over the table, reading off the hands. If you knew your opponents' hands in poker, you couldn't lose even if you wanted to.

"Raise."

"Oooh! He seems pretty confident this time!"

"Does he know something? Or is Lady Luck smiling at him?"

Seo Jun-Ho won the round with a three-of-a-kind. He now had 350 chips.

"..." Haus was watching from the second-floor balcony. He waved over a servant. "Who is he?"

"I think he's a Player. His skill is amazing."

"Skill? You call that skill?" Haus scowled. Fivur was a professional gambler who could turn any gambling den upside down. How could some random Player keep winning against him?"

"He's too suspicious...For now, get all the guys to his table."

"Understood."

Haus gripped the railing, his eyes burned with rage. "How dare he touch my money!"

***

"C-Contractor!" The Frost Queen pointed angrily at the new players. "They are all cheating. Even the dealer is helping them!"

"Hmmm." Seo Jun-Ho was unsurprised. He knew this would happen.

'They're a little late, though.'

He won too much. He now had 347 gold or 3.47 million dollars. No gambling den would be able to ignore such an amount.

'I should get moving too.'

He folded and stood up from his seat. Fivur and the other men looked at him nervously.

"L-leaving already?" Fivur unwittingly grabbed his sleeve. "H-how about we play a little longer? Look how much you've been winning."

"I already won a lot. It would be a waste if I lost it again."

"B-but..." Fivur started to tremble. If Seo Jun-Ho left like this, he would die.

Just then, a manager in a suit interrupted them.

"Sir, the owner said that he would like to have a drink with you."

The crowd started to murmur and looked at Seo Jun-Ho with envy.

"Isn't the owner one of the 2 Scoundrels of Gilleon?"

"They say Haus has enough assets to compete with Goldberg."

Seo Jun-Ho smiled. "Of course. Lead the way."

He followed the manager to the second floor to an extravagantly furnished room.

"This is the VIP room. Normally, only nobles are allowed to enter here."

"He didn't have to go this far." He smiled.

A single man sat on the sofa, ten suited guards were standing behind him. Seo Jun-Ho instantly realized that he was Haus.

'He's about as strong as Moneybug.'

When he stepped forward, Haus started waving a piece of paper. "Name: Seo Jun-Ho. Occupation: Player. Level is estimated to be in the mid-30s...You're pretty famous."

Unsurprisingly, Seo Jun-Ho wasn't greeted with a warm welcome. "Where did you get that?"

"I asked other Players. They seemed to know a lot about you." Haus smirked as he tapped the table with his finger. "Do you know why I allow Players to come in, even though they have abilities that let them cheat?"

"Why?"

"Because I know that I can get that money back." He crossed his legs and took a long sip. "I own the red-light district, which means that I know a lot of nobles. But Players? Of course, there are some strong ones, but they can't go against the nobles. Am I wrong?"

"No. You're right." Seo Jun-Ho acknowledged it. Just like Haus said, no matter how great he was, it was unwise to get involved with the nobles, and that was why Haus was so confident.

"So let me make a deal." Seo Jun-Ho suddenly spoke up. He placed all his chips on the table, except for the first hundred he had brought with him inside when he first walked into the gambling den. Haus repeatedly blinked.

"...What do you mean?"

"I'll give you back the chips I won. So give me information on the nobles."

Dumfounded, Haus stared at him. "Are you messing with me? You won by cheating, and now you want information on the nobles for what was already mine?"

"I don't think it's a bad deal. Besides, if you ask for nobles to help, it'll come with a price."

Haus gritted his teeth. It was true. Even though it seemed like he had the nobles' support, he would have to pay them considerably to borrow their power.

"You're sharp. But that's all you are." He gestured with his finger, and the guards started to walk toward Seo Jun-Ho. "I don't need the nobles to take money from you."

Seo Jun-Ho sighed. Since Haus had connections to the aristocracy, he initially wanted to resolve this as peacefully as possible.

If I knew this would happen, I would've just used brute force in the first place.'

He thought of the time he had wasted gambling.

"Ahh, my precious time..."

Then, he raised his fist.

1. The Korean word for money lending business is 사채업 while a business is 사업. ☜

2. Can also be read as 'fever' or 'fibber'. Author is having a lot of fun with names. ☜