Chapter 24 : The Gamble of the Red Balloon

“Y-You bastards! Do you really think you can bet the Red Balloon and just get away with it in this city?!”

“I’ll make sure none of you leave here alive ever again!!!”

With that, the beaten men crawled away from the blacksmith’s forge.

[The Favorability of Gambler Ya Chang has increased significantly.]

“So they changed his title to Gambler.”

“Th-Thanks! Really, thank you!”

Jaeho received Vulca’s handshake with a trembling face.

“Ah, of course, your friends from the forest too!”

The elves sitting in the corner of the room didn’t respond much.

“I don’t even know how to repay you. You said you needed weapons? I’ll make you something as a gift.”

“…Well, that’d be great.”

Though reluctant, there was no reason to refuse a free gift.

“Let’s see… do you have any usable materials?”

“You want materials?”

“Is there anything special you want to make?”

Jaeho pulled out some miscellaneous parts he’d been hoarding.

Vulca carefully examined them and selected the .

“That’s a claw from the Bear Fortress. It’s a pretty decent material.”

“Alright then, let’s use that.”

They were things Jaeho had no immediate use for anyway.

***

The Red Balloon was an organization that ruled the Rasel Kingdom’s Back Alley, one even the Kingdom Guard dared not mess with.

The boss of Red Balloon’s Branch 3 was Dsi.

He came back covered in bruises and, seeing his battered subordinates, his eyes rolled back and he burst out.

“What? You bastards! I won’t let this go! Where are those informants who dared to cross us?!”

“Dsi-nim is the man!”

“Big brother Dsi! We’ll follow you!”

They came to take revenge on those who had beaten their men without hesitation… but no matter how they thought about it, it wasn’t an elf problem.

Surrounding the two battered men were the elves.

One man held a heavily armored lance with what looked like a beast’s paw attached and was scanning the area.

“Gulp.”

Dsi swallowed dryly without realizing it.

The terrifying, heavy presence wasn’t something just anyone could summon.

Ssss—

The eyes of the Red Balloon Branch 3 boss focused on the man facing him—Hwang Jaeho.

The gaze felt like a silent, chilling question.

“Do you want to die?”

“Khmm! Are these the ones who messed up our men?!”

“Huh?”

“Boss?”

Dsi’s tone suddenly softened, and his subordinates nodded along.

But even that required great courage.

The overwhelming pressure radiating from Jaeho was immense.

At that moment, reckless and revenge-driven subordinates stepped forward.

“Hahaha! You stupid bastards! Now that Boss Dsi is here, it’s your end!”

“These guys are trouble! Boss! Those elves beat up our brothers mercilessly!”

“Show them what we’re made of!!!”

Whack—

Jaeho’s brow creased sharply in that instant.

Seeing that, Dsi screamed in terror.

“Damn it! All out attack!”

First strike wins!

The classic rule of a back-alley brawl is to hit first before the opponent can react.

“Waaah!!!”

“Die!”

“Wh-What? Are these guys crazy?!”

But Jaeho was just as shocked.

He was simply checking the information on a newly crafted item!

[<The Bear Hunter’s Declaration of War>]

[Rarity: Legendary]

[Requirements: Strength 150 / Agility 110]

[Attack Power: 350]

[Crafted by Gambler Ya Chang. But a gambler is a gambler forever.]

[<Sakura?> : On critical hits, attack power is fixed at 1.]

[<Sakura?!> : Skill use occasionally causes random misfortune.]

Jaeho’s gaze on Dsi?

He was only reading the item information floating before his eyes.

Why did Jaeho’s face suddenly scrunch up?

Look at these options!

How could he not wrinkle his face?

Well, since it was crafted as a legendary grade item, the skill itself must be excellent, but Jaeho couldn’t make that call yet.

***

“Waaaaah!!”

A symphony of screams.

Inside the blacksmith’s, people ran about and crawled on the floor.

‘People’ only.

The elves, their eyes wild, enthusiastically thrashed away.

Jaeho, the only human who managed to avoid being knocked out, freely wielded his newly acquired weapon.

[Red Balloon gangster has been disabled.]

The attack power was on a different level from beating them bare-handed until now.

[If you continue attacking, it will proceed to the finishing stage.]

[Upon defeat, infamy will increase, and you may be captured by the Rasel Kingdom Guard.]

This was a new revelation.

Unlike monsters, attacking humans doesn’t immediately result in death.

“Wait… why did some of them die instantly before?”

Wasn’t there an opponent who collapsed flat on the ground after a single strike in the Luxi Forest?

“…Is it the difference between NPCs and players?”

If so, there’s no need to worry about killing the opponent. Just keep hitting hard.

“Ugh? Ack! Ugh!”

Of course, the side being hit still felt the terror of death.

If the elves hid strength beneath their gentleness, Jaeho was brutal and overwhelming in destructive power.

In reality, he wasn’t even dealing half of the elves’ attack power, but visually, those being hit felt extreme fear toward him.

“Ugh!”

Dsi, thinking today was the day of reckoning, blamed his foolish subordinates.

And his opponent? Jaeho.

Boss! If it’s come to this, I might as well go for a headbutt…

Dsi was also a high-level NPC.

He was a difficult opponent for Jaeho’s current level…

Thud—thud—

The Elbo armor now perfectly clung to his body, truly untouchable.

As a back-alley tough guy, most of Dsi’s skills involved dodging and body movements — deadly techniques.

It was almost impossible to catch Jaeho by swinging a regular sword.

Bam—

“Ugh!!”

Staggered by consecutive punches.

Pat—

At the moment of his stumble, Jaeho’s uppercut struck Dsi’s chin.

“Ah, this is the end…”

[Critical hit triggered!]

[<Declaration of War by the Bear Hunter> activated the skill <Sakura?>.]

[Damage dealt: 1.]

“…?”

An awkward atmosphere flowed between Jaeho and Dsi.

“Could it be?!”

Dsi realized.

“Is he giving me a chance?!”

It had to be.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense for him to be spared like this.

“Hwaah!!”

Flinch—

As Dsi raised his morale with a sudden show of fighting spirit, Jaeho also flinched.

Had he left a last desperate move?

Thud—

“Sorry!”

Dsi collapsed flat on the floor.

“B-Boss, what are you doing?!”

His men were terrified by their boss’s sudden action.

“Shut up!”

The reason Dsi had come this far was that despite his loud voice and temper, his pride was weak.

“I don’t mind dying! But please forgive those idiots who only know how to eat and sleep!”

His words perfectly manipulated his subordinates’ emotions.

“B-Boss…!!”

“Kh…!!”

The gangsters trembled, tears streaming down their faces.

[Your presence in the underworld has been noticed.]

[The king of the Rasel Kingdom’s Back Alley, Red Balloon, is watching you.]

[You have committed ruthless violence within the city.]

[Infamy has increased.]

[Since the violence was against gangsters, public opinion among residents has also increased.]

[Fame has increased.]

[The Rasel Kingdom Guard is watching you.]

Notifications flashed one after another.

“Why…?”

Jaeho was frustrated.

They were the ones who threw the first punch, and he was just defending himself?!

[<Spirit of Vitality> detects ‘Soul of Life’ threat…]

A harsh truth.

Suddenly, Jaeho began to doubt.

Was the Spirit of Vitality really an NPC?

***

It wasn’t intentional, but Jaeho ended up accepting Vulca’s quest.

At this point, it was too late to turn a blind eye.

“Are you talking about that dwarf anvil…? You guys don’t know it?”

Dsi, resting his knees, looked back at his subordinates and asked.

“That Vulca… he’s a regular at our place. He pawned it as collateral.”

“He’s already squandered the money he borrowed.”

Dsi’s gaze made Jaeho feel unnecessarily ashamed.

“Isn’t it the gambler dwarf’s fault after all…!”

“N-No way!”

But Vulca firmly denied it.

“I definitely had a sure-win hand! The only hand that can beat me is the Royal Straight King, and that came out at that timing? I was set up!”

Typical gambler’s excuse.

Sigh.

Jaeho let out a breath.

“So, can we get the anvil back?”

Just asking felt shameful.

“Sorry, but I don’t have the authority to just return pawned goods… unless you pay.”

Of course.

It made no sense to ask for something you’d brought here to be returned for free.

“How much?”

“500,000 gold.”

“What?”

Even the money earned through Crewa Sang barely reached a few thousand gold.

“…Including everything, even the debts, it’s 2 million gold.”

“Crazy. How can one anvil cost that much?”

“Well… it’s made of adamantium, so it’s definitely valuable.”

“Khmm! Must be a great family heirloom.”

Jaeho wanted to snatch away Vulca’s words but held back.

“Sigh. This is…”

A sigh escaped naturally.

This was an unsolvable quest from Jaeho’s point of view.

“Give up…”

“N-Not at all! There’s a way!”

“Hm?”

There was a misunderstanding due to different perspectives.

Dsi’s tone, which sounded like he was dismissing Jaeho’s luck, actually meant, ‘useless… you should die.’

“Back alley gambling is all the same, right? The humans there are half-drunk, so it’ll be easy.”

“What nonsense is that?”

“We’ll set up a game. Then you can clean them out and get your anvil back.”

“So basically, you’re planning to con me.”

Gambling involves cheaters and scammers.

Who’s worse? It was hard to tell.

[Infamy increased.]

One thing was certain—Jaeho was now a bad guy for stepping into this.

Afterward, Jaeho learned from Vulca about the most popular card game in the gambling den.

“I don’t understand a thing.”

After just learning the basic rules, he also learned the secret code and gestures for communication with the gambling hall.

When all preparations were complete, Dsi said.

“Honestly… it’s impossible to recover that much money from the gambling den at once.”

“What? What are you saying now?!”

“Eek!”

Jaeho’s face crumpled as Dsi nervously backed away.

“Not impossible! You have to build your fame first to summon the spirit!”

“Spirit?”

“Yes, the God of Gambling Angler… the hand of god that roams the Rasel Kingdom’s gambling dens.”

“If you can call him, you can recover your money all at once.”

“God or not, does such a cheap trick really work?”

“It does! We’ve lost more than ten million because of that guy. So we’ll prepare properly!”

Dsi’s overconfidence only made Jaeho trust him less.

***

“Soon… the time for revenge has come.”

“Don’t be crazy.”

Jaeho had no respect left for Vulca.

“Don’t mess around and get your head chopped off by screwing up the plan.”

From some point, even polite speech disappeared.

“Of course! Once I get back what I lost, I’ll leave clean!”

“Not the principal, the anvil, the anvil!”

Jaeho, Vulca… and ten elves walked down a gloomy alley.

“…Please, can’t you guys just not come?”

Vulca alone was enough to make Jaeho nervous, but now the elves were following, making him feel crazy.

“Don’t worry! We’ll disguise ourselves like other customers!”

“Will that work?”

They’d already stood out the moment they entered the city.

Plus, they weren’t even trying to hide that they were elves, their distinct pointy white ears fully visible.

“Fine, just stay close but don’t stick too near, blend in.”

“Of course! We won’t miss any movement from Alicia-nim!”

Elves never had poor hearing anyway.

“Are they purposely pretending not to hear me to mess with me?”

That suspicion came naturally to Jaeho.