Chronicles of the Lazy Sovereign

Chapter 78: One Throw to Decide Heaven and Earth (4)

The crowd’s gaze followed the direction Dokbi pointed.

“Dice?”

Murmurs rippled through the onlookers.

“Dice? Isn’t that a bit too ordinary?”

“But also the most straightforward.”

“Isn’t dice the type of gambling where the skill gap between experts and amateurs is the most obvious? That boy can’t possibly beat Dokbi.”

“What kind of gambling could anyone beat Dokbi at anyway? Dice might actually be better. Besides, didn’t they say he doesn’t know any other games? Dice is much fairer than something with complicated rules.”

After a while, public opinion shifted in favor of Dokbi for choosing dice.

“Fair and square.”

“As expected of Dokbi.”

Watching the crowd react, Wi Yeonho… was half asleep.

“P-please wake up!”

“How can you be dozing off in a situation like this?!”

Startled, people shouted at Wi Yeonho.

“Uugh…”

Wi Yeonho forced his eyelids open.

“…Can’t we just do this tomorrow?”

“What are you saying after coming all the way here?! Absolutely not.”

Kang Cheonrip flatly refused.

“Ugh.”

Wi Yeonho looked like he was about to die from exhaustion.

“This is hard.”

“What do you mean it’s hard! You’ve barely been here for two hours!”

“Still hard things are hard.”

“Even so, no means no.”

“Tch.”

Wi Yeonho sank deeply into his chair and nodded.

“If that’s how it is, I’ll just have to finish this quickly and leave.”

A spark of determination lit in Wi Yeonho’s eyes.

“When do we start?”

Dokbi clenched and unclenched his fist in disbelief.

This brat seemed to treat him like some Fox-Dog he could crush whenever he pleased.

“If you want, we can start right now. But do you know the rules?”

“Nope.”

Wi Yeonho shook his head.

“…There are a lot of ways to play with dice. Which do you prefer?”

“I don’t know any of them.”

Then what are we doing?

Dokbi was too dumbfounded to speak.

The boy didn’t know anything, yet he kept insisting on playing. And that expression—like he was dying of annoyance—what was that?

“Ugh.”

Dokbi started to feel pathetic for having to gamble with someone like this.

“Let’s keep it simple.”

“Hmm?”

“We roll these six dice, and the one with the higher total wins.”

“That’s very simple. Isn’t there something a bit more complicated?”

“Do you think you can handle something more complicated?”

“I was just curious.”

Dokbi took a deep breath to calm his pounding heart.

He’d felt nerves before over the outcome of a match, but this might be the first time his heart was racing out of sheer irritation before a gamble.

“We’ll go with whoever gets the higher total from the dice! Any objections?”

“Nope.”

“We continue the match until one side wins everything down to the last nyang. Any objections?”

“I do.”

“What is it?”

“What if one side doesn’t win everything? Do we keep playing endlessly? I’d really like to finish this quickly.”

“That won’t happen. The stakes double after each round. So eventually, the match will end.”

“You should’ve said that from the start. Why are you explaining things so poorly?”

“I was just about to! Just now! I was literally about to say that, you turtle-like brat!”

“Why are you suddenly insulting me? That’s rude, you know.”

Veins popped on Dokbi’s forehead.

“Dokbi, calm yourself.”

“Khuhuhu.”

Dokbi shook his head.

Kang Cheonrip’s stern intervention pulled him halfway back to sanity, but for a second, he had nearly lost all reason.

“Hoo, I won’t get angry.”

“No need to apologize or anything.”

“Thanks for understanding.”

“I didn’t say I understood.”

“Huh?”

“I’m just going to go home.”

“W-what do you mean you're going home?”

“Is this gambling den in the habit of insulting customers while making them play?”

“Eh?”

“I mean, I’m still a guest. I’m not asking to be treated like a king, but I’m not about to be treated like a servant either. My father always said, a guest may not be royalty, but they should never be treated like servants. And I doubt even servants get insulted right off the bat like this.”

“…”

Dokbi and Kang Cheonrip were struck speechless.

This bumbling brat—why was he suddenly speaking so eloquently, like he’d become a completely different person?

“If my father hears that I got insulted while gambling, he’ll probably tear my ears off. Might even flip the bed over in a rage. He’d say I was uselessly lying around without even listening properly.”

Wi Yeonho shivered.

Just imagining it was horrifying.

“...Ah, your father.”

Kang Cheonrip’s face paled slightly.

No matter how one looked at it, Wi Yeonho didn’t seem like the son of some average noble. Anyone who would dress up this dazed-looking kid in silk, give him servants, and send him on a journey couldn’t be ordinary.

If such a man caught wind that his son was insulted out of nowhere in a gambling den, lost his money, and got thrown out?

'Golden Flower Manor would be shattered.'

Of course, Golden Flower Manor had the backing to withstand even a direct assault from high-ranking officials.

Their connections weren’t few, and their master was someone who could quietly “take care of” most nobles in a single night.

Still…

'Even if the Pavilion survives, that doesn’t mean I’ll survive.'

Even just being associated with the incident could get Kang Cheonrip crushed.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Kang Cheonrip gave Dokbi a sharp jab in the side.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Apologize.’

‘Me?’

‘Now!’

Under Kang Cheonrip’s pressure, Dokbi trembled slightly as he turned his head toward Wi Yeonho.

“Quickly!”

When Kang Cheonrip even mouthed the word to hurry him, Dokbi spoke with a trembling voice.

“Y-young Master!”

“Yes?”

“I… I made a mistake… Please forgive the reckless words from this foolish mouth of mine…”

“Hmmm…”

Wi Yeonho looked like he was pondering Dokbi’s apology before nodding lightly.

“My mother once said, all people make mistakes, and having the generosity to forgive those mistakes is also part of being a true man.”

Jin Soa raised his hand.

“Hmm?”

“Wasn’t it your father who said that?”

“No, it was my mother.”

“Isn’t that usually something fathers say?”

“Usually, maybe. But mothers say those things, and fathers are the ones who nag. Isn’t that how it goes?”

Wi Yeonho asked with an expression that clearly didn’t understand what the big deal was, leaving Jin Soa a little stumped.

“…I suppose so.”

“Then why ask? My father and Master both nag too much. Men really should learn to be a bit more like women—more generous.”

“B-but that’s not how it usually is…”

“You’re the same, aren’t you?”

“Me? What do you mean by that, exactly?”

“Your sister.”

“Ah…”

Just judging by personality, his sister definitely seemed more like a man of character than he was.

“Now that I think about it… that might be true…”

Jin Soa drifted into confusion.

“Anyway, thank you for accepting the apology.”

“Don’t mention it. So, when are we starting? If we’d stopped bickering and just started, I’d already be home and asleep by now. Maybe it’s because you’re so lazy that you’re still stuck living in a gambling den?”

Crack.

Dokbi began grinding his teeth again.

“Dokbi, calm down.”

“Do I look agitated to you?”

“That’s the provocation tactic, the classic provocation tactic!”

“…”

“You know better than anyone not to lose your cool on the gambling floor. Don’t underestimate him just because he’s a kid. Didn’t you say it yourself? There are no old men, no children, and no women on the gambling floor.”

“…Manor Lord, you’re right.”

Dokbi reprimanded himself.

Losing composure in a gambling match was a serious mistake. It was such an obvious rule, yet he’d failed to uphold it.

‘I let my guard down just because he’s a kid.’

He had sworn not to do that, but Wi Yeonho’s youthful appearance and clueless attitude toward gambling had lulled him into forgetting that this was a gambling table where both money and lives were on the line.

“I overdid it. Way too much. If I’d kept going, I might’ve faced him while I was still fired up. The provocation tactic was good, but I failed to stay centered.”

“…What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything. You just turned red all by yourself.”

“Uuugh.”

Dokbi turned his back and hunched over.

‘Calm down.’

What was it?

It wasn’t the words that were annoying.

That face—broadcasting loud and clear, I’m tired, but I’m reluctantly sparing time for you—was steadily unraveling Dokbi’s sanity.

“Huuuup.”

Dokbi inhaled deeply, then stood up abruptly and turned to face him.

“The games are over, young master. I shall face you seriously now.”

“Good. Then hurry up already. Why do you talk so much?”

Dokbi didn’t respond. The more he spoke, the more it was obvious he was being pulled in. There was no need to help Wi Yeonho by playing into his rhythm.

“Let’s begin.”

“Before that, just one thing to confirm.”

“…What now?”

“Is the betting amount fixed?”

“Do you have more to wager?”

“No. I’ve already taken everything. But you might bring more money to the table, right?”

“Pfft. Then shall we proceed with the condition that no additional stakes are allowed?”

“No, let’s allow additional stakes. But in exchange…”

“In exchange?”

“If one side wins everything the other currently has, that side can decide whether to continue with the next round or not.”

“Fair enough.”

Since the choice would fall to Dokbi anyway, there was no reason for him to refuse.

“Then let’s begin.”

“Yes.”

Jin Soa massaged Wi Yeonho’s shoulders.

“You can do this, right?”

“Have I ever failed at anything?”

“…"

Jin Soa had wanted to nitpick, but now that he thought about it, there really wasn’t anything Wi Yeonho had failed at once he set his hands on it.

Wasn’t Wi Yeonho the one who could diagnose complete strangers like it was nothing?

“I believe you’ll do fine.”

“Good.”

With a smug look, Wi Yeonho stared at the gambling table being set up in front of him.

It seemed they had now caught on to how lazy he was, since they brought the table to him instead of asking him to move.

“Will you go first?”

“No. You go ahead.”

“The first move has the advantage, you know?”

“…I’m too lazy, so I’ll go second.”

Usually, that would be part of a psychological tactic, but in Wi Yeonho’s case, the laziness was clearly real.

“Then I’ll begin.”

Dokbi raised his hand and grabbed the dice cup. He swept up the six dice scattered on the floor and began shaking them skillfully in the air.

Chak chak chak chak chak chak!

The sharp sound of the shaking dice echoed crisply.

“Oh!”

The onlookers couldn’t help but gasp.

“That’s incredible!”

“My eyes can’t even keep up!”

‘Hehehehe…’

Dokbi let a subtle smile slip.

To be called the best gambler, one had to be more than just good at winning. The best didn’t merely aim for victory—they crafted the match itself. Using flair to dazzle the crowd was also a virtue of a top-tier gambler.

‘How’s that?’

Expecting Wi Yeonho to be amazed, Dokbi turned his head—

—and suddenly shouted like thunder.

“Stop sleeping!”