13 Years Later.
Former Imperial Calendar Year 997
Capital of Pasa, Yeonju (蓮州)
After experiencing several ominous events, it becomes easy to recognize the signs that precede them.
Today felt like one of those days for Sahyeon.
His foolish senior brother, who had a knack for getting into trouble the moment one looked away, had gone out at the crack of dawn and hadn’t shown a trace even though the sun now stood high in the sky.
Surely not again.
Sahyeon tried to convince himself it wasn’t anything bad.
It would be terribly embarrassing and guilt-inducing to suspect something, only to find his senior brother simply doing manual labor to earn a few coins.
So he spent half the day absentmindedly flipping through pages of a book he couldn’t even focus on.
Eventually, his patience wore thin.
Even if he wasn’t up to mischief this time, given his history, Sahyeon figured the suspicion wouldn’t come as a surprise.
Grinding his teeth, he finally crawled out of the cramped, cave-like inn room.
“Oh wow, you’re still alive? I was about to come in and check if there was a corpse to remove since you hadn’t shown up by sundown.”
The person he encountered immediately upon stepping outside was the innkeeper—a woman whose words always carried a sting, even when they sounded pleasant.
Her greeting only deepened Sahyeon’s sense of foreboding.
He forced an awkward smile toward her and pulled the conical hat hanging by the door over his head.
“Really, just dunk yourself in a cesspit already and get it over with. Didn’t you hear about that old dung collector who fell in and came out with all his body hair dyed pitch black?”
Judging by her cackling laugh, this didn’t even count as one of her “nicer” remarks.
Then again, who else would offer a roof for half the price to a destitute scholar with nowhere to go?
Of course, it wasn’t exactly a proper guest room that was provided…
Still, as someone hoping to knock on the doors of the powerful and become a client scholar, he couldn’t very well sleep on the streets.
Even if it meant enduring her ridicule, he had no choice but to laugh it off.
“I’m not about to reek like dung just to dye my hair.”
“Go take a walk outside. Show me one place in this world that doesn’t stink.”
There was actually some wisdom in that retort.
Surprised, Sahyeon peeked out from under his hat and looked at the innkeeper—only to realize from her grin that he had overestimated her.
“The stinkiest place of all is where that big brute of a scholar went.”
Sahyeon wished he could learn how she so deftly led conversations toward the point she wanted.
Still, he was grateful she brought up something he needed to know.
It seemed the innkeeper knew where his senior had gone.
And from the way she said it was “stinky”… there were two possibilities: he was helping the dung collector to pay off the inn fee, or he had relapsed into that vile old habit again.
“So where exactly is this stinkiest place?”
Sahyeon hoped it was the former.
Unlikely.
Just four days ago, his senior brother Ogwang had knelt before him, tears falling like chicken droppings, swearing to cut ties with his vices once and for all.
Sahyeon wanted, just once more, to believe in that promise.
But… unlikely.
***
“I knew it!”
It was exactly as the saying goes—old habits die hard.
In a cockfighting ring swarming with people like flies, Ogwang was screaming hoarsely while waving a betting tile marked “3.”
When Sahyeon suddenly appeared and grabbed him by the scruff, he was so startled that he stumbled and fell.
“H-Hyeon!”
By age alone, Ogwang was more of an uncle than a brother.
After all their peers had left the master and gone their own ways, he alone remained.
Even the master had foreseen this—before passing away, he had clasped Sahyeon’s hand and said, “His size is imposing and his strength like an ox, but even past forty he remains dull-witted.Once I die, the others will find their own paths, but Ogwang surely will not.”
And so he had entrusted him to Sahyeon.
“Ogwang, how could you do this? The innkeeper told me today that there are only two kinds of people in the world you can’t trust—one says they’ll quit drinking tomorrow, the other says they’ll quit gambling. And I was the fool who tried to believe in you one last time!”
To be fair, Ogwang had helped Sahyeon a lot on the journey to Pasa after their master’s death.
Sahyeon had relied on him like a brother—until he lost himself in gambling.
“Hyeon, Hyeon, this is all a misunderstanding! I really have quit gambling! This is, well…”
Ogwang frantically looked around and grabbed Sahyeon’s arm, whispering urgently.
“This isn’t gambling. It’s an investment based on solid insider info.”
Bull.
“Don’t give me that—”
“Shh! Just look. I’ve got high-level intel. Look over there.”
Ogwang pushed through the crowd and shoved Sahyeon forward.
Behind a shabby fence made of straw, eight roosters stood tall and proud, one in particular holding its head especially high.
“That bright red one is number three.”
He proudly shook the tile in his hand.
Sahyeon wanted to snatch it and smash it to bits, but held back.
Who knew how much the man had spent on that bet?
“It’s been losing lately, so the odds are high.”
In other words, no one was betting on it.
The payout must be massive.
A textbook recipe for ruin.
“Now, just hear me out! The owner of number three has been deliberately starving the bird before matches to make it look weak. So the odds have skyrocketed! And today, they’ve loaded it up with energizing herbs—it’s going to win for sure!”
“Oh, so number three is going to win today?”
“Yes! Someone trustworthy told me out of pity.”
“And who exactly is this trustworthy person?”
After hesitating, Ogwang leaned in and whispered.
“The owner of number three.”
Sahyeon couldn’t hold it anymore and headbutted him square in the face.
“Argh! What the hell was that for?!”
“How much did you bet?”
“Don’t worry. If we win—let’s see—it’s thirty to one! That’s six thousand nyang!”
“You bet 200 nyang on this stupid game?! Wait—you even had 200 nyang?!”
Ogwang rubbed his reddened nose and answered sheepishly.
“Well, I borrowed it. So really I’ll make 5,800.”
Every word from this man was like a gemstone of idiocy.
“You borrowed 200 nyang? You’re driving me crazy.”
“L-Look, it’s starting! With the winnings, I’ll buy us a proper house here in Yeonju, get you fine silk robes, and set you up for your official career. Then I can face our master in the afterlife!”
Turns out this wasn’t even cockfighting—they were racing roosters.
A gong sounded to mark the beginning, and the roosters flapped and scrambled forward.
Amid the chaos, Sahyeon covered his face with both hands.
Ever since their master’s death, he had traveled all the way to the northern land of Pasa, swallowing his pride to visit noble houses, seeking a position as a guest scholar—only to be turned away each time by gatekeepers for lacking a bribe.
Without greasing the palms of those gatekeepers, one couldn’t even register as a guest.
Only by becoming a guest could he hope to receive a scholar’s recommendation, and only with that recommendation might he get the tiniest chance of an audience with the king.
Selling the name of the teacher, and spreading rumors that his disciples had come to perform, he was worried that before the king heard about it, someone who didn’t want them to take office might send an assassin.
So, he decided to stay in the tomb-like inn with O-kwang and save up exactly 50 nyang to slip into the steward’s back pocket.
That was three months ago.
But now, he was not just destitute but had even accumulated debt.
Wait, hold on.
If he could borrow 200 nyang, wouldn’t it have been better to borrow 50 nyang at first, use it as a bribe, take office, and repay it?
“Wow! Hyeon-ah, Hyeon-ah, move your hand and look over there! The number 3 chicken is in first place!”
Sa-hyeon spread his fingers and peeked through them into the arena.
Indeed, O-kwang’s number 3 chicken was flapping its wings, disturbing the other chickens, and speeding away with great enthusiasm.
Gambling to win money was uncomfortable, but the fact remained that winning this bet was the only way to get out of his current situation.
Right, right, whatever happens later, for now, please, number 3 chicken!
“The number 3 chicken is charging ahead fearlessly! If it clears the last obstacle, it will win! Ah…! Can it not clear the obstacle?”
But the number 3 chicken, which had been charging ahead at full speed, suddenly came to a halt right in front of the final obstacle.
“What are you doing! Fly! What good are your damn wings if you’re not flying? Fly!”
O-kwang screamed at the top of his lungs…
“Number 8 chicken is flying over the last obstacle!”
Until the last chicken cleared the obstacle, the number 3 chicken just kept spinning in place, stupidly tilting its head.
As much as he wanted to respect the death penalty, Sa-hyeon couldn’t help but think of it.
‘Of course, it picked something like this.’
He felt like even the late teacher would understand today.