Chronicles of the Lazy Sovereign Novel - Chapter 104

Chapter 104

The wine glasses collided with each other, spilling some liquor on the floor, but Dok-bi didn’t seem to care and emptied his glass of a drink.

Wei Yan-ho also drank about half of his wine before making a grimace and leaving his glass.

Lately I have had more opportunities to drink, but I don’t understand why people drink this. It’s just bitter.

Dok-bi nodded.

“The wine is bitter.”

– Then why do you drink it?

“For it is bitter.”

It was an answer that seemed understandable and incomprehensible at the same time.

“If the wine were sweet, there would be no reason to drink it, would there?”

“I think I’d like it if it were sweet.”

“It’s a shame.”

Dok-bi lifted the bottle of wine and poured wine into the empty glass.

“What brings you to see me?”

“I’m curious about something.”

I’ll answer you.

Wei Yan-ho emptied what was left in his glass of wine. As soon as it was empty, Dok-bi lifted the bottle and poured wine into his glass.

Why did you do it?

“Do what?”

“You lost on purpose.”

Interesting words. Are you saying that I, Dok-bi, lost a game on purpose?

“Yes.”

Wei Yan-ho responded calmly.

You could have done Six-Six in the end, couldn’t you, but you didn’t do Six-Six on purpose.

“Jojo.”

Dok-bi drank his wine without answering.

Originally, I should have lost, but I ended up winning, I want to know why you did that.

Wei Yan-ho didn’t go around with rodeos.

As he had always heard people speak half-truths and evasively, Dok-bi was a little nervous to meet someone who asked him so directly.

“You don’t look like someone with an impatient personality…”

“I don’t like to waste time on useless things.”

“I see.”

Dok-bi raised his head to look briefly at the sky before opening his mouth.

What do you think the game is?

“Game is gambling.”

A silly question, a wise answer. That’s right, the game is the game. The game consists, in short, of competing. Players deploy all their abilities to determine the result.

“Competition…”

But lately, useless things keep interfering with the game tables, things like plans and strategies.

“Mmm…”

Wei Yan-ho looked at Dok-bi like he didn’t understand anything.

“Isn’t that what you’ve been doing all this time?”

“That’s right. But sometimes in life, you want to put those things aside.

“Mmm.”

Wei Yan-ho looked at Dok-bi as if he could not understand anything.

“So you lost on purpose?”

I’ve never lost on purpose, I’m out of luck.

Dok-bi smiled slightly and continued.

But thanks to my luck, for a while no one will be ruined because of the Golden Flower Hall. A new gambling house will appear and one day will try to squeeze people as did the Golden Flower Hall, but until then, I will be able to re-enjoy interesting gambling, right?

“But you must have lost everything.”

“What do you mean?”

Dok-bi asked Wei Yan-ho as if he didn’t understand.

“The things you had built.”

“Jojojo, you say interesting things.”

Dok-bi offered him his glass of wine.

“Do you see this?”

“What?”

“What’s in this glass of wine?”

“…nothing.”

“Is that so?”

Dok-bi poured wine into the glass.

“What now?”

“There is wine inside.”

Dok-bi lifted the glass again and drank the wine.

“Now that the glass of wine is empty, have I lost everything?”

“…”

Dok-bi shook his head.

“The important thing is not what is filled, but the container itself. I may have lost my reputation, followers and even credibility, but what I built was not those things. What really needs to be valued is my ability. A glass of wine serves to contain wine, right? Even if the wine is over, as long as there is a glass to contain it, I have not lost everything. Rather, it could be said that I have not lost anything at all.”

“…that sounds a bit like sophistry.”

Wei Yan-ho scratched the back of his head.

“And what if it’s sophistry? If I think so too, then that’s it, isn’t it?”

“That is also true.”

Dok-bi was a strange person.

Although he worked as a gambler, something common people despised, he did not lose his dignity.

And even though he lived in a world where winning and losing was everything, and claimed to live in a world of competition, he did not consider that to be all.

Jin So-ah and Jin Ye-ran distanced themselves because of their different values, despite following the right path. But Dok-bi stood firm in his principles while doing a work that everyone criticized.

Where does that difference come from?

Wei Yan-ho also turned his head to look at the sky.

What’s he like?

The face of his master seemed to overlap with the great full moon.

Wei Yan-ho looked at that moon for a while without saying anything.

After calling Wei Yan-ho a couple of times, Dok-bi also quietly bowed his glass of wine when Wei Yan-ho continued to look into the sky without responding.

It seemed like the wind was blowing from somewhere.

Wei Yan-ho turned his head to look at Dok-bi.

“You seem to have something deep to think about.”

– It’s really weird, isn’t it?

“What is it?”

“Perhaps I’ve been with the nicest person in the world so far.”

“…”

Whether it’s your job or your consideration of others, I spent a long time with someone very hard to find today, but I didn’t feel anything in particular. I just felt like I walked a road that I wouldn’t even dare think about. I knew it was amazing, but I couldn’t really feel it, so to speak.

Dok-bi nodded.

He seemed to understand what Wei Yan-ho was saying.

“I didn’t feel anything special about being with that person, but speaking to you, player uncle, I feel like some scheme has broken.”

“Hahahaha.”

Dok-bi laughed nicely and lifted the bottle of wine.

“That’s unfortunate.”

Dok-bi poured wine into Wei Yan-ho’s empty cup and lifted his.

“But isn’t that too natural?”

“Natural?”

Dok-bi laughed between teeth as if Wei Yan-ho’s reaction was fun.

“If people did the right thing naturally and avoided the wrong thing, why would gambling houses exist?”

“Ah…”

“That’s the way people are, even if they know something’s wrong, they’re still on that path.”

“Are you trying to say that work is not important, but the person?”

“I don’t know such difficult words.”

“Mmm…”

“However, what I do know is…”

Wei Yan-ho waited silently for Dok-bi’s next words.

“That’s how people are. Even in the same situation, they feel different things and follow different paths, and that’s what makes the world interesting, isn’t it? If everyone followed the path they should follow, how boring would the world be?”

“That is also true.”

“That’s why the last bet with you was nice, wasn’t it?”

Wei Yan-ho lifted his cup.

Dok-bi also raised his cup in silence.

The two cups crashed into the air.

The moon looked at them both in silence.

***

“Be careful on your journey.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.

“Come back quickly.”

“All right, all right.”

Joageol left the house with his wife dismissing him.

“What a beautiful climate!”

From the morning, the sunlight was warm: it was really a good day.

When I was working at the Black Spider Brotherhood, I couldn’t even imagine tomorrows like this.

His wife could not look into the eyes of others because her husband was a bully, and Joageol also felt great grief every time he went to work. When the Brotherhood of the Black Spider collapsed, she thought they would have no way of earning a living, but who would imagine that it would become a blessing in disguise?

“You’re leaving?”

When he entered through the front door, all the servants bowed in unison.

The patients will be here soon. Is the preparations going well?

Don’t worry.

While doctors, doctors and pharmacists were under the supervision of an independent chief administrator, Joageol was in charge of the management of domestic staff. It was a position that could be considered high, low, but Joageol was satisfied with his current position.

The salary was also quite decent.

“Is there a problem?”

“Well…”

What’s going on?

“It seems that today all the rooms will be full.”

“…is that so?”

Joageol scratched the back of his head.

“Well, I see.”

The Sacred Hand Hall was currently in a situation where businesses flowed smoothly.

Clients went constantly, and their reputation grew day by day. When treatment rates did not rise, even after the collapse of the false Sacred Hand Hall, people recognized the sincerity of the Sacred Hand Hall.

The main factor was that Ha Dae-bung, the chief administrator, spared no expense to bring in good doctors, and Jin So-ah’s reputation as heir to the Sacred Hand Hall also influenced a lot.

With all these factors combined, the Sacred Hand Hall now rose like a tiger with wings.

A branch of the Sacred Hand Hall would be established where the false Sacred Hand Hall used to be, so unifying Hubei’s medical world was not just a dream.

However,

If only there was one problem…

Joageol sighed deeply as he looked at the visible door in front of him.

In this place where everyone worked hard, there was an idle gentleman who was just loitering.

“Agh.”

It had been five days since I had seen that door open, except when the servants brought food, the door where that gentleman resided never opened.

“Then why do you stay here…”

Even when Ha Dae-bung offered to fix a house for him, saying it was embarrassing to see him working hard in front of people, Wei Yan-ho stayed in his room, saying it was annoying.

“ Supreme Elder. ”

Joageol called Wei Yan-ho quietly.

Only Jin So-ah, Ha Dae-bung and himself knew that Wei Yan-ho was the real owner of the Sacred Hand Hall.

It was natural for the other two to know it as they had founded it together, and Joageol was someone who knew how Wei Yan-ho had brought down the Brotherhood of the Black Spider and how he had extorted its wealth.

However, he fully agreed with Ha Dae-bung’s words not to tell others because it would be shameful.

Joageol carefully called Wei Yan-ho again, making sure the others could not hear.

“Um, Supreme Elder.”

No reply

“Sigh.”

Joageol let out a deep sigh and stepped on the wood floor. “It was obvious that he would be sleeping, so he intended to wake Wei Yan-ho.

“I’m coming in.”

Even without respect due to a Supreme Elder, as Joageol knew what level of master Wei Yan-ho was, each movement was cautious.

Crack.

He opened the door carefully and entered.

“Huh?”

***

Ha Dae-bung was absorbed in his office work.

“The road to recovery is long and arduous.”

Although the business was going well, since they had invested so much money, it seemed that it would take them long enough to recover it. But they had gained enough momentum, so in the long run, multiplying the invested money by several would not be so difficult.

“One place will not be enough for that.”

Ha Dae-bung’s mind began to be filled with plans for the next steps.

But unfortunately his thoughts could not continue.

Manager, something terrible has happened!

“Mmm?”

Ha Dae-bung frowned when he heard the voice coming from outside. “But since it was so urgent, he could not easily ignore it.”

Opening the door and leaving, he asked Joageol, who looked at him with anxious expression.

“What’s going on?”