Three Eight-Chapter 53
Hongju subtly peeked inside.
Guppping looked agitated—he must’ve failed to make a play.
The mark chuckled as he laid down three junk cards.
“Bomb’s going off! One from each, please.”
When he flipped one more card from the pile, it matched a February card already on the floor.
The players all let out bitter sighs as they each handed over a card.
Just in this turn alone, the mark swept up nine cards.
“No need to check—That’s a Three-Go!”
The mark was visibly thrilled, bouncing slightly as he organized his cards.
His excitement showed clearly on his face, and silent glances flew across the table.
Jaehee gave Guppping a quick signal, and Doksu and the other two players coughed lightly.
The next player managed to take a card but failed to score.
Then it was Guppping’s turn again.
“If Guppping fails to score here, it’s a Go-Bak, right?”
Jaehee’s voice, coming from the side, sounded genuinely worried.
“I know, I know.”
Guppping stared at his cards for a long time.
He was clearly trying not to show it, but anyone could see he was flustered.
He blinked too often and pressed his upper lip repeatedly—he didn’t have the card he needed.
“Come on, come on...”
He muttered to himself and slapped the cards down hard.
Slap, slap!
Three matching cards stacked right up.
“Ah, fuck!”
The card he needed didn’t come. Worse, he just stacked up junk.
The mark giggled and held one card high.
“How embarrassing for you.”
He brought the card down over Guppping’s stack.
Smack!
The four cards snapped together with a sharp slap.
Soft groans echoed around the room.
“Stop!”
Looking at the cards laid out before the mark, Hongju mentally calculated the score.
A Three-Go and Guppping hit with Go-Bak—
The score must’ve shot through the roof.
“Oh my.”
Jaehee covered her mouth with a laugh.
Even at a glance, it was a one-sided round.
“Alright, alright. 23 points, plus Mung-dda, double-double from Three-Go,
and double again from the bomb... Wait, last round got canceled, right?”
Every new word out of the mark’s lips added more money to the pot.
Jaehee awkwardly fanned herself, forcing a smile.
Guppping, pale as death, just trembled where he sat.
They’d meant to fleece the mark, and now they were the ones being skinned alive.
“736 points.”
At 1 million won per point, that made 736 million won.
A staggering sum.
Even though it wasn’t his own debt, Hongju felt the tension crawl up his neck.
The mark’s shiny eyes casually scanned over the players.
His gaze finally settled on Guppping.
“The boss here called a ‘Go’ earlier without an ounce of fear, huh.
So, three players’ share, doubled, that’s...”
“Wait, wait!”
Guppping, ghostly white, flipped through the remaining cards, scanning them desperately.
Like he couldn’t believe the mark had just wiped the floor with them.
“4.416 billion won.”
Guppping’s trembling hands now tore at his hair.
His wailing groan left no doubt about one thing—
the game he’d agonized over and prepared for had completely collapsed.
“Hey, fucker. You used a signal, didn’t you?
You asked for a light earlier—was that it?”
It was a mind-numbing sum.
Snapping, Guppping suddenly grabbed the collar of the player next to him.
His neck veins bulged red with rage.
“What the hell, man! You’re the one who kept calling ‘Go’—how is this my fault?!”
“Bit temperamental, huh? Boys, go calm him down.”
The mark smiled, showing off his perfect teeth.
Doksu clutched his head and bowed it low.
The three hulking bodyguards who had stood near Hongju now stepped inside.
The House thugs and Choi tried to block their path,
but the bodyguards pushed past them with overwhelming force.
“See? Told you I’ve got a knack for this.”
The mark dusted off his hands and pulled his coat from where it was draped nearby.
Jaehee shrugged and nodded with a grin.
“No kidding. Maybe you should change careers and become a pro.”
As the bodyguards filed in, the room suddenly felt much smaller.
The planted spectators, arms crossed and watching the game, began quietly slipping out of the room as the mood shifted.
Guppping’s uneasy gaze clung to the backs of their heads.
“Hey! Don’t you fuckers dare spread rumors! Nothing’s been decided yet!”
But no one seemed to see or hear Guppping anymore.
The mark simply gave a quiet command to his bodyguards.
“Paper and pen.”
One bodyguard pulled paper and a pen from inside his jacket.
Guppping’s bloodshot eyes turned sharply to Mu-gyeong.
“You saw, right? Mu-gyeong, you saw them swap the cards!
You were sitting right there, yeah?!”
Guppping’s face, looking for affirmation, was a grotesque mix between laughing and crying.
Mu-gyeong tilted his head and merely shrugged, as if he were just some bystander.
“How would I know?”
“You fucking—”
Even from the threshold where he stood, Hongju could clearly see Guppping’s eyes twitching.
“I’ve never written anything like this. Jaehee, you do it.”
Jaehee took the pen and bit off the red cap with her lips.
Then she began writing effortlessly on the paper.
As the pen scratched across the surface, Guppping’s resistance flared.
“You fuckers, you fucking snakes! Trying to stab me in the back?!”
His entire body trembled with fury, his voice rising to a scream.
One of the bodyguards effortlessly subdued him and slammed him face-down onto the hwatu table.
“You taking what’s here? Or should we just wipe the place?”
“I don’t want dirty money.
I like mine crisp. Bring fresh bills.”
The mark laughed loudly, rubbing his fingers in front of Guppping’s face.
Jaehee followed up smoothly, used to the rhythm.
“What’s the collateral? Guppping’s fingers are already down four.”
“Hm... Still gotta put something up, right?”
One bodyguard pressed down on Guppping’s head,
flattening his cheek against the hwatu cards.
His bloodshot eyes turned toward Jaehee.
“You bitch... You were in on this?”
His voice was slurred and muffled from the pressure, but the fury was unmistakable.
“In on it?
I’m on the side of whoever shares the pot.”
Jaehee let out a laugh of disbelief. Her hand didn’t hesitate for a second as she wrote the amount across the paper: 4,416,000,000 won.
The moment the final period was marked, Guppping exploded.
“You think you can stab me in the back and walk away clean? Fuck, you’re all dead. I’m not letting this go!”
“You’re the one who hit a Go-Bak and lost. Who are you blaming?”
Jaehee passed the pen to the mark.
He carefully reviewed the amount, then flourished his signature across the page.
Jaehee pulled a lipstick from her bag and applied another layer to her lips.
Then she turned and smeared it generously onto Guppping’s thumb, still held in place by a bodyguard.
“Guppping, this color looks awful on you.”
She laughed as she spoke.
Once the thumb was thoroughly coated, she pressed it down next to his name with a firm stamp.
The bodyguard took the signed debt note, folded it neatly, and slipped it into the inner pocket of his suit.
The mark stood, retrieving his coat.
“I’ll come collect the fresh bills sometime next week. Let’s not make this awkward for everyone by being unprepared.”
It all moved as smoothly as if it had been scripted from the start.
As the mark draped his coat over his shoulders, he glanced briefly toward Mu-gyeong—then exited the room.
The bodyguards and Jaehee followed behind.
Those left behind were frozen in a state of panic.
No one looked more devastated than Guppping.
He writhed and screamed, still sprawled across the hwatu table,
spitting curses, grabbing scattered cards from the floor and throwing them.
“Fuck! That lowlife son of a bitch—dragged him here begging him to come, and all I get is a goddamn bombed hand!
Fuck! What if those people watching spread this around?! This is how we make a living—how the fuck are we supposed to survive?!”
Ptuh!
One of the players spit on the floor and stood up.
“Take thirty percent, my ass. This is all that’s left!”
The two players grabbed the scattered bills near Guppping’s seat and split them between them.
Guppping must’ve promised them a cut in exchange for participating in the setup.
He probably assumed they’d fleece the mark clean,
so he’d bragged they’d get paid no matter the outcome.
His bravado didn’t even need to be confirmed—it was obvious.
“We’re taking this. It’s not even close to enough,
but this is all we’re getting, so we’re gone—got it?”
One of them tapped Guppping’s cheek with the bills.
Guppping just blinked, dazed and hollow-eyed.
The two players grabbed their gear and left.
This chapter is updated by freēwēbnovel.com.
The room, once bustling, now felt suffocating with tension.
Click, clack.
The quiet sound of Mu-gyeong flicking open and closed his Zippo echoed through the silence.
“I should’ve just died, huh? Fuck. I’ll die, and I’ll drag those motherfuckers to hell with me.”
Muttering like a man gone mad, Guppping suddenly sprang up.
He charged toward the window where Mu-gyeong sat.
Half his body leaned out as if ready to jump—
but Mu-gyeong casually yanked his collar, and Guppping tumbled to the floor.
“You think you get to die after taking ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) my investment?”
The icy tone was nothing like his usual sly banter.
Startled, Guppping sucked in a frantic breath and scooted backward on his ass.
Mu-gyeong strode forward and crouched before him in a single, fluid motion.
“Now what should I do with this pathetic fuck?”
His narrowed eyes and muttered words were genuinely terrifying.
Even Hongju, standing silently by the door, swallowed dryly.
Mu-gyeong pulled his phone from his coat and made a call.
“I’m gonna need someone to watch this place.
The owner of the House lost everything—he’ll run the second we blink.”
At that, Guppping’s breath hitched sharply.
The call, which had been little more than a string of commands, ended in under a minute.
“P-President Mu-gyeong...”
Mu-gyeong opened the Zippo in his hand again.
As the flame flared to life, he brought it slowly toward Guppping’s face.
“You see it?”
“...Y-yeah, I see it.”
His hand moved steadily closer.
When the flame touched the ends of Guppping’s unkempt hair, it sizzled—tsshh—and smoke curled upward.
“AAAHH!”
Panicked, Guppping slapped at his head with both hands.
His hair now slightly scorched and curled at the tips, he clutched it as his lips trembled.
Clack.
Mu-gyeong shut the lighter and slipped it into his inner pocket.
“Old man’s still got good eyesight. Maybe you could sell those eyes.”
His movements as he stood were clean and efficient.
Guppping scrambled to cling to Mu-gyeong’s leg.
“Wait, wait—what are you saying? Just hold on! Listen to me, please!
I—I can handle this! I’ll pay it all back! Just let us finish opening the House...”
“Before that, we should settle our own balance, Gu Madam.”
“Please! Just wait!”
Mu-gyeong looked down coldly at the man clinging to his leg.
“You racked up over 4 billion in debt tonight.
You think you’re gonna pay that off in this lifetime?”
“But the construction’s almost done! Once we open, we can cover it all—fast, I swear!”
Guppping’s voice cracked with desperation as he clung pitifully to Mu-gyeong.
From the corner, Chief Yang suddenly kicked a beer can across the floor.
“See? This is what we get for letting that damn kid into the game!”
“You talking about me?”
Doksu’s face twisted, rising to his feet.
Dark, swirling tattoos covered the forearms under his rolled sleeves.
“Are you seriously fighting now?”
One of the House thugs stepped between them before things could erupt.
The House was in shambles—one side crying, the other seething with rage.
The cramped room was filled with clashing emotions.
Standing in the middle of it all,
Hongju said nothing—he just watched Guppping fall apart.
