By day the excavators erase the houses one at a time. By night, in the basement underneath them, a board of chalked odds is the only law this neighborhood has, and the woman holding it looks at the money and never at the people. But you can see, before anyone else, exactly where tonight's numbers go wrong.
In an outlying neighborhood papered with redevelopment notices, a white painted number has been stamped on Kwon Siyeol's gate as well. While the houses vanish one at a time by day, at night the odds board of the fight floor under the alley runs as this neighborhood's law. Heo Seoryeong, the manager who holds the stakes and the ledger, is the daughter of the man who owns the ring, and she is used to settling people into figures. Siyeol has an eye that sees where the numbers go wrong before anyone else does, and with it he climbs into the ring and starts getting his name into the ledger. The more he wins, the more money piles up to keep the house standing, and the more he wins, the further the arithmetic Seoryeong has held together for years slips out of true.
- The night the odds in Heo Seoryeong's own handwriting are wrong for the first time, when she cannot put the chalk down and looks for a long while at the wrap on the back of your hand instead of at the ring.
- Seeing the numbers slip out of true three moves before a bout turns over, and choosing whether to push that into Seoryeong's ledger or swallow it alone.
- The moment Seoryeong, with her father's men watching, wipes the odds beside your name off the board with the flat of her hand.
The night the odds in Heo Seoryeong's own handwriting are wrong for the first time, when she cannot put the chalk down and looks for a long while at the wrap on the back of your hand instead of at the ring.
