Chapter 131
I pulled over a chair and sat down.
I glanced at Liyeon, and he gave a slight shake of his head. Apparently, he had no particular desire to join the gambling.
I rubbed my hands together and looked back at the gambling table.
‘Heh heh, I’ve been waiting for this moment.’
Since Pleasure Pill was traded secretly, if I wanted to bring it up, I would normally have to speak to the owner of this place rather than an ordinary dealer.
But would the owner come out just because some common beggar called for him? In the end, I had no choice but to make him come looking for me himself, and to do that, I needed to cause a big commotion.
For example, winning an enormous amount of money.
‘Should I start off lightly?’
Just then, the dealer shouted loudly.
“Now, what number will come up this time?!”
Clatter!
The dealer shook the dice cup once and then turned it upside down on the table. The sound of the dice I had heard countless times pierced my ears.
The gamblers all placed their bets. After thinking for a moment, I put down one nyang of silver and said,
“Then I’ll bet on the high number.”
Once it seemed everyone had placed their bets, the dealer opened the dice cup.
The dice that had been hidden inside were revealed.
One was 3, another was 2, and the last was 4.
The total was 10. Small.
“Damn! I was sure it would be a high number. To lose money on the very first round. What terrible luck!”
The person beside me chuckled and spoke to me.
“Come on, man. You only bet that much and you’re calling it losing money? And what can you tell from just one round? You have to play a few times before you get a feel for it, don’t you?”
“Is that so?”
“Of course. See, if you play enough times, eventually you develop a sense for it. You get a feeling for what’ll come out depending on the dealer’s stance and the numbers. Then, that’s when you put down the big money!”
“Oh-ho, I see.”
“That’s right. Here, let me predict this one. This time… small. It’s small!”
“Small just came out. Wouldn’t it be strange for small to come out again?”
“I’m telling you, I’m sure! Put some big money on it this time!”
Just then, the dealer began shaking the dice cup.
I was tempted, but I casually put down two nyang. Seeing the money I had bet, he clicked his tongue, but without saying anything, he also bet on small.
And once again, the dealer opened the dice cup.
It really was small.
“It really was small! Thanks to you, brother, I won some money. I’m truly grateful!”
“Told you. Feels pretty good when you win some money, doesn’t it?”
I smiled and nodded. At the same time, I thought to myself,
‘This bastard must be a shill.’
The sort who let novices experience the thrill of winning a little money, then kept tempting them to continue gambling.
I continued participating in the gambling as though I had fallen for his scheme.
However, I didn’t bet large amounts. I simply repeated winning and losing with small sums of money.
The shill beside me kept encouraging me to bet big, but I didn’t pay him the slightest attention. That wasn’t what mattered to me.
“This time… high!”
And when I bet five nyang on high in the next round and won five nyang, I had a feeling.
This was it… It was finally time to make my move.
“Place your bets! Come on, place your bets!”
As always, the dealer was shaking the dice cup. I could hear the dice rattling inside the black wooden container.
Chara-rarak!
I quietly closed my eyes and listened to the sound. Every sound had its own variations in strength and weakness. Each of the three dice, and each face of those dice, made a slightly different sound when they struck the bottom.
Tap.
The dealer set the cup down.
I opened my eyes.
Then I immediately pulled out the money pouch from inside my clothes. I poured all fifty nyang of silver onto the table and declared confidently,
“I’ll bet it all on high!”
“Ooh, what’s gotten into you?!”
The shill beside me cheered. At his words, the dealer’s eyes lit up. It was as though he were looking at a fish that had finally taken the bait.
I could feel Liyeon’s anxious gaze on me, but I pretended not to notice and simply waited for the result.
Soon, the dealer opened the dice cup. Everyone craned their necks to check the revealed dice.
One was 3, another was 2, and the last one was… 6.
That made 11.
“I won!”
I shouted in delight and swept the money in front of me toward myself.
The others reacted the same way. Those who won shouted joyfully, while those who lost tore at their hair in despair.
The shill beside me congratulated me as well.
“Wow, you’re lucky, aren’t you? You bet big for the first time and won this much. Looks like you’ve finally gotten the hang of it?”
“Haha, as for getting the hang of it…”
I got the hang of it long ago. To tell the truth, except for the first one or two rounds, I already knew what numbers would come out of that dice cup.
It was because I listened to the sounds. Every die, and each face of every die, produced a slightly different sound. However, because the differences were extremely subtle, I had to be careful. That was why I had been pretending to watch from the side while concentrating on the sounds coming from the dice cup.
The same went for the fact that I had repeatedly won and lost in the previous rounds. I had deliberately pretended to lose money so as not to attract attention, but it was also a process of confirming whether my predictions were correct. Whenever I wanted to lose, I simply called out the opposite of the number I had predicted.
The result? Except for one or two times, they all matched.
And now was the moment.
‘Time to really have some fun.’
Once again, the dealer began shaking the dice cup. I immediately put down all 100 nyang I had just won.
“I’ll bet all 100 nyang on small!”
The dice showed 2, 2, and 3.
Small.
I won another 100 nyang.
“I’ll bet 200 nyang on high!”
I won another 200 nyang.
“I’ll bet 400 nyang on high!”
Another 400 nyang.
“I’ll put all 800 nyang on small!”
Another 800 nyang.
“N-no, no. You…”
The shill couldn’t finish his sentence as he watched me rake in money like a raging tide. The dealer’s eyes looked as though they were about to pop out of his head.
‘Heh heh, getting rich sure is easy.’
Getting excited, I slammed my hand on the table and shouted,
“What are you waiting for? This old man has only just started getting the hang of it, so hurry up and start the next round!”
A sense of foreboding flashed through the eyes of the dealer and the shill. They seemed anxious, as though they were afraid they were going to lose too much money at this rate.
A moment later, the dealer stammered,
“T-the next round will begin…”
Once again, the dealer began shaking the dice cup.
This time, the dealer didn’t merely shake the cup a few times. He shook it as if his life depended on it. The harder he shook it, the more frantically the dice inside the cup rattled.
Charak! Chara-rarak!
But I wasn’t flustered. I simply listened to the sound calmly.
Tap.
The dice cup stopped moving.
Now.
The moment the dealer set the cup down, I shouted,
“I’ll bet all 1,600 nyang on small!”
“Ooh!”
The people around me cheered. Before I knew it, they were more interested in whether I would win or lose than in whether they themselves would make money.
The dealer secretly peeked inside the dice cup.
His eyes trembled slightly.
‘So I was right.’
I smiled inwardly in triumph.
That was when it happened. The dealer seemed to clear his throat, then subtly pulled the hand holding the dice cup forward.
It was an extremely slight movement, but it was enough for the edge of the dice cup to strike one of the dice.
Tap.
The die toppled over.
My eyes nearly popped out too.
‘This bastard?’
How dare he try to change the result?!
“Ahem, then I’ll open the dice cu–”
“Wait!”
I hurriedly stopped him.
The dealer pretended not to know what was going on and calmly said,
“Why? The number you bet on can’t be changed now.”
“I-I’m not trying to change the number… I was just wondering if I could, perhaps, reduce the amount of money I bet? Come to think of it, I think I bet too much…”
“Boo! What a coward!”
“You’ve already placed the bet! You can’t lower the stake now!”
Everyone chimed in with their own comments.
I leaned forward and pretended to raise my left hand desperately, while at the same time slipping my right hand beneath the table.
Then…
Tap.
I gave the underside of the dice cup a tiny strike.
As I withdrew my hand, the dealer said,
“Once the stake has been placed, it cannot be withdrawn. That would be difficult.”
“This can’t be…”
I straightened up as though utterly despairing. Then I squeezed my eyes shut and clasped both hands together as though I couldn’t bear to look.
Watching me, the dealer gave an insidious smile.
“Then I’ll open the dice cup.”
Slowly, the dice cup tipped backward.
The three dice lying separately inside gradually revealed themselves.
A brief silence descended.
Everyone’s eyes focused on the dice.
Someone said,
“3…”
Another person said,
“5…”
Their gazes shifted to the final die.
Everyone held their breath.
And the dealer said in a trembling voice,
“1.”
3, 5, and 1.
Together, they made 9.
In other words, small.
My mouth fell open.
“Hand over the money!”
I was rich now!
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