Chapter 4
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Addiction
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The moment Kim Jin-seong received 25 million won, he started betting again, aiming to recover up to 60 million won.
Sports betting felt unsatisfying because the matches took too long and waiting around was boring.
He turned back to analyzing the familiar ladder game patterns.
But lately, the ladders made no sense no matter how hard he looked.
They never came out the way he predicted.
Sections that looked perfect to him flipped every single time.
'Why is this happening...?'
Jin-seong began to lose his confidence.
He desperately waited for just one perfect section in an hour—only 12 rounds—to make recovery easy.
But that perfect section never came, not even once.
Suddenly, a different thought crossed his mind.
'What if I go against my predictions?'
It seemed like a good idea.
He deposited 10 million won first.
With 15 million won left, he felt secure.
His hands trembled as he waited for the results.
Odd came out four times in a row.
Normally, Jin-seong would have ridden the line straight to odd,
but today he had a different strategy.
Thinking the line wouldn't stretch forever,
he waited, figuring, 'It'll break soon.'
And on the fifth odd, Jin-seong bet 3 million won on even.
The result was odd again.
'No way, odd again...?'
Growing anxious, he waited for the next result and used the Martingale strategy to bet 5 million won on even.
The result was odd. The line kept going endlessly.
Now he only had 2 million won left.
His heart pounded like mad.
'This time it has to break...'
With shaking hands, Jin-seong bet his remaining 2 million won on even, but unbelievably, it was odd again.
Odd had already strung together eight in a row.
If he'd followed the line as usual, it would have been more than enough to recover.
But by doubting the line and betting on a break,
he'd only made his losses worse.
He felt extreme regret over his chosen path.
'Why did I think to go against it...?
If I'd just stuck to my usual way, I'd have recovered everything by now.'
Now he couldn't stop.
With trembling hands, Jin-seong recharged the full remaining 15 million won.
'It has to break this time. This is really the end.'
He bet 5 million won on even.
The result was odd again. Nine odds already.
His mentality crumbled.
Jin-seong stared blankly at the computer screen with a dazed expression.
He couldn't switch back to odd now.
He went all-in on even with his last 10 million won.
'Please, this time for real...!'
But the result was odd again.
Jin-seong collapsed.
His fingertips shook, and his chest felt tight.
His eyes turned red and bloodshot.
He couldn't even cry.
In the end, the section Jin-seong entered was a streak of 17 odds.
If he'd followed his original method from the start and ridden the odd line,
he would have not only recovered but made even bigger profits by now.
In the family room, wails echoed from people who'd similarly broken the line and gotten wiped out, just like Jin-seong.
Despairing laments poured out from everywhere.
Jin-seong resented his own judgment more than anything.
That single thought of "let's go against it" had destroyed everything he'd built.
He even felt disgust toward himself.
'Why only today of all days...?'
He stared at the screen with hollow eyes.
Self-loathing and despair deeply consumed him.
No one but himself had dragged him into this hell—he floundered in a pit of his own making.
After losing everything, Jin-seong completely lost the will to live.
All that remained was a 25 million won debt.
He had no income, and starting next month, he had to repay the card loan in equal principal and interest installments of 1.2 million won every month.
This reality was unbelievable to him—like a nightmare.
From then on, Jin-seong started begging friends and acquaintances for money.
He never wanted to live by borrowing, but he no longer had the luxury of pride.
The people he'd treated to meals and drinks before gladly lent him money when he promised, "I'll pay it back by next month."
200,000 won here, 300,000 won there—even a friend who lent him 1 million won.
In total, he scraped together 5 million won that way.
The humiliation he felt while borrowing was indescribable,
but his mind was already fixed on just one thing: recovery.
He had no time to think about the consequences.
'5 million won...'
It was an amount he could have casually blown on one or two bets in the old days,
but for an ordinary person, it was no small sum.
With desperate resolve, Jin-seong carefully deposited 1 million won at a time,
setting small daily goals of 200,000 or 300,000 won, and started steadily.
'If I can just make 1 million won a day, I can definitely pay off the card loan interest before the due date.'
But for someone used to raking in millions,
making less than 500,000 won a day didn't even feel like winning.
He was just forcing himself to endure because he had no backup funds.
Yet if he couldn't recover with 25 million won,
there was no way he'd do it with a mere 5 million won.
His initial caution and vows crumbled quickly.
A short losing streak later, Jin-seong lost control of his emotions again,
and his bet sizes started climbing.
In the end, the hard-earned 5 million won vanished in a single day.
Jin-seong didn't even feel anger anymore.
There was no sadness, either.
He just stared blankly at the computer screen, murmuring to his empty heart.
"What... what do I do now?"
With an empty head, an empty chest, and no emotions left,
Jin-seong resembled a hollow shell rather than a person.
And so, he kept crumbling endlessly.
Jin-seong had no answers left.
His card loan debt of 25 million won plus the 5 million won from friends made a total of 30 million won in debt.
He had to repay the 5 million won to his friends within the month,
but he wasn't working and had no income.
Jin-seong's days were a nonstop chain of anxiety and unease.
Time crawled by, every moment pure agony.
Once the debt was cleared, he'd never even glance at gambling again.
He was exhausted, forgetting to eat.
His appetite vanished, and his body wasted away.
Locked in his room all day, he chain-smoked and berated himself.
'How did it come to this...?'
All sorts of dark thoughts flooded his mind.
For a fleeting moment, extreme ideas like stealing crossed his thoughts.
But rationally, 30 million won wasn't an impossible sum to repay.
If he cut back on hanging out and worked diligently for a year,
he could earn it.
Yet he felt too wronged to make such practical judgments.
In the end, unable to hold out any longer, Jin-seong confessed everything at home.
His parents had lived their whole lives in poverty, sacrificing everything.
His father, never able to attend school as a child,
had supported his siblings and mother by taking any job that came his way.
His mother, orphaned young without any family support,
had met his father and endured over 20 years of hardship, raising their son and daughter while running a Chinese restaurant in a building they'd barely managed to buy.
For such parents, their son admitting to gambling debt and begging for help was a bolt from the blue.
Unable to turn away their gaunt, desperate son,
they fell into a long silence before finally speaking.
"This is the last time. Make sure it never happens again."
And so, his parents somehow paid off the full 30 million won.
Jin-seong couldn't lift his head in front of them.
The moment the money was settled, he vowed sincerely.
"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I'll do better from now on.
This will never happen again."
After that, Jin-seong worked silently at his parents' Chinese restaurant, earning just over 2 million won a month.
For the first month, he really threw himself into work.
He didn't touch gambling at all.
Jin-seong comforted himself that the past few months had been an expensive lesson.
About two months after Jin-seong started working at his parents' shop,
he'd cut off contact with his old group entirely.
He only met occasionally with his girlfriend Hyo-jin,
enduring day by day in silence.
The temptation of gambling crept back now and then,
but he knew better.
'If I touch it just once more, I'll end up ruined again.
I can never beat gambling.'
But don't people say things like that?
Gambling isn't something you quit—it's something you endure.
Jin-seong repeated a routine of arriving at 10 a.m. and leaving at 8 p.m.
After work, he'd wrap up the day with a can of beer and some drama watching—his one source of healing and hobby.
It was one such day.
He got a message from his old buddy Seong-gwang after a long time.
『Hey Jin-seong, you free? Let's grab coffee.』
Seong-gwang, who'd grown up in the same neighborhood since elementary school,
worked admin at a famous herbal clinic.
The two friends, meeting after ages, greeted each other warmly without awkwardness.
"What've you been up to lately? No word from you."
Jin-seong hesitated briefly before coming clean.
"Honestly, I got into some big trouble with gambling.
I've paid it all off now and I'm just working bit by bit to get by."
Seong-gwang looked at him in surprise.
"Really? That must've been rough.
Glad you wrapped it up okay."
Seong-gwang offered sincere comfort.
But Seong-gwang had a secret of his own.
"Thing is... I do Toto too.
Started about two years before you, I bet?"
He broached it carefully.
Luckily, Seong-gwang had talent—he hadn't lost money, only made profits.
He bought luxury goods with it and had plenty for dates with his girlfriend.
Jin-seong, who'd once lived that life, gave heartfelt advice from experience.
"Gwang, be careful for real. Even if you lose it all, never go into debt.
It turns you into less than human."
Seong-gwang laughed it off lightly, brimming with confidence.
"Don't worry about me. I never make losing bets. Watch."
Right there, Seong-gwang recharged 200,000 won and started playing ladder.
Jin-seong watched from the side, thinking, It's not my money, so what the hell.
But Seong-gwang lost the 200,000 won in minutes.
"Ah, the sections suck today."
Jin-seong chuckled.
"Want me to give you some picks?"
Seong-gwang recharged another 200,000 won without hesitation.
"Yeah, you try. If we win, I'll give you a cut."
And so, the two sat in the cafe playing ladder for an hour.
Jin-seong's picks hit with astonishing accuracy.
Seong-gwang's balance ballooned to 1.5 million won in no time.
Seong-gwang was amazed.
"Jin-seong, you're seriously good!"
In high spirits, Seong-gwang immediately transferred 500,000 won to Jin-seong.
And just like that, Jin-seong tasted the thrilling rush of gambling again—the one he'd tried so hard to forget.