Lotto (3)
Lotto (3)
"You scratch this part with a coin, and if matching numbers come up, you win."
"How are the prize tiers determined?"
The paper was just covered with something like silver foil, with nothing else written on it.
Ah, looking at the back, it seemed like the prize tiers were written there after all.
"The prize amounts are listed separately here."
"Ah-ha..."
So it's a double gacha system.
The prize amounts were random, and the winning numbers were random too.
Even if the numbers matched, the prize amount could be low — it was the kind of gambling that could leave you feeling pretty empty.
So you can't gain wealth in one shot!
It seemed like it might be a little fun, though.
"Let me get one of these."
"That'll be one thousand won."
This was also one thousand won, same price as the Lotto ticket.
That seemed to be the going rate in the gambling world.
Should I try sports betting next time?
Honestly, I didn't know much about soccer, baseball, or rugby, so I wasn't sure if I could even play, but still.
"What's that, Speeto?"
Just then, Jeong Hwan-yi and Lee Min-ho returned carrying baskets.
The baskets they carried were stuffed with snacks, practically bursting at the seams.
At a glance, it looked like it would easily exceed 100,000 won, never mind 50,000.
How many cans of cola did they grab...
"That's 50,000 won worth?"
"I'll cover the difference. Mom told me to buy snacks when I came."
"Ah, if that's the case, it's fine. I'll cover it."
Jeong Hwan-yi's mother always treated me like her own son and gave me lots of free extras every time I went to the fisheries center.
Especially when I bought king crab, she would even throw in freshly sliced raw fish on the house.
I wasn't sure snacks would be enough to repay her, but I hoped it would be some kind of repayment.
"Really? Mom's gonna be happy."
"Why?"
"For some reason, Mom really adores you. More than me, her own son."
Oh dear, what a terribly unfilial brat I was looking at.
A mother's heart was always as vast as the sea...
How could a son speak and act in a way that stabbed his mother in the chest?
I lightly tapped my fist against the head of Jeong Hwan-yi, who was spewing such worthless words.
Looking over, I saw Lee Min-ho was doing the exact same thing.
"Hey, that's not something you should say. You unfilial little brat."
"But I'm serious?"
"What do you mean serious, you punk!"
There were things you could say and things you couldn't, you little brat.
There was no way this brat could understand a parent's heart, vast as the sea in loving their child.
At the start of the school year, he'd put on every pretense of being mature, but now he was a total little kid.
Anyway, was this what they meant when they said raising a son was useless?
"S-So, you bought the Speeto to try it out?"
Lee Min-ho laughed while looking at Jeong Hwan-yi, who was clutching his forehead and groaning in pain.
Even if it hurt, he was the type who had to say what he wanted to say to feel better.
"Who knows, I might win?"
Buying a Speeto with Lotto winnings, and if that won another 50,000 won — that would truly be an infinite loop...
They say blessings come in a row, and since today was the day I won 50,000 won, maybe I would win again.
"That's probably harder to win than the Lotto, you know? And the prize is way smaller, like around 200 million won."
"Is it because you can check it right away?"
"Probably because it's quick and simple. Go on, scratch it already."
I took the 500-won coin Lee Min-ho held out and sat down at a table and a chair set up in one corner of the convenience store.
The two of them opened their snacks while watching me bring the coin to the lottery ticket.
Then the sound of carbonation escaping from a can of cola rang out with a chiiik.
"Here."
I took the cola and sipped a mouthful.
The intense carbonation passed down my throat, clearing my head.
"Thanks. But, is it okay to scratch this hard?"
It looked so thin that I felt like the paper would tear if I scratched too hard.
I'd never done this before, so I couldn't get a feel for how hard to scratch.
"Don't do it too hard... Is this your first time buying a lottery ticket?"
"Yeah."
"How come you've never even tried something like that?"
"Because I was poor?"
After I started dating A-ra, she did give me extra money each month for living expenses.
It was because I had to attend school and couldn't work a part-time job for long.
I already felt so bad taking money from her that I could die — and I was supposed to buy lottery tickets with that?
I wouldn't be able to forgive myself.
"Then what about now?"
"Now it's with free money, so it's fine."
"That's true."
Seeing Jeong Hwan-yi chuckle, I turned my face back to the lottery ticket.
"So if the same number appears here, I win, right? It doesn't matter if it's bigger or smaller?"
"Doesn't matter. The numbers just have to match."
So they had to match no matter what.
This was a lottery ticket with way too few options.
I gently scratched the silver foil part of the ticket with the 500-won coin.
Ah, so this was the thickness.
I just needed to use about the same amount of force as when I scrubbed A-ra's back.
As I scratched gently, the numbers gradually began to reveal themselves.
The first number was...
"It's number 7."
"Whoa... if a 7 comes up at the bottom too and you win, that's a lucky seven."
"Hey, don't drag it out, just scratch it already."
"Alright, alright."
Unable to withstand the urging of the two,
I started scratching the bottom part at a fast pace.
Huh...?
Looking at this, it seemed similar to before...?
"What is it, what number?"
"Number 7! It's a winner, I won!"
I didn't care how much I'd won.
I was happy just from the fact that I had won.
As I shouted and laughed in a good mood, Jeong Hwan-yi smiled wryly and shoved a snack into his mouth.
Omul-omul...
"Seong-hwan-ssi, early congratulations on your 500-won win."
"I won't accept the congratulations since I'm about to win 200 million won."
I flicked Jeong Hwan-yi on the forehead — he was already trying to crush my expectations.
If it really turned out to be 500 won at this rate, it was your fault, Jeong Hwan-yi.
"So? How much is the prize?"
"S-Stop rushing me."
The two leaned over my shoulders, urging me to scratch faster.
Were they trying to crush me to death?
"Uh....."
"W-What is it!"
When I made a strange sound, the two focused intently on the lottery ticket.
Both of their expressions turned dumbfounded as well.
"I'm not seeing this wrong, am I? This is a winner, right?"
At the spot I had scratched, the words 200 million won were plainly written.
***
"Noona!"
I burst into the house as if charging in, and A-ra was humming a tune while holding a laundry basket.
She'd probably done the laundry, dried it in the dryer, and was about to organize the clothes.
Why was our lovely wife trying to do even this kind of chore herself?
No, this wasn't the time for that.
"Noona! I won!"
"What? The Lotto?"
I did win the Lotto, sure.
But the important thing was that I bought a Speeto with those winnings and hit a huge prize.
"I won the Lotto too, but I just scratched something called a Speeto at the convenience store, you know?"
"Ah~, Noona's scratched those too. About 100 of them?"
100 of them?
Was that a lot?
It seemed A-ra had also dreamed of striking it rich once.
Nowadays she blew through about 200 million won in a flash, but it probably wasn't like that in the past.
"So how much did you win?"
"Curious?"
"Did you win about 50,000 won? How cute."
A-ra put down the laundry basket, walked over, and stroked my cheek.
She seemed to think I was her cute husband who'd come to brag about winning a few thousand won.
Oh dear... 50,000 won, she said.
I don't get surprised by amounts like that anymore.
"200 million."
"Huh?"
A-ra, who had been thoroughly stroking my cheek, froze, her eyes going wide.
I pulled out the Speeto I'd put in my pocket and showed it to her.
"I won 200 million won."
"...Really? 200 million?"
"Yes. I think if I use this and add some more money, we can rebuild the orphanage."
Unfortunately, since it wasn't the Lotto that had won, I'd probably have to put in a lot of my own money,
but I wasn't that disappointed.
In fact, I felt even better that I could build a building for Mom with my own money.
Oh, right — for reference, the orphanage director had retired and moved to the countryside.
When she retired, she designated Mom as her successor at the orphanage, and it seemed the foundation recognized it based on her length of service and her relationship with me.
"That's great. Noona will chip in a little too."
"It's okay. I want to do at least the new construction with my own money."
"Really? Then Noona can cover things like the interior costs, right?"
"Ah, right."
I'd been so focused on the building itself that I'd completely forgotten.
Once the building was up, the interior costs would be no joke either.
"Uh... Noona, do you have a rough idea how much that would be?"
"Looking at the blueprints you got from the architect last time..."
I gulped.
A-ra, who was well-versed in construction, would give me a figure close to the actual cost.
"It might come out to about 300 million won."
"Hurk..."
If I spent money on erecting the building, I'd have just over 100 million won left.
I might come up short.
"Don't worry. Noona will lend it to you."
"Ugh... It costs way more than I thought."
Actually, it was an amount I could save up in just a month or two,
but since starting construction on the building would take a long time, I didn't want to waste time.
"But your luck is incredible, winning first prize."
"I know, right? I stopped by the convenience store and it was sitting on the counter, so I bought it."
"So when are you going to go claim it?"
"Um... tomorrow?"
From what I'd heard, I had to go to the Nonghyup main branch.
Would it be cutting it close if I went after school?
"Going alone? Want Noona to come with you?"
"You don't have work tomorrow?"
"Yeah. Tomorrow's a rare day off."
What a shame.
If she'd had today off, we could have played together all day.
Why did our days off keep missing each other by one day...