Chapter 48
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Efficient Resource Management
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The next destination was the onboard casino.
"Welcome!"
Blinking lights enveloped me.
A blonde beauty in a bunny girl outfit was waiting for me.
She's pretty. No denying it.
Her thighs, veiled in mesh, were plump with enticing flesh. The lewd leotard, barely covering her nipples and vulgarly revealing, accentuated their breasts.
Her lower belly and navel were on full display, wriggling as if to seduce me.
The bunny ear headband and the fluffy tail at the hem of her outfit swayed every which way as she moved.
'...'
That was it.
It was quite revealing, but I'd just bathed with women who had tempted me naked moments ago.
It fell short. A word from me could probably make these bunny girls expose even more right here, but I had no desire to push it that far.
It would be boring. I could lay a woman on the table and fuck the bunny girl in front of me right now, but again, no real urge.
I headed deeper into the casino.
"Here are your chips. Have fun."
"...Sure."
I didn't know many games. I started with poker.
It was traditional Texas Hold'em.
The women at my table didn't seem particularly skilled either. One handled the cards with a relaxed, polite air, as if accustomed to this, but the rest looked like ordinary women just dressed as bunny girls.
Regrettably, I seemed worse than even ordinary people at cards. I lost a bit of chips. It didn't sadden or disappoint me. I'd come here to play, not to make money.
The next game was blackjack. I jumped in after some mathematical calculations, but lost again. Nothing remarkable.
It wasn't boring. Poker and blackjack are fun games by nature. That's why they've endured for so long.
Still, it grew tiresome inevitably. I turned toward the slot machines.
"Let's see..."
After three spins, the jackpot hit.
"Wha... what? How did that come up?"
A jackpot. Whether the machine wasn't rigged or not, every woman watching me was stunned.
Chips poured out in a stream. The clattering of plastic on plastic filled my ears.
Only then did I realize.
Why this casino felt so unamusing to me.
'Is that it...'
Regrettably, it didn't bring much joy.
If you asked whether jackpots were good, denying it would be a lie. People derive pleasure from 'success' in anything. Even if it's worthless happiness.
Spin a roulette where there's a 99% chance of bust and 1% chance of winning 1,000 won, and if you get the 1,000 won, you'd feel some joy. 1,000 won isn't much, but the fact of winning itself is happy.
That was all.
'Hmm...'
Meaningless. More precisely, I already possessed everything.
Gamblers enter with expectations. Success brings gain, failure loss. Any place defying that rule isn't a casino.
Card games like poker or blackjack are fun in themselves. But if that alone satisfied modern cravings, legal card game cafes would dominate the world.
Sure, there are board game cafes in busy districts, but someone stocking up on playing cards and opening one thinking, 'Poker and blackjack are fun too!' would surely fail in business.
Conversely, opening a gambling den with that mindset rarely fails—as long as you avoid raids.
Slot machines are even more blatant. No player input involved.
If someone declared, 'Even if jackpot hits, no payout,' and charged 100 won per spin, it wouldn't thrive.
Strange. If people truly went to casinos 'for fun,' pulling the slot lever should be enjoyable itself. But the world doesn't work that way.
Because there's no gaining or losing.
I already had too much.
The jackpot hit. In a real casino, an ordinary person grabbing this luck could cash in the chips for life-changing options.
Buy a new house, secure finances to live off forever.
Pour it all into that dream business, or go world traveling.
Indulge personal desires too. Dine at exorbitant restaurants costing hundreds of thousands per meal, sleep in luxury hotels ordinary folks can't imagine.
Seduce young beauties with expensive gifts to parade as lovers, or more simply, fuck high-class whores.
But I couldn't do any of that. Or rather, had no need.
In a normal casino, touching a bunny girl's ass or breasts, no matter how rich, gets you labeled rude and kicked out.
Not me. Not just harassment—I could whip out my dick and rape the bunny girl before me right now with zero issues. It wouldn't even be rape; she'd enjoy it.
Lifelong financial security? Got it. New house? Tell Nafre, and she'll buy any. Apartments tricky for security, but she'd arrange a standalone mansion several times better.
Fancy restaurants? I could go anytime now. Hotels same.
I could already do everything. This jackpot wouldn't change my life.
Failure was the same.
I failed at poker, blackjack. Slots too, twice.
But it brought no stress.
Not like slaving at a company, squandering hard-earned cash like an ordinary person. Not trading time, effort, pride for chips just to burn them.
Chips aren't money. Just plastic pieces. Go to the counter now and say 'more chips,' I'd get endless supply.
Money's the same. Not inherently valuable. Just tokens to compel actions or seize goods from others.
I don't need money. Lee Ha-seon is already in my grasp. Nafre obeys my commands.
Issue orders through Nafre, and she'll do anything I want. The only impossibles are what I deem unnecessary.
So this jackpot meant nothing.
Just round plastic discs falling.
The sun had set. The star dipped below the horizon, but the lights didn't fade.
A party was underway. Crowds clutched cocktails and snacks, reveling.
Not a bad sight.
An East Asian woman in a elegant kimono like the onsen owner sipped her drink. Bunny girls mingled, savoring their buzz.
Women who'd sunned in bikinis clinked glasses, toasting happily.
'Maybe... this is why.'
This cruise had been entirely for me until now.
Every person here was my sex slave without exception. They'd boarded to serve me, not enjoy themselves.
That was quite burdensome.
Mingling in crowds at an amusement park, queuing for rides—routine for me, enjoyable with normal senses.
But if I'm the sole 'customer' in a park where everyone else is staff or fake guests placed for me, it's hard to relax.
Sure, no lines, ride endlessly. I could dryly assess 'was the ride fun?'
Fair evaluation maybe, but not great for actual enjoyment.
Burdening. Feels like 'wasting resources' constantly. Not my loss, but whether all this preparation for me is going to waste.
Like being the lone reader of a novel with 1 view on latest update.
For a famous novel with millions of views, my reading or not changes little.
But a novel made just for me to enjoy? Skip it, and its value evaporates.
Waste. Even if others', can't help but care.
Like watching someone make spicy stew from a premium snapper—even if I hate fish, it'd feel wasteful.
Now it's different.
People laughing. Enjoying this moment independent of me.
I don't know how villains are treated in U.S. prisons, but surely worse than this.
This cruise might feel liberating to someone. They'd craved that cocktail for ages.
Thinking that eased my mind a bit. Because those people were happy.
Even if I derive zero fun from this trip, it wouldn't be meaningless waste.
I sipped my cocktail alone, away from the crowd.
Tasty. Lemon mingled with alcohol for a decent flavor. I'm no liquor connoisseur, so no clue on quality, but they wouldn't serve cheap swill for 'maybe my' drink.
Then, someone approached.
"Hey, you okay? You look lonely, like a nerd dragged to a party by friends."
South American beauty. Big ass, thighs, tits. Confident smile on her lips.
"Who knows."
"Loosen up. Looks like you finished that drink. Want some of this?"
She shook the bottle. I nodded.
I don't know why I felt this way.
Unlike other women overly elevating me, watching my every move, this South American approached casually.
Or maybe the alcohol softened my guard.
Or my patience reached its limit. Trivial compared to Lee Ha-seon's urges, but my lust wasn't negligible.
"Sure."
"Whoa, I didn't strike out. Lucky maybe... Nice to meet you. Carlea Lopez."
She topped off my glass with the bottle.