Just Borrow It and Win It Back

"Just borrow it and win it back..."

"Sniff..."

A 500k VTuber sitting on the side of the street, bawling her eyes out. Faced with that utterly surreal sight, I asked her with a thoroughly bewildered expression.

"Um... how on earth did you end up like this...?"

"Well, you see..."

At my question, Saint Noa started sniffling while recounting everything that had just happened.

"I was actually at the Casino until just now..."

"Yeah, I can tell that much."

"And for some reason my luck was crazy good today. I was making decent money, so I ended up sitting there for about an hour..."

"......"

The chat messages kept coming, and since I had a guilty conscience, I quietly shut my mouth.

Saint Noa continued, growing more and more worked up.

"No, listen to me, Yume! I was seriously making so much money at first, you know??"

"I see."

"A whole 100 million won! Not 1 million, not 10 million—100 million! Until just a little while ago my account had eight zeros..."

"So. You lost it all?"

When I cut her off and asked, Saint Noa drooped her head powerlessly and answered.

"...Yes."

"......"

As expected, the ending didn't betray expectations. But she still hadn't come to her senses and started pouring out her grievances to me.

"No, but isn't this a bit too much?? There's a limit to how much you can troll someone! This is basically telling me to just quit the game!!"

"Then just quit."

"...I can't actually quit. And sure, gambling is my karma, but getting trolled on taxes too is crossing the line."

"Taxes?"

Her funds that had grown to 100 million won through gambling. The tax that was collected at a certain percentage based on the amount held. And with those two facts, I could easily infer what kind of trolling she had suffered.

"Saint Noa, don't tell me the tax was..."

"10 million won, damn it!!"

"To be exact, it was 10,175,830 won. And my current balance? A measly 508 won. Haha!"

"......"

It was truly a hopeless situation. So much so that words of comfort wouldn't even come out. I had no idea what to say in a moment like this and couldn't even force an awkward smile. That was when Saint Noa slowly began to reveal her true colors and spoke to me.

"So, about that, Yume..."

"...Yes?"

"Could you maybe lend me a little money...?"

"......"

"If you could lend me 10,000 won... no, 100,000. Add one more zero, so about 1 million won..."

She looked utterly pathetic, like an idol lobbying a CEO to debut at a late age. Faced with that sight, I put on a gentle smile and said,

"No."

And at those words, Saint Noa began to look even more pathetic.

"Aw, just once. I'm your senior, Yume. I taught you TRPG last time, remember? Okay?"

"Hmm..."

"Please!! Just close your eyes and help me once!! You can just borrow it and win it back!! I don't want to become a slave from day one!!"

"Hmmmm..."

"Please... have mercy on me... I have a bald octopus-like Jjusam and a dog-like cabbage—no, a cabbage-like dog bastard at home that I have to feed..."

"...Wow, this is..."

"O almighty Yume please protect this one with one million won lead me with your holy wisdom..."

"......"

Having finally reached the pinnacle of pathetic behavior, Saint Noa even started treating me like a god. I let out a sigh as if I couldn't win against her and said,

"Haa... I guess I have no choice. Since you're going this far, I'll have to lend it to you."

"Really??"

"Just kidding."

"......"

"Grrrr!! How dare you trample on my pure heart!!"

She started getting angry like the beautiful bead musketeers from some manga. Well, honestly, I had planned to lend it to her from the beginning. Her reactions were just so entertaining that I wanted to tease her a bit. Besides, I wasn't going to lend it for free. I actually had something I wanted to ask her for anyway.

I sent her the million won and continued speaking.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"I can't just give it for free. There are conditions."

"...Conditions?"

"Yes."

"W-what kind of conditions...?"

Fortunately she didn't seem to be planning to take the money and run; she asked about the conditions even while looking suspicious. I told her the condition I had in mind.

"Show me around the Casino."

I'm better at gambling than the average person. That makes sense, since I was once in the same group as an idol famous for gambling. And after three years in the casino, you learn how to hit the jackpot.

'Of course I don't know all the detailed rules.'

That's why I went out of my way to pay the hefty sum of a million won to hire Saint Noa as my guide. I knew roughly what kinds of games there were, but she would know better about things like the rules or which gambles were more favorable.

"First of all, all the gambling available in the casino right now are what we call banking games. Banking games are..."

"Gambling against the casino itself."

"W-what? You already knew...?"

"...Roughly."

I gave an awkward smile and brushed it off vaguely. Saint Noa continued her explanation.

"Anyway. There are only three types of gambling you can play in the casino right now. Slots, roulette, and Yacht."

"Yacht? You mean... that shaky shaky thing?"

"You're doing that on purpose, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Ugh...!!"

Yacht, also known as Yahtzee. A game where you roll five dice to make poker-like combinations. As expected from a board game maniac obsessed with TRPGs, she was diligently rolling dice even in the casino. The only difference was that the dice weren't the usual D20s but five D6s.

Anyway, Saint Noa headed toward the Yacht corner of the casino while continuing her explanation.

"Unlike regular Yacht, the rules here are a bit simpler."

"What do you mean by simpler...?"

"You get three roll chances. Then you get your betting money back according to the multiplier of the combination you make."

Just as she said, this casino's Yacht was simpler than the original. It was a game that pursued extreme dopamine, like condensing a long-form video into a one-minute short. The player bets money, rolls five dice, keeps the ones they want, and rerolls the rest. If you make a hand from the combination table within a total of three rolls, you succeed and receive the corresponding payout.

"And if you don't have any combination at the end, you lose all your bet. See? Simple, right?"

"...I get most of it, but what is that -1x at the end?"

"I don't know. That's exactly why I went bankrupt."

"......"

The malicious system was designed so that if you fail to get five of a kind while aiming for Yacht, you get cleaned out with -1x on four of a kind. They deliberately set the Yacht multiplier at a high 10x to lure in the moths. And one of those moths, Saint Noa, asked me with sparkling eyes.

"So... what do you think? Want me to show you how it's done?"

"I'd appreciate that."

"Heh heh heh... Then..."

When she manipulated the device on the table, the bet amount started rising rapidly. It was an ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠excessively bold bet considering it was borrowed money, so I frowned and asked her.

"Is it okay to go all-in like this?"

"This shitty game... I'm going to hit Yacht this time and quit while I'm ahead. If it weren't for the taxes, seriously."

"Then... let's gooooo!!!!"

After finishing her bet, Saint Noa pressed the button to roll the dice. The five dice thrown into the air spun wildly before free-falling onto the table.

Clatter clatter...

"Aah... ugh... this is..."

She looked disappointed that she didn't get the numbers she wanted. But she quickly pulled herself together and spoke with a bright expression again.

"This is fine! I can just aim for straight. Two straights should get me even anyway."

"I'll keep the 3 and 4 for now and roll again."

Maybe to increase the probability even a little? She kept the middle numbers 3 and 4 and did the second roll.

When she pressed the button, the remaining three dice were thrown.

Clatter clatter...

"KYAAAAAAAAO!!!! Yes!!!!"

Saint Noa let out a roar-like shout.

"No..."

It was a familiar scene that I felt like I'd seen every day until a year ago. She kept the dice and continued speaking in that damn otaku tone.

"The hand I currently hold is 1, 2, 3, and 4... The probability is one in six. If a 5 comes into my hand next, I can finally complete the straight."

"Now!! The score is complete!! Let's go win!!"

Then Saint Noa rolled the third time. A loud shout like the demon slayer who seems to have three ninja wives. And.

Clatter clatter...

The result was a 1. A dogshit failure.

"Son of a bitch!!!!!!!"

"Aaaaaargh!!!! No... this is a lie... this can't be real..."

"......"

In an instant she transformed, despairing like an independence fighter who had lost her country. Of course, this was also a sight I had seen so many times I was sick of it. Is it that gambling makes people weird, or do originally weird people play gambling? Well... all the gambling humans I know, including Saint Noa, are the latter...

Anyway. Through Saint Noa's play, I had roughly learned how the game worked. I also got the general idea of strategies for choosing higher probability options in the middle. And through that, the final conclusion I reached was this.

'This is hopeless.'

It wasn't structured in a way where you could make money. Of course no gambling is structured to let you make money... but since I'd come all the way to the casino, I couldn't just leave without playing any games. So I pushed the sobbing Saint Noa, who was having strange delusions, aside for a moment and immediately headed to the table.

"Huuuung... I'm going to be sold... sold to strangers for pocket change and forced to do all sorts of messed up things..."

The chat messages were all trying to stop me from playing, probably shocked by Saint Noa's appearance just now. I moderately reassured the viewers and started setting the bet amount.

"It's fine. I'm just going to try one round for fun."

The money I currently had on hand was about 4 million won. Even though Saint Noa had wasted a useless million, it was still not a small amount.

"Shall we start lightly with about 100,000 won?"

"Hey... what gambling addiction? I'm just going to do exactly one round and quit."

I had watched someone lose their entire fortune to gambling right in front of me. Even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠though it was a game, I had absolutely no intention of trying to make money relying solely on probability.

'Still, sometimes you have to do stuff like this to make it fun.'

Thinking that, I immediately started spamming the arrow button ten times to set the bet amount... Click, click click!

"Alright, let's roll right awa—"

"......?"

The chat's reaction was different from usual. Realizing that something had gone seriously wrong, I belatedly noticed that my entire fortune was in the bet amount.

"Huh...? Huhhh???"

"W-wait——"

Clatter clatter...

I tried to stop the game immediately, but the dice had already been thrown and were rolling. Before I could do anything, the dice scattered on the table revealed their faces.

My entire fortune had been multiplied by ten.

"?????"

I had question marks floating above my head.