How I Achieved Economic Freedom
I achieved economic freedom this way.
It was the evening after my first concert. Back at the dorm, a thoroughly drunk Do Hamin had said this to me.
“Now that I think about it, sis… have you ever heard this saying?”
“...What saying?”
It was still the time when Shin Seohee was playing pimp, and Ayaka was, as always, mysteriously absent. That’s why the only two left in the crumbling, run-down dorm were us.
Clack. Clack.
On the phone screen, mahjong tiles stacked up in a dizzying pile. After taking a swig of cheap liquor, Do Hamin giggled and spoke to me in that carefree, slightly slurred voice.
“Beginner’s luck. When you’re a total newbie and first step into the gambling den. For some reason, you end up winning a ridiculous amount of money.”
“......”
I had heard it before. Not in a gambling den, of course, but in a book called The Alchemist. Still, Do Hamin kept talking.
“It’s all just marketing in the end. The casino rigs the tiles to lure customers in. If you can walk away after hitting it big, you profit. If you can’t and stay glued to the table, that’s the end of your life.”
“...If you know that, why the hell do you gamble?”
I asked, genuinely unable to understand. Do Hamin laughed playfully.
“Because it’s fun, isn’t it?”
Even with her eyes glazed over, they sparkled with a clarity that didn’t match a gambling addict at all.
“......”
Overwhelmed, I stayed silent and listened as she continued.
“You know it’s coming, but you still fall for it. That’s just how humans are designed.”
Humans were never built to think about the future. We’re foolish creatures who can only live in the present. That’s why, even if nothing but ruin waits ahead, we still bet everything on the slightest chance and charge forward like moths to a flame.
After spouting that twisted logic, she told me,
“And besides, sometimes it actually happens, right?”
Tsumo!
A brilliant effect exploded from the discarded mahjong tile. Shoving the phone screen toward me, Do Hamin flashed a dreamy smile.
Thirteen Orphans — 13-Sided Wait
“A miracle like that.”
Not long after, a miracle happened to our group too.
The money had multiplied tenfold. Four million won had become forty million. Saint Noa stared with her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish.
⚅⚅⚅⚅⚅
“Uh… uh, uh, uh…”
“So this is what happens when Yacht explodes…”
“Hey. Stop talking nonsense.”
Yacht had exploded. The phrasing felt a little off, but it wasn’t wrong. I had rolled the dice once and my assets had multiplied by ten. It sounded like something that would appear in one of those sleazy NewTube AI self-help videos… but amazingly, this was real.
I told the viewers,
“This is how I accumulated forty million won in my twenties and achieved economic freedom.”
“And the person next to me is about to go into a thousand-coin debt and become a slave.”
“......”
Only then did Saint Noa seem to snap back to reality. Still reeling from the shock of the Yacht explosion, she spoke to me in a trembling voice.
“C-can’t we just call it a draw…?”
“Where does that even exist? When did we ever agree to a match in the first place?”
“......”
At my gentle refusal, Saint Noa hung her head, lost for words. Then she suddenly dropped to the floor and grabbed my pants leg.
“One more round!!”
“No.”
“Aaaang, just once!! Come on, one more time is fair, right??”
“Haa… where do you get off acting so cute?”
“For real, this is the last one! The absolute last one!! Just one more round, pleeease!!”
“I said no.”
Tsk. This is exactly why gambling addicts lose everything. The more you play, the more the law of averages kicks in. Just because you hit ten times once doesn’t mean it’ll happen again. If you bet with that naïve “it’ll be different for me” mindset, you’ll get wiped out and lose everything.
‘It’s basic probability even a high-school dropout knows.’
Or maybe she really never went to school? Saint Noa frothed at the mouth like a true gambling addict and yelled at me.
“If Yacht hits again it’ll be a hundred times, right?? Four hundred million won?? Server first place, right??”
“No…”
“You’re just gonna pass up a hundredfold cash payout?? You’re gonna pass up server first place?? Did you cut your dick off?? Are you fucking stupid??”
“......”
Amazingly, I really was the kind of person who had cut her dick off. In fact, I was the queen of dickless people—I had even made money off of it.
‘After all, being an idol is literally a job that lives off sexual objectification…’
Of course that wasn’t something I could say on stream, so I changed the subject.
“Anyway, what are you going to do?”
“Stop changing the subject!! Are you doing it or not??”
“No… you’re about to become a slave. Taxes are coming in a few minutes.”
“...What.”
Taxes will be collected shortly.
While Saint Noa was throwing a fit, the server message appeared. The same Noa who had been rampaging like a maniac instantly went quiet.
“Hmm… now that I think about it, I happen to have forty million won right here…”
“......”
“What should I do? Should I help you out a little?”
“What’s your angle?”
Saint Noa asked, voice full of suspicion at my suspicious offer. I answered in a deliberately innocent tone.
“Well… it’s nothing special. It would be inconvenient for me if you went bankrupt right now.”
“Inconvenient…?”
“Yes. It’s still too early in the game.”
Slaves can’t buy invitation tickets. And the TRPG party still hadn’t received their server invites. If Saint Noa went bankrupt and became a slave, it would be much later before they could join. In the worst case, they might not get invited at all.
‘I haven’t even invited Latte yet. I don’t have the bandwidth to worry about them too.’
I couldn’t let one of my few remaining connections slip away so easily. But I couldn’t invite them myself either, since invitation tickets were limited to three per person.
Money was plentiful, but tickets were limited. In that case, it was better to increase the number of allies right now.
With a deep smile, I told Saint Noa,
“I’ll lend it to you. Ten million won.”
“Really??”
“I’m not lying.”
“Instead, there’s a condition.”
“W-what is it…?”
Saint Noa swallowed hard and asked. I paused for a moment, enjoying her nervous expression, then continued.
“Become Fire Punch for me.”
There was one troublemaker I needed to deal with.
Author: Anonymous
Clip of Yume hitting Yacht
What did you expect when you clicked?
Author: Anonymous
Clip of Yume saying “Come here, male prostitute”
Yume doesn’t hold back
Author: Anonymous
Clips of the hater complaining to Angel, starting fights with VTubers, and PKing in front of the village
Author: Anonymous (211.36)
They’re all just going into tunnels and mining...
Author: Pdd*
The Bankruptcy Heaven server is on fire
Is a funeral happening or something?
Bankruptcy Heaven, Day Two.
When I returned, the server was on fire.
Whoosh!
⊳ Was yesterday’s Fire Punch foreshadowing lmao
“......”
I passed out on the spot.