Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Indian Poker Stakes
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46.
Jeong Da-ram was a woman who couldn't comprehend the two letters that spelled "love."
Her mother worked in a brothel, and her father was always changing—some emotionless face silently tossing money her way.
Growing up in that environment, Jeong Da-ram gradually came to see men not as objects of love, but as things to squeeze every last drop of juice from, only as much as needed.
So she toyed with them at will, convinced it was fine to do so.
*Just like they did to my mother.*
That was the Jeong Da-ram I knew.
*****
"This'll be fun too!"
"......"
"This game looks fun! Right, Ghost Story Oppa?"
"......"
This woman is seriously annoying!
Does she think she's just gonna drag me around?
Not a chance.
Right now, I'm a ghost story.
At least for today....
"Instead of wasting time, why not play a proper game?"
Park Yeon-jeong lightly raised one hand.
As his voice dropped coldly, the atmosphere around them froze in an instant.
The people gathered at the table tensed up immediately.
The two employees instinctively shrank back, and even Jeong Da-ram looked surprised.
"H-Huh?"
For the first time, she seemed to realize she wasn't in control of the situation.
"Let's see."
Park Yeon-jeong slowly scanned the cards on the table.
The game table had only number cards laid out—no Q, J, K, or jokers.
The moment Park Yeon-jeong saw the setup and the table, one game came to mind.
[Indian Poker.]
The rules were as follows.
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One card you can't see.
One card you can see.
Two cards in total, and the game begins.
The card you can't see is revealed only to your opponent, so players must infer their hidden card based on the one visible card.
You can guess the hidden card from your opponent's reactions and words.
It's a psychological game where you bet on what you think is the higher hand.
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But.
The Indian Poker here excluded all that mind game nonsense, relying purely on luck.
Ante betting.
Then cards dealt.
It looked no different from a roulette machine on the surface.
"Come on, oppas! Hurry up and sit!"
"Y-Yeah!"
Seeing the male employees getting dragged around by Jeong Da-ram just like him, Park Yeon-jeong felt a strange sense of camaraderie.
My comrades.
Soon, with Park Yeon-jeong and Jeong Da-ram seated there, along with the remaining two employees.
Text appeared on the table.
- Please state your ante amount before starting Indian Poker.
The first to speak up at the request for ante was.
"50 coins!"
Jeong Da-ram jumped in first.
She boldly tossed the coins onto the table.
Seeing that, the two male employees exchanged glances and spoke up.
"We'll do 50 coins each too."
Once all three had spoken, black text appeared on the table again.
-150 Coin.
Park Yeon-jeong caught the subtle tremors and wariness in the two employees.
He sensed some hidden intent in their eyes.
"I'll sit this round out."
"......What? But you said to play, Ghost Story Oppa!"
Jeong Da-ram blinked.
"No way...... Did Ghost Story Oppa chicken out?"
"No way. You all play the first game with your friends. I'll join the next one."
Park Yeon-jeong flashed a light smile. He tapped the table casually and added.
"Watching your hands will be more fun."
Flinch!
The two employees went pale.
I'd brazenly blurted it out.
But Park Yeon-jeong couldn't shake off the disaster from 30 minutes ago, when he'd lost 90 coins to the roulette machine.
Gambling required caution—he'd learned that the hard way.
And so, the total coins gathered on the table were.
-150 Coin.
Betting over, cards began to be dealt.
The game had progressed quite abruptly, but unlike Jeong Da-ram, who seemed to be enjoying the moment.
The two employees' eyes showed intense seriousness.
Park Yeon-jeong decided to observe the game to familiarize himself with how it worked.
And also to gauge how well the people thrown into this ghost story understood the game.
It might resemble the Indian Poker we know.
But it wasn't just ordinary Indian Poker.
- Let the game begin.
With the new text, the game started.
Cards were dealt to the three participants, and Park Yeon-jeong stepped back to watch.
A card floated above each participant's head, and Park Yeon-jeong slowly checked their hands.
A card floated above each participant's head, and I first checked the card in Jeong Da-ram's hand.
-♦10
A pretty high card.
My gaze naturally shifted to the other card floating above Jeong Da-ram's head, in the air.
-♣3
......Hmm.
Not a great card on her forehead, but I didn't think it was a situation to give up easily.
I then checked the cards above the other two employees' heads.
-♠8
-♣7
High ones.
This round looked set for a fierce psychological battle.
"I'll fold."
"I'll fold too."
?
But both declared they were folding at the same time, set their cards down, and with the two employees folding, the winner of this game was.
Jeong Da-ram.
"Whoa! I won!"
Soon, the coins etched on Jeong Da-ram's forearm increased to a total of 200.
She seemed thrilled, as if she'd predicted everything, but Park Yeon-jeong didn't miss the trembling fingertips of the employees at the table.
Jeong Da-ram bragged her winnings to me.
"See that, Ghost Story Oppa? This is how you play! Easier than it looks, right?"
"Yeah, doesn't seem too hard."
I replied curtly, turning my gaze to the two employees who'd ended the game so quickly.
"Man, our hands were awful."
"Yeah, totally. Haha."
And on the table after the game ended, this text was written.
- Do you wish to raise an objection?
No one at the table seemed to have caught the phrase, or maybe they just didn't confirm it—no one spoke, and soon the text faded away.
But.
There was something nagging about the game.
The two employees who'd set down their cards on the table while claiming their hands were bad.
If I'd seen them right.
The numbers on those cards on the table were as follows.
-♠7
-♥9
In the game just now, the total of Jeong Da-ram's cards was '13'.
And the totals for the two employees were.
15.
16.
Higher than Jeong Da-ram's.
Unless these two employees were idiots who couldn't do basic addition and subtraction.
They must have known they could win this game.
Were they just being considerate to Jeong Da-ram, who outranked them?
That's what I thought at first.
"Deputy Jeong."
"Yeah? What's up, oppas."
"It's a shame to end it like this—how about one more game?"
Until the two employees suggested another game to Jeong Da-ram.
At their proposal for one more.
"Sure!"
Jeong Da-ram accepted all too readily.
The moment she agreed, strange smiles crept across the two employees' lips.
But their odd behavior didn't stop there.
"Now that we're playing again, how about betting bigger coins this time?"
"Bigger coins?"
"Oh! You didn't know?"
Seeing Jeong Da-ram's innocent expression, the two employees' lips stretched ear to ear.
"We're wagering collateral. And the collateral here is your body."
The blond guy recited it nonchalantly.
"How about we go big this time? We sync up, rack up a ton of coins, then split 'em clean."
The glasses guy chimed in.
But Park Yeon-jeong knew.
In this ghost story casino, there was no way to split coins with opponents.
The blond guy steered the conversation again in a cheerful tone.
"So, your ante first, Deputy Jeong. Just say one arm and one leg."
"Sure?"
Acting like a lamb led to slaughter, Jeong Da-ram soon opened her mouth softly.
"One arm and one leg, right? That's my bet."
Hearing Jeong Da-ram's bet amount.
The coins stamped on the game table read.
-1000 Coin.
The two employees then bet the same amount, making the total coins at stake this round—.
-3000 Coin.
Just the second round, and the coins had multiplied exponentially.
Park Yeon-jeong felt tempted to join, seeing the huge pot.
But.
The two employees' behavior had been off from the start.
Blatantly maneuvering to get Jeong Da-ram into this game.
And the most worrying part.
Why is this woman acting so innocent?
Jeong Da-ram couldn't have missed the suspicious moves from these guys right in front of her.
Not the Jeong Da-ram I knew.
And her eyes had been downright scary for a while now.
That creepy, splitting grin sent chills down my spine.
She definitely had something up her sleeve.
It'd be weird if she didn't.
For real.
Suddenly!
!
Jeong Da-ram thrust her face right up close.
Give some warning next time!
"Ghost Story Oppa not playing this one either?"
"......"
This woman.
Her eyes were half-rolled back right now.
No, had they always been like that?
But Jeong Da-ram kept pressing me on not joining, as if she really didn't get it.
"Weird, huh? Passing on stakes this high is a loss, right? Or is a so-called ghost story scared of losing a few limbs like a human?"
"......"
"No way it's not Ghost Story Oppa. Just a—fake ghost story?"
I tapped the table lightly at her taunt.
"Since it's a beautiful human's invitation, I'll join this time."
"For real! Knew you'd say that, Ghost Story Oppa!......And hey. That employee ID."
"!!"
"Is it some human cosplay thing?"
Crunch!
Instinctively, I snatched the employee ID with one hand.
"......J-Just really interested in human culture, you know."
Smack!
The moment Jeong Da-ram heard I was joining, she slammed her palm hard against my back with all her might.
'Ow!!'
That really hurt.
"......Ghost Story Oppa."
But Jeong Da-ram turned to me with a faint smile instead.
"Watching you, Ghost Story Oppa, makes me think of someone I really want to see again."
"......"
Did this woman Jeong Da-ram......figure it out?
Still sorting through my rattled feelings, the game table had already finalized the current total bet.
-4000 Coin.
Half the amount needed to escape this place, all in on this game.
Cards were about to be dealt, and we waited for the start.
Ting!
At the sound of something flicking from somewhere, my and Jeong Da-ram's gazes turned to the two employees.
"What was that?"
To my question, the blond employee replied in a stiff tone.
"Just pre-game prep, that's all I'll say."
They saw me as a ghost story, so I'd let that slide.
But still, this round.
Way too suspicious.
Soon, cards were dealt to us, and the number on Park Yeon-jeong's card was.
-♣7
Not a bad hand.
As I turned to check the others' cards.
"......Pfft! Hahahahaha! Insane!"
?
The blond guy burst into laughter. We couldn't help but look puzzled, and the glasses guy next to him explained.
"Are you really that stupid?! Or just naive?! Everyone calls you crazy girl, crazy girl, so I figured you wouldn't fall for it......Turns out you're just dumb!"
"......What's up with my oppas all of a sudden?"
"Still don't get it, you idiot?!"
The blond employee bared his true colors at Jeong Da-ram.
"We're gonna fuck you up! Limbs or no limbs, doesn't matter what we keep you for—just wait!"
No need to hide anymore, they acted openly, but more than those two clowns in front of me.
Jeong Da-ram's expression, still grinning beside me, was what really got under my skin.
No clue what she's thinking.
And as if the explanation wasn't over, they kept blabbing loudly.
"And you know what? In this game, we win!"
Acting like their victory was set in stone.
Soon, we checked each other's total card sums.
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Park Yeon-jeong 7+5=12.
Jeong Da-ram 5+4=9.
Blond Employee 8+8=16.
Glasses Guy 9+7=16.
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We really lost this game.
- Do you wish to raise an objection?
Park Yeon-jeong stared at the text for a while.
Smack!
!
Whoa!
Jeong Da-ram suddenly slammed the game table hard.
"One more round!"
"......What?"
The blond employee looked utterly baffled.
No reason for them to up the ante and introduce variables now.
Yeah, like just now, normally.
If it was just betting our bodies.
"I'll wager my full ownership."
At her declaration of betting her own ownership, the two employees' gazes shot to the game table, and soon text appeared.
-Jeong Da-ram Ownership.
"I-It actually works?"
"Whaddya do? With this, we get a slave named Jeong Da-ram—we can play however we want with her."
"......"
"And get this—it works outside too."
Betting her body ownership.
The first to react was the glasses guy.
"I-I'm in!"
"Hey! You nuts?!"
"What's nuts?! It's that bitch's ownership! We're winning anyway—no loss in going for it. Right?!"
"......"
Caught off guard by the glasses guy's sudden charge, the blond employee seemed to be agonizing over the situation.
But Jeong Da-ram's sinister glare and her soft mutter aimed at the blond guy echoed loudly in the space.
"Fake-ass."
"!!That bitch, right to the end! Fine! I'm in too!"
With the last blond employee's name added, Jeong Da-ram's gaze finally turned.
To Park Yeon-jeong himself.
"Ghost Story Oppa better join if you don't wanna really lose those limbs."
"Was planning to anyway."
I didn't want to, but.
Jeong Da-ram's crazed eyes and that loaded line from earlier kept nagging at me.
*Jeong Da-ram has something planned.*
Park Yeon-jeong spoke while looking at the table.
"I'll join too."
Seeing me declare participation, Jeong Da-ram came close and whispered.
"I want Ghost Story Oppa to take me away."
"......I'll try."
And so, our ownership-at-stake Indian Poker began.