One Week Before the World League (4)
The League Casino was Britain's flagship mega-casino.
Established just three years ago, rumor had it its market capitalization had already overtaken the Las Vegas Sands.
The reason was obvious.
The World League — humanity's greatest sporting spectacle — was being held in the UK.
From accommodations to card games, slot machines, pachinko, plet tables, and beyond, a single venue had been born where every form of gambling could be enjoyed legally.
"Whoa."
The guild members who had just arrived gawked around like country cousins visiting Seoul for the first time.
The crowds were packed to the point of bursting. It wasn't only players; tourists from every corner of the globe had flooded in for the League, all crammed under one roof.
"Look over there! They even have a Player Shop!"
Yoo Jia, giddy at her first overseas trip in ages, pointed this way and that, reporting her findings like an excited tour guide.
Player Shop?
Baek Jinwoo's gaze swung over.
Hoh.
From what he could tell, it was laid out like a luxury boutique, selling its wares in high-end style. With theft a real possibility, everything was charged to a gold card — keeping things classy. Buy from a place like that, and the proprietor would presumably handle the exchange personally?
"Not a bad setup, is it?"
"Right?!"
Pulling out a notebook, Yoo Jia began scribbling away with great diligence.
"Rather than hawking goods at a market stall, if you brand it and build an image of luxury, raising prices becomes that much easier. This is something to benchmark immediately."
Ha.
A businesswoman to the bone. Even on vacation, she was studying.
"Guild Master, this way."
Hwang Juwon, who had clearly done his homework, led the column from the very front. Winding their way through the crowds along a maze of corridors, they came upon a single discreet sign.
"Here it is. The outer section is for ordinary tourists — this inner part is for players and the seriously wealthy."
"Ooh."
Yoo Jia marveled aloud.
"So this is what it's like."
"You need a 1-billion-won deposit just to get in, but we were planning to spend every won of it anyway."
"That's right."
"Then let's head in. Everyone brought their passports?"
"Yes."
"Yep!"
Exactly two things were required for entry.
A passport, and a credit card.
And not just any card — a VIP card capable of guaranteeing 1 billion won.
"Welcome."
The moment they entered, staff in impeccably tailored suits ushered them in with bright smiles. They dispersed, each escorted by a personal attendant.
"You must consent to committing the full 1 billion won to on-site betting. Furthermore, the maximum any individual may take out of this establishment is 100 billion won."
Oh, these guys.
Clever — he'd give them that. They permitted betting, but refused to honor payouts beyond a fixed ceiling.
Even if fortune smiled on you, you could only walk away with a hundred times your stake.
He conceded the point.
From their standpoint, they had to stop irregulars like him from bleeding the house dry.
"If you consent, please sign here, Player Baek Jinwoo."
The staff had clearly waited on plenty of powerful people; even a national-team player drew no flicker of change from their expressions. They simply answered with the same polished smile as ever.
Then again.
In a place like this, even bigger names were probably present.
Maybe even Rachel?
Scribble, scribble.
The moment he signed, they handed over an entry pass.
The casino's VIP room lay deep underground.
Perhaps for the sake of airtight security — hulking, muscular men of every stripe stood guard all around, weapons in hand.
With a quick sweep of his eyes, Baek Jinwoo took in his surroundings the moment he stepped inside.
The room was enormous.
Roughly the size of Seoul's Olympic main stadium?
A hall vast enough to accommodate a hundred thousand people.
At its very center lay a betting floor for the League, arranged like a sportsbook, while gourmet food and drink flowed without limit from every corner around it.
And the place was crowded, too.
Famous pop stars, overseas influencers with faces he half-recognized, corporate moguls, magnates of every kind.
But the most eye-catching crowd was, of course...
Players.
As expected.
They weren't the only ones who had come here.
Famous players from nations across the globe had gathered in considerable numbers.
And there's Shusuke over there.
With his sharp eyesight, Baek Jinwoo even picked out Takahashi Shusuke, the man he'd once gone head-to-head with.
It felt like only yesterday he'd been threatening the fellow, yet there he was, laughing and chatting away as if he hadn't a care in the world.
"Come now, everyone, gather round."
Hwang Juwon took point on the betting.
He'd apparently been a sports-betting enthusiast since way back?
"It works like horse racing, see? Calling individual wins and losses would require fixed groupings, so instead you bet outright on who takes the championship, or where each nation places."
Hoh.
Fair enough — a win-draw-loss format invited match-fixing and all manner of trouble.
Which was no doubt why players directly involved in the League had their betting strictly limited.
"Naturally, the odds on a UK championship are low. 1.24. Bet 1 billion won and you make only 1.24 billion."
"Tight. Real tight."
"Most of the money's riding on the UK, so it can't be helped."
Unsurprisingly, the five renowned powerhouses carried the lowest odds.
The United Kingdom, Japan, the United States, Russia, and Taiwan.
I'd sooner not bet at all than put money on those.
Then what of Korea's odds?
"Twenty-four times."
"Lower than I expected?"
"Tell me about it. It ought to be paying at least a hundred."
These people.
Greedy to the last.
Twenty-four times already meant 24 billion won... and still they had to chase the full 100 billion...
And chase it they would.
Baek Jinwoo flashed a grin.
"Easy — you simply bundle the folders together."
He pointed at the LED board.
"Right there."
While a UK championship paid 1.24, a UK runner-up finish paid 3.14.
Considerably higher.
"And since they say the bracket is seeded by preliminary scores, all we have to do is take the top score, and the odds of meeting the UK in the finals become the highest."
The bracket was not left to chance.
The system's calculations were engineered so that the strongest teams would meet as late as possible.
And if luck turned sour and they drew the UK in the group stage?
No matter.
They were allies regardless — they could trade points evenly, then swallow up overwhelming scores everywhere else.
Now, then.
Bundle these two folders together, and—
A monstrous payout of over seventy-five times was born.
Stake 11 billion won, and 829 billion came back.
"Even if we lose, it's only 11 billion — and if we win, isn't that just perfect pocket money?"
Baek Jinwoo said it with a beaming smile.
Honestly.
What a novel feeling.
To think the day would come when he could look at 829 billion won and call it pocket money.
For the record, the quoted payout already had taxes factored in.
If all went exactly as promised, that was the precise sum they would receive!
"It's settled!"
Yoo Jia cried out.
"If we win this, I'll build a gorgeous new SKY headquarters right next to YooBaek City!"
"Ooh!"
"SKY headquarters?"
"Now I'm motivated!"
The guild members clasped hands together.
"Even if winning it all proves difficult, it's worth a shot."
"Right — gambling's supposed to be about having fun with modest money, after all."
Whether 11 billion won counted as "modest" was debatable, but the players here were certainly qualified to make that judgment.
True enough.
These days, even Baek Jinwoo barely felt that 11 billion won counted as money.
"You wish to place the entire amount on this combination?"
The dealer in charge murmured in apparent disbelief — and it was right then that a commotion broke out.
"My, my. Quite the nerve on this crowd."
Thud. Thud.
For from far across the hall, a man was walking toward them, clapping his hands.
"Gasp."
"Th-that's..."
Judging by how rattled the guild members were, someone very famous indeed...
Ah — Xenos?
It was.
The approaching man was Xenos, hailing from the United States.
Baek Jinwoo recognized him at once, having studied the man's face through search results.
Rank 1 of the United States.
One of the Five Emperors.
Wow.
Baek Jinwoo found himself genuinely glad to see the man.
The memory of his chats — forever fawning, despite his thirty-two years — still lingered in his mind.
"Might you be the national representatives of South Korea?"
In that instant.
Xenos's eyes met Baek Jinwoo's.
The corner of Baek Jinwoo's mouth curled up ever so slightly; Xenos ran his tongue slowly across his lips.
For the record, perched on Baek Jinwoo's shoulder sat the translation bird Jashim had given him.
"Pardon me."
"..."
"If I were to ask for a brief word in private, would that be a breach of etiquette?"
Thirty-two years old.
Xenos was every bit a gentleman.
He courteously requested a word with Baek Jinwoo — and it was the guild members who were startled by the sight.
Ooh.
Xenos, that stiff-necked old stick, coming out like that?
The Guild Master's class really is on another level.
The Five Emperors genuinely believe the Guild Master is Jinugod.
The guild members looked back and forth between the two men with eyes full of reverence.
Baek Jinwoo gave a nod.
"By all means."
Xenos and Baek Jinwoo moved to a quiet corner of the room.
"I'll be honest with you."
Xenos spoke first.
"I did some digging into your past."
"..."
"You were in a car accident the very day the world changed. You didn't wake up until three years later. Don't be too upset — any of the Five Emperors who knew of you would have done at least that much."
Well, it wasn't as if he was angry.
He had anticipated as much.
Had Baek Jinwoo been in their shoes, would he not have done the same?
If anything, he should count himself lucky.
That they had known who he was — and left him untouched.
Truthfully, had they been even a little more scheming, they might have declared the bud must be trampled and moved to erase him outright.
One thing was certain.
Xenos is one hundred percent certain I'm Jinugod.
He didn't know the reason.
It was simply a hunch.
If that weren't the case, why would the man go out of his way to approach him and say all this?
"And the reason you're telling me this?"
"No reason."
Xenos answered without a beat.
"Be careful, Jinugod."
"Of what?"
"Not all of the Five Emperors are well-disposed toward you."
"..."
"You're independent. You don't cooperate with information sharing. And you're too exceptional. A natural target for scrutiny. Rachel doesn't seem to see it that way, though."
"I do have a question."
"Ask."
"Why are you so certain — one hundred percent — that I'm Jinugod?"
"Hmm."
Xenos closed his eyes briefly, weighing the question.
"Honestly? It's less conviction and more that I simply trust Rachel."
"Rachel?"
"Yes. She's certain. I've met her in person — her insight is beyond an ordinary person's. She believes you're Jinugod, and she sincerely wants to connect with you."
"Funny, then, that I've heard not a word from her?"
"Because she doesn't know your mind."
"..."
His mind?
Xenos smirked and pressed on.
"Have you ever once reached out to Rachel first?"
"...No. I haven't?"
Truth be told, he hadn't given it much thought.
If anything, his mind had been fixed on building his strength without the Five Emperors catching wind of it...
"Rachel is exactly that. A dog waiting for her master."
"..."
"She's probably panting like a hound, waiting for nothing but your call. So? Feel like meeting her?"
"Right now?"
At Baek Jinwoo's words, Xenos's smile deepened.
"Rachel, Sugoi, MoscowMan, Baekcheon... they're all here. Watching this very room from a true VVIP lounge the general public doesn't even know exists."
"Unbelievable."
A VVIP room inside the VIP room?
What was next — a VVVIP room?
Hmm.
Meeting the Five Emperors, was it.
Baek Jinwoo couldn't deny his curiosity.
Seeing, in the flesh, the faces of comrades with whom he had shared five years of bonds?
He was still weighing the question when—
KWAAAA-BOOM!
A deafening blast tore through the air from the direction of the entrance.
"Now what in the world is that?"
Baek Jinwoo frowned.