The Price of Life (3)
"You said it from the beginning, Blue. That you didn't have much money. Who carries that much cash around? And yet, nearly a thousand has already come out." The man continued, his voice calm. "Using the ten thousand won at the start was a psychological tactic to make me think you only had a small amount until the third round. For safety, you need to increase the units by 500, then by multiples of ten. With six trials, if you pay a hundred at the start, the amount you'd pay by the sixth round would be a staggering 10 billion. That’s far too much to waste, isn't it?"
Ji Se-hwa just listened in silence.
"If you suppress the psychology of the first three rounds with a single moment of pain, the amount you pay by the sixth round drops to about 1 billion. That was your plan, right? If you stored your lobbying funds in your chips, then surely... you must have about 50 billion."
Ji Se-hwa glared at the man. He seemed to be very close to the truth. She looked ready to lunge at him and kill him right then and there.
"Blue, I’ll say it again: I want a negotiation. In our line of work, trust doesn't come from gratitude or loyalty. You know that, right? It comes from money."
"What do you want?" Ji Se-hwa took the bait.
"I have a little matter to settle at the company recently. 38 billion. Let's round it up to 40 billion. Place those chips in front of me right now. Then I’ll write down ten thousand. I’ll even let you watch me write it."
"We can't see how much the other person is writing," Irua interjected.
"Hmm... that’s a shame. A knife to the stomach. For 40 billion, I can handle that. I’ve dealt with villains before, you know. I’ve been stabbed once before. It wasn't pleasant, but it was bearable."
Ji Se-hwa was deep in thought. Her eyebrows were twitching. Of course, I could see right through the man's intentions. He was just as vicious as Kim Young-heon, whom Irua had mentioned earlier. He was the scum of the earth, filling his coffers by sucking the blood of the weak. His "dealings with villains" were nothing more than assassinating politicians to block unfavorable legislation.
"You bastard, are you serious? You're going to endure a stabbing?"
"The hole will be in the lower left. It would be dangerous if it hit the kidney, but luckily, I had my left kidney removed in a surgery. I have plenty of fat, so it won't be a fatal wound. I won't die. For 40 billion... hehe."
The man actually laughed. It was a laugh fitting for a demon obsessed with money. Indeed. At this point, even I was curious if he was being sincere.
"Two minutes left."
"Fine. It's not a violation of the rules, is it? It's a negotiation."
"Yep. It's allowed." Irua smiled slyly at Ji Se-hwa's question.
"Take 40 billion from my chips and put it in front of him."
Since I was managing the box containing Ji Se-hwa's cash, I transferred 40 billion from her chips to the reserve chips. I had the man verify the 40 billion on the terminal and placed the chips in front of him.
"Oh, 40 billion. Hehe."
"The deal is done. You'll show me the trust that money buys, right?"
"Of course, Blue. I think we’ll be able to have many more good deals together in the future."
"Heh. That's right. If you're a guy who doesn't lie about money, I can trust you."
The veins were bulging on Ji Se-hwa's neck as she said that. She was really pissed off.
"Time over. Both of you, write."
The two of them wrote down their prices. Irua took the notes and let out a mysterious laugh.
"Now, I'll reveal them. Starting with the guest."
The man closed his eyes lightly.
"Blue, I'm sorry." He declared calmly. Ji Se-hwa glared at him.
"Guest, 59,995,000,000 won."
59.9 billion. That was the amount the man had written down.
"The amount you've written so far, Blue. It felt like you were spending just a little over half of your holdings. If it were the second round, your psychological limit would be 300. The third round, 1,000. I had some information. The lobbying money you were going to hand over to a certain assemblyman today was around 100 billion."
The man continued his explanation. "Seeing you hand over 40 billion to me, I was certain. Spending this much means your holdings are definitely over 70 billion. The probability of my information being accurate is high. And the average amount of cash people carry around is 2 million won. If you subtract the amount spent so far from that, it comes out to roughly this much. What do you think?"
The man was confident of his victory. He intended to get the money without getting stabbed in the stomach. As far as the man was concerned, there was no reason to keep his promise to Blue. He had no certainty that Blue would survive this game, and if he survived, the money was as good as his.
"You fucking bastard."
"I can't help it if you curse."
"If it weren't for you, you bastard. If it weren't for you...!" Ji Se-hwa couldn't control her rage.
"I saved so much money, you fucking piece of shit!!"
However, the direction of her anger was slightly different from what the man had expected.
"Blue, 274,229,410,000 won."
Irua declared. The amount Blue had spent. It was 274 billion.
"Uh, uh...?"
"You fucking bastard! If you hadn't run your mouth! If the units hadn't gone up this high, I wouldn't have had to do a 'balance adjustment,' you fucking shiiiiit!!"
Ji Se-hwa shrieked at the top of her lungs. The man didn't seem to understand.
"Don't you get it? Hehe. You dug your own grave. If you knew Blue had tens of billions, you should have just stayed quiet and walked out alive. Once that was revealed, Blue had no choice but to adjust her balance so that you guys would make an 'excess' bid, right?"
That was it. The moment the man knew about the lobbying funds, Ji Se-hwa had no choice but to spend the entire amount, right down to the wire. It wasn't just any body part; it was the stomach. If she got stabbed, it would be a fatal wound. She had to win, no matter what. The man could have known the correct information and written a higher amount. If he had, she would have lost, naturally. Above all, even if she saved money here, she couldn't save it for the next round. The 'chest' area was still left. This, like the stomach, was a part she absolutely had to win. Even if she had 500 or 1,000 billion left over in the chest round, she would still have to spend the entire amount. Because there was a high possibility that the opponent would spend in the tens of billions, just like this man. So, the correct answer was to spend a near-total amount here and win for sure.
"Th-that's impossible! Even if the lobbying money is true, where would she get that kind of money again!"
"You stupid bastard! You picked up some shitty information, you fuck! Fuck!!"
Ji Se-hwa cursed relentlessly. The man's predicted amount and Ji Se-hwa's actual holdings were vastly different. Well, even without the lobbying money, Ji Se-hwa always carried cash around like a madwoman. She had a habit of always keeping the money that should have been in her account in cash. The reason was simple. She was the type of person who didn't trust anything else.
"Ugh, ugh. B-but! If I just get out alive, the 40 billion is mine! I-if I just get stabbed once!" The man gritted his teeth. Irua smiled sweetly at him.
"Is that so? Who said it would be just once?"
"Huh? The people before all had it once..."
"There's no such rule."
"Huh? U-ugh, ughhh?!"
The henchman began to stab the man repeatedly with a sashimi knife. The screams followed.
"Yes! Stab him more! Kill him!"
Even the enraged Ji Se-hwa was excited, keeping the scene clearly in her sight. Eventually, the man was released from the coffin only after he stopped moving.
"Oh my, there's a chip here with no owner. Who would be so careless as to drop something like this?"
Irua picked up the chip and tossed it to me.
"Now, round 5. The body part is the chest. The tool is... is this it? It's a ballpoint pen."
The man was set in the coffin. It was Kim Young-heon, whom Irua had specially mentioned earlier.
"G-good heavens. Even if it's a ballpoint pen, the location is the heart!"
"You just have to win, right? Then, start~"
"N-no! I can't die in a place like this! Blue, I beg you! If I'm gone, our company is ruined! The balance, tell me the balance! Please!"
Ji Se-hwa smiled slyly as she watched Kim Young-heon.
"No, noooooooo!!"
Five minutes passed in a flash. The amount Kim Young-heon wrote down was 3,120,000 won. The amount Ji Se-hwa wrote down was 478,525 won. Without even needing to look.
"Guest, excess bid."
"Aaaack, aaaaaaaack!!"
Kim Young-heon died instantly, blood spraying from his heart. Seeing that, Ji Se-hwa let out a sigh of relief.
"Survived. Fuck. I survived."
The remaining part was the left arm. Now, there were no more fatal wounds.
"You fucking bastards. If you've eaten your fill, you should spit some out, right? Give me my money back, fuck."
Now that her life was secure, Ji Se-hwa seemed to be thinking about money.
"There's still one round left. Hehe. We received your money fairly as dealers according to the rules. If you had played well, we would have only received a pittance of about 100 million?"
"Fuck. Because of that trashy bastard!"
The last guest, watching the scene, began to have his eyes roll back.
"Ugh... ugh. Grrrrk."
Foam bubbled from his mouth, and he collapsed, fainting.
"Oh my? There are no more guests to play the game?"
"Hmph. It's fine now, isn't it? The probability of that guy guessing my balance is astronomical anyway. He fainted because he realized that. Quickly, put a hole in that guy's arm and let him go. You said you'd keep your promise, right?"
"Yep. I keep my promises. You don't have to worry. But that's when the game is over, right?"
"Then what are you going to do? Should I just stay like this until that bastard wakes up?"
"Hehe. We have no choice but to have a substitute go out."
"A substitute?"
"Yep. You, go out as the guest instead."
Irua said that and pointed at me.
"Wh-what?"
Ji Se-hwa was flustered by the unexpected development. I walked toward Ji Se-hwa without answering. I stood face-to-face with her. Even through the mask, I could feel her ragged breathing very clearly.
"Don't fuck around, you fucking bastards!! This guy is the one who was managing my money until just a moment ago! He knows the balance down to the last won, doesn't he!!"
Of course I know. Because I was the one who told Irua to do this until this situation arose. The last guest didn't have much of a criminal record. So I told Irua to knock him out at the start of the 6th round and send me out as a substitute.
"No need for negotiations, right? Zeo, would you like to say the amount you're bidding?"
"Fuck off! Fuck! I don't recognize this!"
"It's 11,127 won."
"Oh my. You hit the balance exactly? Even if Blue bids the same amount, it's Zeo's victory. Oh, my mind. I didn't present the tool, did I?"
The henchmen brought the weapon. Ji Se-hwa's face turned pale when she saw it.
"...Don't fuck around. You fucking bastards."
I received it from them. As I gripped the handle and drew it from the scabbard, the blue blade shone brilliantly. The Leviathan Saber. It was the very sword that was the main weapon of the Blue Saber.