The Heavenly Demon's Loaded Dice
"Isn't this thing way too fast?!"
"My stomach... ugh... again..."
Since we were heading to the gambling den anyway, the three of us decided to go together. We climbed onto Neukneuk's back and set off toward the gambling house. The spirit beast, with a frame large enough to be called transcendent, didn't slow down in the slightest even while carrying three riders. Its speed matched the various modes of transportation I'd experienced back in modern Korea. It was the kind of velocity that would naturally draw horrified screams from any ordinary person.
Compounding the issue was the complete lack of safety features on Neukneuk's back. No saddle, no reins, no canopy—nothing. The only thing someone riding up there could do was cling desperately to its fur. Looking back, this was less riding a beast and more like hanging on for dear life while it sprinted.
[Why is Hwaryeong so chill about this?]
"I'm simply keeping my center of gravity steady. It's nothing special."
I spoke casually because the technique of balancing while moving is simple once you know the trick, but none of the viewers seemed to accept my explanation. I expected as much. After all, none of you are martial artists.
How should I even begin explaining this principle?
"Never mind explaining it, they'll never get it anyway! Just catch Enri please! She's going to fall and die at this rate!"
"Ugh... blegh."
There was a bit of commotion, but thanks to Neukneuk carrying us at such high speed, we arrived at the gambling house in the blink of an eye.
The gambling house was far larger in scale than I'd imagined. It certainly had many worn and broken sections, but it still looked like a fairly decent entertainment venue.
"If we looted this place, we could probably get quite a lot."
"Hwaryeong! Please don't!"
"I'm joking. Just joking."
I won't deny that a fair amount of sincerity was mixed into those words, but I have no intention of going against your wishes and destroying this place. After receiving so many warnings before coming here, how could I ignore them? Once I'm alone again, I might try it, but not yet.
Before entering, we took Neukneuk to the area where mounts were left. The person there immediately made a troubled face. It was true that our Neukneuk looked intimidating, but it wasn't a bad child at all. I couldn't understand why they would judge it so harshly at first glance. Neukneuk would surely feel hurt by this. As its owner, I had to prove its innocence.
"Don't worry. Our Neukneuk is a very good boy."
"Huh? But this creature..."
"Watch. I'll show you just how good it is."
I moved the handler aside and stood in front of Neukneuk.
"Paw."
When I held out my hand, it placed its front paw on top.
"Other paw."
The moment I spoke, Neukneuk lifted its other paw. The movement was so fast that a light breeze brushed past, but it was nothing significant. After that, Neukneuk performed various tricks at my command. Sit. Lie down. Play dead. And so on. The clever creature understood my words without any prior training and followed every instruction perfectly.
I stroked the belly of the creature that had rolled over with its stomach exposed, panting happily, then looked at the handler with a triumphant expression. The man smiled stiffly.
"Now do you see how good our Neukneuk is?"
"I can tell it's... very well trained."
"Indeed. It will never harm you, so there's no need to worry."
Neukneuk itself knew better than anyone what kind of situation it would face if it ever caused trouble. When I spoke while looking into its eyes, Neukneuk nodded desperately.
After gaining the handler's trust through this process, I was finally able to leave Neukneuk and enter the gambling house.
The gambling funds Pipi had given me came to thirty gold coins. It might sound like a lot, but in a place where one gold coin was the basic unit, thirty wasn't that much. Just what Enri and I had earned from the dungeon already exceeded a hundred coins.
Well. It made sense that someone in poverty wouldn't want to risk a huge sum on gambling. I had to understand that.
"There are surprisingly few people here compared to the size of the facility."
More accurately, there were almost no users utilizing the place. I could see two or three people glancing at us as they passed by, but that was it.
"It's still early, so everyone's busy farming."
"Will it get crowded later?"
"Yes. Users gamble against each other too."
Hmm. It sounded like it could turn into complete chaos.
"So, Pipi. What kinds of gambling exist here?"
"There are four officially recognized types."
First was roulette. It was an extremely simple and intuitive form of gambling. In one room, a giant wheel spun, and you won by correctly guessing the number the arrow pointed to when it stopped.
"The lower the multiplier on a number, the higher your chances of winning. Higher numbers mean a greater chance of losing money. It's the most popular because anyone can play it easily."
Next was horse racing. Or rather, dog racing. You bet on which of four small dogs would finish first. Pipi said it was her favorite.
"You don't know how it'll turn out until the very end! It makes your blood boil!"
Just listening to her, I could tell Pipi had lost more than a few coins on dog racing. Four cute puppies. Even if I didn't gamble, I would have to come watch later.
The third was a Western-style game. From what I heard, it seemed to be a famous one, but since I didn't know the rules, I didn't feel like trying it and let the explanation go in one ear and out the other.
The last was a game played with dice. The rules were simple. You shook a cup containing dice, and the person with the higher total won.
"I don't personally recommend this one."
"Why not?"
"There's a rumor that if a user wins too much, the house cheats."
On the surface, this dice game looked fairly fair. In the early stages when gambling first begins, users frequently win large amounts. However, the longer it continues, the story changes. No matter how much a user wins at the start, the house gradually catches up and before long the player loses most of what they had gained.
"They let you recover your principal, but only the principal, so people tend to avoid it."
If someone came purely to enjoy the act of gambling itself, the dice game wouldn't be bad. But most people who came here were after a big score. There was no reason to play a game where it was obvious you wouldn't make money.
"I see."
A game where victory could be manipulated by the opponent. That part actually interested me. The logic was simple. If the other side cheats first, then I can cheat too, can't I?
"Then I'll go try that dice game."
"Hwaryeong! Did you not hear a single thing I just said?!"
After seeing off Pipi, who went to play dog racing, and Enri, who wanted to rest while watching the roulette wheel, I headed to the dice table. The gambling house already had few people, and the dice area—which was unpopular to begin with—was completely empty. The man running it was even dozing off at his post.
When I entered the room, the man slowly lifted his head, then hurriedly stood up to welcome me.
"Welcome! Are you here to play?"
"Yes. Do I just sit here?"
"Yes!"
Apparently he'd been waiting desperately for a customer. The shabby-looking man spoke to me with excitement.
"Do you know the rules?"
"More or less."
"Then let me explain them once."
The rules were simple. Put six dice in a cup and shake it. If the total of your dice was higher than the house's, you win. If lower, you lose. Winning doubled your stake, but losing meant losing everything.
"Would you like to try a practice round?"
I took the cup and dice he handed me and examined them. There was nothing unusual about them visually. The dice were ordinary, and the cup had no strange features. When I put the dice in the cup and shook it, the man did the same with his own. He had a sloppy appearance, so his hand movements looked equally sloppy on the surface.
"I have 21. You have 26. That means you win."
The result he produced was exactly that. Seeing his defeat, the man rubbed his neck and said it was fortunate this was only practice. Not a single trustworthy aspect about him. He looked like someone who had no right to be handling dice in a gambling house. Yet this man was also someone who never lost money here.
"Shall we move on to the real game? How much would you like to bet first?"
"One gold coin. I'd like to get a feel for it gradually."
"A cautious type, I see? That's good. Isn't it best to enjoy things for a long time?"
In the first game, I won by a narrow margin. The man looked genuinely disappointed about losing by just one number. The second and third games went the same way. I kept winning. Sometimes by a large margin, sometimes by a small one. By the fifth game, I bet five gold coins and won again. This time the scores were 30 and 11—a rather large gap.
Seeing the man looking dejected and saying his luck must be bad today, I placed a larger bet than before.
"Ten gold coins. The flow feels good."
"Ten? You're going strong! I'll have to focus."
According to what Pipi had told me, this was around the point where he would start playing seriously. While I watched the man's hands out of the corner of my eye, I pretended to focus entirely on my own dice. As if the large bet meant I couldn't afford to pay attention to anything else.
That was when I saw it. Within his usual sloppiness, the man made his move.
"Wow. Guess your bad luck couldn't last forever."
Hmm. So that's the trick. No wonder he never loses money. If I'd come here ignorant and gotten cheated, he probably would have tried to intimidate me. But I already knew he was cheating before I arrived. I'd been suspicious before, but now I was certain.
Time to play along with the joke.
"Shall we continue?"
"Yes."