Surprise Box
Presently, the Masked Gentleman fanned out his deck of cards with a fluid flourish and offered it forward, as if inviting her to pick one.
When Seo Ye-in reached out and tapped a card just as bade, it drifted smoothly upward into the empty air.
Right beside it, a second card rose into the air, hovering with its face turned away.
"—? —?"
The Masked Gentleman pointed back and forth between the two cards, gesturing his fingers up and down. He was clearly asking whether the hidden card was higher or lower than the Jack of Hearts.
If we're going purely by probability, betting 'lower' is the only sensible move.
Assuming an Ace was one and a King was thirteen, a Jack sat high at eleven.
Yet Seo Ye-in didn't deliberate for even a fraction of a second.
"Higher."
The face-down card spun in midair, revealing the Queen of Spades.
Higher than a Jack—correct.
The Masked Gentleman smacked his forehead with a resounding slap, while the Masked Clown pointed an accusatory finger at him and silently doubled over in stitches. Still, the mini-game was far from over. With practiced flair, the Gentleman shuffled the deck again and spread it wide into an elegant arc.
"..."
When Seo Ye-in picked another card, it floated upward face-down, and four luminous symbols materialized before her: Hearts, Clubs, Spades, and Diamonds.
A prompt to guess the suit.
A four-way gamble offered drastically worse odds, but Seo Ye-in delivered her answer without missing a beat.
"Clubs."
The card pirouetted around to reveal the Seven of Clubs.
Reeling from back-to-back defeats in mere seconds, the Masked Gentleman clutched his head and staggered. The Clown, on the other hand, was having the time of his life, silently howling with unrestrained glee.
Leaving the Seven of Clubs suspended in the air, the Gentleman set to shuffling for a third time.
Ffffrrrrrip—
The blinding sleight-of-hand radiated a desperate, burning determination not to walk away an utter loser.
When he fanned out the deck, Seo Ye-in tapped another card. It rose face-down to take its place beside the Seven of Clubs. At the same time, four suits and a pair of up-and-down arrows appeared alongside it.
Guess both the suit and whether its numerical value was higher or lower than seven.
Now that's just shameless.
Even for a casual street mini-game, there ought to be at least a pretense of fairness. The guy clearly despised losing with every fiber of his being.
Then again, if we were talking about a complete lack of shame, Seo Ye-in's absurd luck was on an entirely different plane of existence.
Anyone else would have paused to weigh the horrific odds, but she merely cast a bored glance at the floating card.
"Diamonds."
"~?"
The Masked Gentleman leaned forward, cupping a hand to his ear. He wanted the rest of her answer.
Seo Ye-in answered laconically.
"Equal."
"...!"
The card flipped over to reveal the Seven of Diamonds.
Had she wagered higher or lower, she would have failed on the spot.
She actually called that?
Nailing one specific suit out of four and the exact number out of thirteen possibilities. Without a shadow of a doubt, it was Seo Ye-in's overwhelming victory.
Conceding the outcome, the Masked Gentleman let his shoulders droop in total defeat. The Clown clapped in delight before swaggering forward to take center stage.
Now it was his turn to host a mini-game.
Rummaging through his oversized pockets, the Masked Clown produced a plastic toy alligator head. Its gaping maw had teeth spaced out along the gums—eight in total.
Ah, the alligator teeth game.
Commonly known as Alligator Roulette.
Participants took turns pressing down the teeth one by one. Exactly one of the eight was a dud trigger; the instant it was pressed, the spring mechanism tripped and snapped the jaws shut. Whichever player got bitten lost.
"~~!"
With an exaggerated bow, the Clown presented the alligator head to Seo Ye-in.
Just as she had during the card game, Seo Ye-in didn't hesitate in the least. She simply reached out and pressed down a back molar.
Click.
A faint plastic click sounded, but the mouth remained propped wide.
Next, the Clown put on a theatrical display of agonized deliberation—Hmm, which one? This one? Or maybe that one?—before gingerly poking a tooth. The moment he withdrew his hand, Seo Ye-in punched down the next tooth without even looking.
Click.
She really has zero hesitation.
Normally, the rising stakes would make anyone sweat and second-guess their choices, but Seo Ye-in acted instantly the moment her turn rolled around. Whether she possessed absolute faith in her own fortune or simply lacked fear because she had hardly ever lost in her life, I couldn't say.
Click.
If anything, the event boss looked far more rattled than she did. The turns had whipped by so fast that only three teeth remained. The probability of triggering the trap had surged to terrifying heights.
Sweating profusely beneath his mask, the Clown gingerly tapped an incisor.
Click.
Once again, nothing happened.
As the Clown let out a massive sigh of relief, patting his chest in salvation, Seo Ye-in unceremoniously pressed the next tooth down.
Click.
Then, she handed the toy alligator—now with exactly one tooth left standing—back to the Clown.
"..."
The Masked Clown stared down at the alligator as though gazing upon a live bomb's detonator switch. With an air of pure resignation, he reached out and depressed the final tooth.
Snap!
The jaws shut with frightening speed, clamping onto his hand. The Clown sprang into the air, hopping up and down in exaggerated theatrical agony while the surrounding crowd erupted into laughter.
The Masked Gentleman joined in the chuckles for a second, only to remember his own miserable defeat, and his shoulders slumped right back down.
"..."
"..."
The final tally: two mini-games, two flawless victories for our Lucky Charm.
Stowing away the Alligator Roulette, the Clown pulled out a vibrantly colored box that looked like a carnival toy. It resembled a jack-in-the-box that might send a spring-loaded puppet popping out if you turned a crank.
Well, look at that.
Even among mini-game rewards, that item had a notoriously low drop rate. And it didn't end there. The Masked Gentleman snapped his fingers, and the box began to shimmer, bathed in a brilliant, iridescent rainbow glow.
Not only had they given us an extraordinarily rare item, but they had even attached the "Brilliant" prefix to it. Having two event bosses present at once apparently made bonuses like this possible.
Seo Ye-in, however, tilted her head with complete indifference before casually thrusting the box toward me.
"Take it."
At those words, the Gentleman and the Clown both snapped their heads toward us, their posture radiating profound, comical betrayal. After putting on an elaborate show and coughing up premium loot, she had handed it off to someone else without a second thought!
Their shoulders sagging lower than ever, the pair melted away into the bustling crowd.
Watching them go, I gave the box a gentle shake and said, "It wouldn't feel right to keep it to myself. Let's use it together."
"Together?"
"Yeah."
A Surprise Magic Box was a variant of the mystery box item category. The key difference between it and an ordinary loot box was that it was completely empty when first obtained. The nature of whatever emerged depended entirely on what you placed inside. Drop in a blade, and a sword would pop out; drop in a potion, and you'd get an elixir.
Naturally, since RNG was involved, there was always a chance of pulling something worse than what was put in.
Except this one has the 'Brilliant' modifier.
That single prefix dramatically boosted the probability of top-tier results. Paired with our Lucky Charm's absurd touch, it was practically a guaranteed jackpot.
Still, sacrificing the Sapling or the Crow Branch would be foolish.
If I threw the Sapling inside, I risked losing the broken trait Octopus Arms. Tossing in the Crow Branch ran the danger of mutating it into an item entirely unrelated to spatial manipulation. Leaving those two as they were was the safest bet.
Besides, this box had only been earned thanks to Seo Ye-in in the first place. Luring two event bosses simultaneously and sweeping back-to-back mini-games was something even I couldn't replicate at will. Since she had pulled off that miracle, sharing the spoils was only fair.
Conveniently, we happened to have items tailor-made for this exact occasion.
"Hand over the bracelet."
"Mhm."
Seo Ye-in slipped the Dark Cloud Bracelet off her wrist and passed it over.
The Cumulus Bracelet and the Dark Cloud Bracelet formed a matched pair. If we deposited them into the Surprise Magic Box together, I was certain it would return an enhanced set.
We could have cracked it open right then and there, but...
"Let's check out the shops first."
"Sounds good."
The Elven Magic Tool Shop was just around the corner. Cracking open the box after taking a look around wouldn't hurt, and who knew? We might find something that could enhance the process.
Stepping through the doorway, we were greeted by the familiar proprietress. She possessed a genial, rounded countenance, and despite the shop's name, her ears weren't pointed in the least. Even though we were disguised as Gray Kim Ho and Gold Sloth, she recognized us instantly.
"Well, look who it is! Welcome in, long time no see."
"Good day, ma'am."
"Are you looking for anything in particular today?"
"I'd like to look at your A-rank wares."
Generally, shopkeepers didn't harbor high expectations for first-year cadets. Given the typical first-year budget, how valuable could anything they purchased possibly be? In our case, however, we had already proven our purchasing power during our very first outing to the commercial district by cashing in two B-rank exchange vouchers. Naturally, she was more than happy to guide us.
The A-rank display section was considerably smaller than the rest of the shop. Because every single A-rank item commanded an astronomical valuation, even a high-end magic tool shop in Dungeon Island's bustling downtown couldn't stockpile them in heaps. On the bright side, that made browsing relatively quick.
I immediately scanned the skill books and trait scrolls.
...Nothing for penalty mitigation.
Smacking my lips in mild disappointment, I moved on to check whether there were any crafting materials compatible with the Crow Branch.
...Another dead end.
Figures. It was a long shot anyway.
It wasn't as though reagents compatible with spatial materials grew on trees. Having kept my expectations low from the start, the lack of results didn't sting. This was something I'd have to pursue as a long-term project.
Just as I was preparing to turn around, an item caught my eye. A translucent liquid sloshed gently inside a clear glass vial.
...Wait. With this...
Although it deviated slightly from our original goal, it was an outstanding catalyst to use for opening the Surprise Magic Box.
Without agonizing over it, I made my call.
"We'll take this one."
True to its A-rank status, even as a consumable, the Fairy Queen's Delight carried a staggering price tag. Of course, for someone like Ahn Jungmi, footing a bill of that size on Haeseong's tab was trivial.
Leaving the bustling main street behind, Seo Ye-in and I headed over to a quiet, secluded resting area. It was the exact spot where we had originally acquired the Cumulus and Dark Cloud bracelets.
Sitting side by side on a stone bench, I pulled out the Brilliant Surprise Magic Box, cracked open the lid, and deposited both bracelets inside. Then, uncorking the Fairy Queen's Delight, I poured the liquid over them until every last drop was drained.
Tossing the whole bottle in would have caused the system to register it as a 'potion,' potentially altering the surprise box's final output category.
Applied directly as an enchanting fluid, though? That's a completely different story.
Consolidating three items while guaranteeing a 'bracelet set' was my first angle.
The second angle hinged on the inherent properties of the Fairy Queen's Delight itself. The liquid that had soaked into the two bracelets was absorbed in a heartbeat, causing a lush, vibrant green radiance to billow outward. It was a potent enchantment effect that dramatically elevated the baseline value of the jewelry.
With a baseline bumped up to at least A+ grade, we could realistically anticipate an even greater outcome.
Snapping the lid shut, I passed the surprise box to Seo Ye-in and asked, "Are you ready, Lady Lucky Charm?"
"Ready."
"Feeling good about it?"
"Luck bursting."
"Excellent. Do the honors."
Seo Ye-in pulled the box into her lap and slowly lifted the lid.
And in the very next instant—
Kaaa-boooom!
With a concussive blast like an exploding firecracker, our entire field of vision was engulfed in an endless sea of rolling clouds.