At first glance, it seems like an insignificant ability, and rightly so. Ten seconds is a very short time. You can’t even buy a winning lottery ticket if you know the future ten seconds in advance.
But in a game of cards, it’s incredibly powerful. Knowing the future 10 seconds in advance and being able to make the best choice when faced with a decision between this card and that card is the envy of every gambler.
In a game like poker, where luck plays a role in how the cards are dealt, you can still lose, but when it comes to matchmaking cards, where it’s all about the cards being dealt over and over again, you’re at the top of your game.
‘You’ve picked a game where you’re bound to win…….’
I have no choice but to try that method.
“It’s my turn now, right?”
I plopped down in the chair across from Azalea.
“Oh, I see you haven’t given up yet, do you want to shuffle then?”
It didn’t matter who shuffled the cards, then, if you read the future ten seconds into the future and made the best choice.
“Okay, then.”
Shuffle. Azalea shuffled and arranged the cards with a swift motion.
“Rieul-ah, fighting!”
Choi Yichan, who had been defeated earlier, cheered timidly, while Ki Yoohyun whispered to me that he would recover the nutrient somehow.
And me with them behind me.
……I just smiled brightly.
Azalea, who had finished arranging the cards, looked up and was surprised to see my face.
“What’s that smile, the one that makes you look like you’re the model of a self-employed person who can handle anything that comes your way?”
“Ahaha….”
I laughed repeatedly until the corners of my mouth went numb, and then a notification popped up.
[The user’s luck has reached its maximum.]
It was the power of the level 2 effect of the Smile skill I had just levelled up, smiling brings good fortune.
I thought I’d use it to get a good item from the golden draw, but I didn’t expect to use it for something like this.
Azalea, the winner of the previous game, took the lead. She leisurely picked up two cards of the same colour and number. I was next, and the effect of Luck MAX was amazing. I drew two cards at random, and they were the right answer.
“Wow!” Choi Yichan cheered from behind me.
“Oh my, you’re so lucky.”
“I’m a little lucky, ahaha…….”
What followed was a repeat of the first time. With a 100% probability, Azalea and I took turns picking up the cards. Occasionally, we shuffled the cards on the table but the outcome never changes.
As we continued to flip the cards, I realised something.
There are 54 trump cards, including two jokers, and 27 pairs. If we assume that each of them is 100% correct, the winning hand is always the first player, Azalea.
That means you can’t win from the beginning, isn’t this a scam?
That’s pretty cheeky for a gambler.
Despite my resentment, the game went on anyway, and when there were only six cards left on the table, something happened.
Azalea’s turn. With a lazy gesture, she turned over her cards.
“…Oh, my.”
The cards were the joker and the A of spades. Incorrect.
Why did she make that mistake at the end?
I wondered that for a moment. I matched all the remaining cards and won.
“I won……!”
“I lost.”
As I put the cards down, the notification popped up again.
[Achievement: You have achieved ‘The One Who Defeated The Undefeated Gambler’. Please collect the reward.]
[Achievement: The One Who Defeated The Undefeated Gambler
You’ve handed the Undefeated Gambler her first loss.
The bitter taste of defeat is fair to all.
Reward: Trump Card Set]
[Item: Trump Card Set (★☆☆☆☆)
You can use it for recreation.
It shuffles well].
First loss of her life?
Aside from the random reward of a set of trump cards, I feel like I’ve done something pretty amazing with the first loss.
“A promise is a promise. I’ll return the item.”
In reality, Azalea didn’t seem to be too bothered by her first defeat. With a nonchalant attitude, she opened her inventory, pulled out a bottle of nutritional supplements, and handed it to me. The status window clearly stated ‘Mandragora Dungeon Ginger Exclusive Nutritional Supplement’.
“Great. That’s all I need!” I quickly took it and put it in my inventory.
At that moment, Ki Yoohyun, who had been silently watching the situation, suddenly spoke up.
“What were you saying earlier, that you know something about the golden liquor?”
That’s right, she had said that before we started the bet.
Azalea started explaining with a smile on her face, “Have you heard of the grimoire?”
It was said to be a book containing forbidden knowledge and powerful magic.
The scale of the worldview suddenly increases. I’m the kind of person who gets confused by long worldview explanations, so hopefully new concepts will only be introduced one at a time.
“The exact name hasn’t been passed down, it’s just called the Grimoire.”
Ki Yoohyun sighed slightly as if he had an idea, while Choi Yichan had the same expression as me, he looked as if he’d never heard of it before.
“It’s said that if you can get your hands on it, you can wield immense power, and because of that, many people have fought to get their hands on the Grimoire in the underworld, but none of them have actually gotten it.”
Srek. Azalea untied the patch covering her right eye.
“……!”
A sword scar ran across her eyelid.
“I lost my right eye trying to get the grimoire.” Azalea’s left eye sent a soft gaze towards me, “Don’t look at me with such a pitiful expression, I lost an eye and gained a valuable skill instead.”
She put the blindfold back on and explained, “The golden liquor is a recipe from that grimoire, and the current leader of the Church happened to read a fragment of it and discovered the recipe.”
The church leader … in other words, it was Dia-nim, the man who appeared at that frivolous meeting.
She said he was originally a swindler in a small city, making a living by scamming people. He had figured out the recipe for the golden liquor, but he didn’t know exactly what it was.
“He’s a man who has tampered with a power he shouldn’t have, and I don’t think he even knows exactly what he’s made.”
However, Azalea said she did not know who was behind the creation of Super Buff Coffee using the golden liquor.
The real enemy of the original buff coffee is still unknown. I vowed to find the enemy of our cafe.
“Where is that grimoire now?”
Azalea were lost in thought at Choi Yichan’s question,
“Well, I don’t know …. It’s been about six years? and I haven’t heard any rumours about it since then, so maybe someone has already gotten their hands on it.”
At the end of my explanation, a question naturally came to mind. I asked it out loud.
“How do you know all this?”
” Huh, you know how in noir films, the owner of a shop like this knows everything? That’s kind of my role, so to speak.”
With that joking remark, she pulled a new business card from her pocket.
“It’s hard to make a living running just one pawn shop, so I’ve taken on a second job as an information agent.”
“…….”
“Next time you need information, come to me. If you bring me something worthwhile, I’ll give you the information.”
This was written on the business card, “Informant Azalea“.
Although there were twists and turns, the nutritional supplement was in hand. Now it was time to return to the store.
Before doing so, I turned to the two people on either side of me.
“Yoohyun-ssi and Yichan-ah. Please wait at the door for a moment.”
“…….”
“…….”
Ki Yoohyun and Choi Yi Chan exchanged a wordless glance. They looked like they really didn’t like each other and didn’t intend to hide it. It would be incredibly awkward if they were left alone, but…….
It can’t be helped. It would be nice for them to get to know each other a little better at this point.
I repeatedly asked them to wait a moment and walked back into the pawnshop.
“Excuse me, Azalea-ssi.”
“What’s the matter, customer? Did you leave something behind?”
“Not really, just … when we were playing the game earlier, why did you pick the wrong card? You knew the correct answer.”
I saw it clearly. She was about to pick up the right card at first, but then she paused and picked up the card next to it. If she had picked up the first card, she would have won the game.
“You seem to know about my abilities.”
I affirmed in silence.
“But my skill is not necessarily the ability to win games. It’s about being able to read 10 seconds into the future and make the best choices.”
“…….”
“Losing was the best choice. It means helping you was my best future.”
Azalea closed her left eye and smiled.
***
The footsteps faded into the distance, and silence returned to the late-night alley.
Azalea, the pawnshop owner, thought.
‘Phew .…. I was scared to death.’
Another of Azalea’s hidden skills is ‘The Gambler of Fate‘. This skill, which allows her to glimpse the fate of her opponents when she wins a bet, was the foundation of her business. She would wager with her customers in a game that she could only win to get a glimpse of their fate. Then, she used these glimpses of fate to gain information and pose as an informant.
But the three people who just showed up were surprising.
The fates of the men on both sides were also powerful, and it was impossible to read them all with Azalea’s power. Even though she won the bet, all she read was a small fragment.
But the woman, the weakest of the three, was … Azalea was afraid of hers.
What could it be? What kind of causality was she carrying that she could sense such a great presence in a seemingly ordinary human?
She was curious.
But then, just as she was about to turn over the correct card for victory, a chill ran down her spine. It was a fear she had never experienced before, even as the Azalea who had travelled the underworld for so long.
In the end, fear overcame her curiosity. She couldn’t choose the right card.
Her ‘best judgement’ had served her well throughout her wanderings in the Underworld, keeping her alive to this day. If you wish to have a long life, you must not stick your head in something you cannot handle.
It’s better not to read that customer’s fate. No, she shouldn’t read it.
With that judgement, she chose defeat.
She had no time to dwell on her undefeated record, and to avoid any possible offence, she gave away information she would not normally share.
Azalea wiped the nape of her neck with her handkerchief. Her back was still damp with a cold sweat.
‘What the hell is going to happen in the future…….’
The guests had already left. Only unanswered sighs drifted into the empty space.
***
“Waeooong!”
“Kkyuu! Kkyuu!”
With the nutritional supplements in hand, we headed to Cafe Rieul to nurture the ginger planted in the space.
“Kyagyagyagyok (Why are you coming home this late?)!”
“Kkyu! Kkyuuu! Kkyuu!”
It was late and I thought they were sleeping, but the animals greeted me cheerfully.
“Waeong, waeooong (It looks like something big has happened in the town).”
“How did you know?”
“Waeoooong (do you think I’m a cat who doesn’t even watch the news)!”
── People who have turned into trees have been spotted around the city …. Dungeon Management Office responding …… Some evacuations ordered…….
Through the crack in the door, I could hear the news coming from the television in the back room. Mieum and Lime seemed to have understood the situation from the news.
‘Right. We have to solve the quest because of that.’
“Kkyuu!”
“Meow!”
Ki Yoohyun and Choi Yichan looked at Mieum, who was babbling energetically. She was crying as if she was speaking, and it seemed to catch their eyes.
Seeing that, I brought up something I’d been meaning to point out for a while.
‘So, how long are you going to talk to me through telepathy?’
It’s not anyone else, it’s Ki Yoohyun and Choi Yichan, don’t you think you can just talk to them now?
They’re not the ones who would be surprised that a cat can talk. They got a good sense, so it’s like they’re already realised that Mieum understands us.
“Waeeung (That’s … I’m embarrassed to speak all of sudden).”
“Ah, yeah.”
I see.
Oops. This was not the time to talk to this surprisingly shy cat.
As I headed straight into the space to save the Ginger, I realised that Ash was nowhere to be seen.
Translator’s Corner:
Happy October, everyone! I’m sorry for this year inactivity, many things happened, but well … everyone has things going on their life i guess. That’s life.
But I finished my third year and finally now all left for me is 1 year and a thesis! So between part-time and doing the thesis (I hate it i hate it i hate it i hate it), I will be able to update regularly like before!
… and I will do my best to finish my thesis. Actually, since I don’t have any other supports, this blog and the coffess sent to me really helped me a lot in finishing my third year (since between classes, mandatory internship and even mandatory 2 months getting-sent-away projects, i cant do part time) so now I’m not only need to take full responsibility to see the end of the story, but also I have the responsibility to all of you to finish my degree (I will finish this mf before this mf finish me) ….. it’s somehow motivating but i don’t want to do it aaaaa why we still need to do thesis after working hard in classes for years …. i’m in tears
anyway that’s it! my first draft will get judged by my counselor tomorrow so i can’t update for tomorrow, will be on tuesday! (i promise i will keep this words … well as long as-you-know what not suddenly died again…..)
