Chapter 267.1 |
The VIP room of the Casino of Corporeity, which we entered after increasing our holdings to 2,772 coins through a method that was practically indistinguishable from fraud.
We had just been offered a special gamble for VIPs by the dealer.
Russian roulette.
Two participants would be chosen from among our party.
[Oh, the more you play this game, the more you only stand to lose. Isn’t that right?]
[After paying the casino its commission, it’s effectively just a game of passing coins back and forth between the two of you. Aside from the fact that one of you is guaranteed to die, of course.]
But for our objective, this gamble was unavoidable.
I looked at the body parts and organs dangling from the rails.
‘Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae’s body pieces are hanging there too.’
Sure enough.
“I’ll volunteer first.”
Someone raised his hand immediately.
Agent Choi, his eyes shining.
“Agent!”
“My chance of ‘actually’ dying is low, and the chance of a successful rescue is high~ If you can do basic math as an agent, this is something you take.”
That was true.
‘Based on what we’ve experienced so far, dying in the Sekwang City subway means waking up in reality and escaping.’
The problem was.
‘…Can we be one hundred percent sure that still applies this time?’
If even a one-in-ten-thousand chance of real death existed…
Then it would end there.
……
“I’ll go first.”
At that moment, Assistant Manager Eun Haje brushed off her clothes and stepped forward.
“…!”
“Ms. Citizen, wait—”
“No. Courage just happens to be my specialty.”
She turned toward us and waved the hand fitted with equipment.
The exchanged hand.
“I didn’t have a hand in the first place anyway. There’s no need to recover it. You could call it saving coins.”
“…!”
“And you shouldn’t go last.”
Assistant Manager Eun Haje’s prosthetic hand pointed at Agent Choi.
“Huh? Come on, Ms. Citizen. I stepped up all cool like, and now you’re killing the mood…”
I shook my head.
“Agent. You’re the only one who can identify body parts.”
“……!”
Agent Choi moved his lips, then finally let out a sigh.
“Sharp as always, Roe you rascal.”
Assistant Manager Eun Haje gave a brief snort of laughter, but the tension in the air remained thick.
“Those of you who only traded your ring fingers, go find them with coins and exchange them back. Don’t go crying later because you can’t move properly after you get out.”
“…Pardon?”
“It means that your current state might affect you when you wake up, so don’t take risks you don’t have to.”
Assistant Manager Eun Haje stepped forward decisively.
“I’ll play.”
“……”
But then.
“This is a game in which one of the participating guests is guaranteed to die. Are you sure you wish to play?”
What?
“Yes. I’ll play.”
“…Would you like me to explain Russian roulette again?”
“A six-shot revolver with one bullet. Two people take turns shooting themselves. If you get hit, you die. If you fire three shots in a row and survive, you receive one body part as a reward. Is that correct?”
“Yes. And there is also the option to give up a body part to pass your turn to your opponent…”
“That’s fine. No one here will be using that.”
“……”
And 15 minutes and 20 seconds later.
Bang!
We watched, with our own eyes, as Assistant Manager Eun Haje’s head was blown apart……
“……”
“……”
The victor.
Agent Bronze stood there with darkened eyes, forcibly suppressing the trembling of his hands as he stared at the scene.
At the blood-soaked corpse that had fired three consecutive shots.
Click.
“Congratulations! You’ve won!”
This.
This isn’t good. The shock is greater than expected.
No matter how much I tried to remind myself that she would wake up in reality, watching an acquaintance die right in front of me, ‘according to plan’…
‘…It’s worse than a noose.’
The atmosphere froze solid.
“And this person fired three consecutive shots, so as for the additional reward… ah, she’s deceased.”
The dealer, who had been counting, turned toward us.
“She was part of your party, right? …In that case, you may take the reward instead.”
Our gazes turned to Agent Choi.
The agent capable of identifying body parts stepped forward with a stiff expression and looked at the pieces hanging from the rail.
Then he selected one.
“That shoulder.”
“……”
A part that could be attached directly to the neck.
It was the highest-priority body piece we had discussed in advance.
Cold sweat ran down Agent Choi’s composed face.
“Well…”
The head of Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae looked at us and spoke.
“You may stop here and leave the room. What will you do?”
“……”
We had already placed our bet.
That if you die inside Sekwang City, you wake up outside.
In that case.
“We’ll continue.”
“Then who will place the next bet?”
It continues.
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