Chapter 101
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“…Beat the Counselor…?”
Ha Seorim muttered the name of the game. After reading the instruction sheet on the table, she tilted her head.
“…But why are you playing a game?”
She looked curious about what the counseling club had to do with games.
“What comes to mind when you think of counseling?”
Nuri stepped in to explain in my place.
“……Being good with words?”
Ha Seorim opened her lips after a brief moment of thought.
“No. Counseling means psychology! And psychology means a psychological warfare game!”
So that was why the counseling club was running a game.
Nuri raised her index finger and declared it in a confident tone.
I had no idea what the logic was. Anyway, that was how it worked.
“Ah, yes.”
Ha Seorim didn’t seem inclined to understand it deeply, so she accepted the explanation without much thought.
“If you beat the best gamer in our club, you can take home a prize.”
Nuri smiled and slapped me on the shoulder.
Pang, pang—
She really was hitting me quite hard.
“And if you win, you get a 10,000-won gift certificate?”
“Yep. The entry fee is 1,000 won per round.”
Nuri shook the container for the entry fees. I could hear the bills shifting inside.
I listened to the pleasant rustling sound with satisfaction.
“But….”
Ha Seorim moved her lips as though choosing what to say.
“…Is it really okay to do something like this at a festival?”
“Huh? What about it?”
“No, I mean….”
When Nuri asked back with such an innocent expression, Ha Seorim was the one who lost her words.
— “…This is just gambling with a prize.”
Her Minimi merely muttered with a serious expression.
“It’s fine.”
I nodded calmly.
That wasn’t something she needed to worry about. I had gotten proper permission from the teacher beforehand.
Convincing the teacher had been the hardest part.
“They approved it after we limited the number of attempts and the number of gift certificates. Each person can try up to three times. And only the first five people can receive a gift certificate.”
“Ah… Then it’s like a raffle game?”
“Exactly.”
I agreed with Ha Seorim. We had placed more emphasis on the game than the money.
…Of course, it was a game with a little trickery mixed in.
“So, do you girls want to give it a try?”
Nuri invited the younger members of the band.
“…I’m okay.”
Ha Seorim shook her head.
— “…There’s definitely some kind of trick involved. It’d be a waste of money.”
Ha Seorim thought it would be better to use that money to eat cup popcorn sold in the clubroom.
“…Hmm.”
She wasn’t lacking in perception.
It was as though she knew what kind of trick was rigged into the game. She had realized that winning wouldn’t be easy.
Still, there were people who played even knowing that. Simply for the fun of it.
“I’ll do it…!”
Ha Seorim’s bandmate stepped forward.
I checked her name tag.
An Boram. Seeing the name tag brought the name to mind.
“Here you go.”
An Boram held out a 1,000-won bill to me.
Seeing that, Ha Seorim raised a questioning look.
“You’re going to play?”
“Why? It looks like it’ll be fun.”
“……”
She looked like someone watching a friend get conned.
Ha Seorim soon withdrew her gaze and stepped aside as if to say, Do whatever you want.
…….
“Hwaaah—this isn’t working.”
An Boram let out a disappointed breath.
That used up all three of her chances.
The male band member, Jin Hyunwoo, had his money taken as well.
— “…I knew it. There was a trick.”
The Minimi’s eyes narrowed. Ha Seorim fixed her gaze on Isol.
Rather than focusing on the game, she had kept looking around for the trick. In the end, she found it.
“…….”
After watching An Boram lick her lips in disappointment, Ha Seorim slowly sat down.
Swish—
She thrust a 1,000-won bill forward.
“You’re going to play, too?”
I asked as I accepted it.
“…Just one round.”
I nodded, shuffled the cards, and dealt them out.
“…….”
Ha Seorim held her cards against her chest just long enough to check the numbers, then covered them on the table again.
It was a remarkably quick movement.
— “Huh, huh?”
Isol, who hadn’t been able to see the numbers, raised her voice in panic.
Once you noticed the trick, it was definitely easy to counter.
I put down the entry coin and asked Ha Seorim,
“How many?”
“I’ll raise it to three.”
“All right. I’ll match you.”
I put down my cards and fell into thought.
I had once watched a documentary like that.
Something about the psychology of games and the reasons behind addiction… The title had been something along those lines.
…It had said this.
First.
At first, you make them keep getting a taste of victory. You make them enjoy themselves.
“One, two, three.”
“!”
When we revealed our cards, Ha Seorim’s expression brightened.
The sum of the numbers was higher on her side.
— “As expected, without the trick, my skill is showing. If things continue like this, I can win easily.”
The corners of Ha Seorim’s Minimi’s mouth lifted.
First, it filled her with confidence that she could win.
“……”
I watched her and shuffled the cards.
Tap— tap—
The game continued after that.
Sometimes I won, and sometimes Ha Seorim won.
“All in.”
After waiting for a suitable moment, I made an aggressive move. I pushed in all my coins.
“I’ll fold.”
Ha Seorim didn’t stubbornly follow and backed off at once. Her number wasn’t high enough for that.
We revealed our cards.
The number on Ha Seorim’s side was higher than mine. It had been a bluff.
I greedily gobbled up her entry fee.
Ha Seorim’s eyebrows trembled. It wasn’t a large amount, but it was probably enough to put her in a bad mood.
“…….”
The game continued.
The coins were divided eleven to nine.
It was almost even, but Ha Seorim had about two more coins.
She was gradually pulling ahead.
“All in.”
I bet my coins on top of that.
“I’ll match you.”
This time, Ha Seorim followed.
“One, two, three.”
We revealed our cards.
“Urgh…!”
At the same time, Ha Seorim’s expression hardened.
I won by a narrow margin. The difference between our totals was only two.
Winning an all-in round turned the tables in an instant.
“I won.”
This round ultimately went to me.
If you lose just when you think you’re about to win. When it feels like you might narrowly win.
At that moment, you miss out on victory.
“……”
Tap—
Another 1,000-won bill slipped out of Ha Seorim’s wallet.
“…Just one more round.”
…Ah, it felt like I could win if I played just one more time.
That was how you ended up wanting to play the next round for no good reason.
“Sure.”
I quickly shuffled the cards.
…….
“This is the end.”
“……”
The second round also ended in my victory.
“…Just one more round.”
Ha Seorim had become stubborn now.
“This is the last one.”
“Yes, I know.”
I divided up the coins and shuffled the cards.
I wanted to finish quickly, so I bet aggressively.
Ha Seorim had two coins left.
I had eighteen.
“……”
In that situation, Ha Seorim’s expression was impassive.
She rested her chin on her hand and tapped her index finger, as though searching for a way to win even now.
That was how she appeared on the outside.
— “……Two.”
She counted the number of coins she had left in a gloomy voice.
A little moisture welled beneath her eyes.
Ha Seorim was surprisingly competitive. Perhaps she was frustrated. If you looked closely, her fingertips had turned white. She was gripping her cards tightly.
Maybe it was because money was at stake.
‘Did I go too far?’
She was my junior, and I wondered if I had taken the game too seriously.
I had also cleaned out three people completely.
— “…I have no choice but to bet, though.”
Ha Seorim’s Minimi fell into thought.
Should she bet just one and preserve a lifeline?
Or should she bet everything and turn it into an opportunity?
She had to choose between the two.
“I’ll bet both.”
In the end, Ha Seorim made that choice.
The number in her hand was an eight. It was fairly high, so her choice was understandable.
But it was the wrong choice. The number at her forehead was a two.
My total was higher by four.
“Fold.”
I gave up on this round and put my cards down.
One of the entry coins she had bet went to her.
“Phew…….”
Ha Seorim let out a breath of relief.
— “…Urgh!”
Then, realizing that I was looking at her, she hurriedly composed herself.
As though nothing had happened, she stared down at her cards with a serious expression.
“……”
The game continued.
As we naturally won and lost, I drew out Ha Seorim’s coins.
Then, in the final round with a large number of coins at stake,
I put down my cards.
“…I lost.”
By two.
Her cards had the higher numbers.
In other words, Ha Seorim had won.
“…!”
Ha Seorim’s eyes widened.
She looked as though she couldn’t believe she had won.
— “I-I won…!”
Her Minimi sprang to its feet.
It hopped up and down.
Since she was that happy, I suppose it was good that I had let her win.
“Kyaa! Seorim!”
An Boram clung to Ha Seorim and bounced up and down. She looked as happy as if it were her own victory.
Maybe she would treat everyone at a café with the 10,000-won gift certificate.
When you thought of it that way, the two of them weren’t unrelated.
“……”
Ha Seorim nodded briefly and gave a faint smile.
“Here’s your prize.”
“…Ahem. Yes.”
When I held out the gift certificate, Ha Seorim carefully composed her expression and accepted it with both hands.
— “One precious gift certificate…!”
Nuri’s Minimi cried out.
“Seunghooo….”
Isol approached with a gloomy expression and whispered softly.
“…Sorry. I got caught.”
“Huh? You got caught?”
Nuri whispered along with her.
I shook my head.
“It’s okay. I had a feeling we’d get caught sooner or later.”
“…Still.”
She regretted that we had lost, saying that she wouldn’t have lost if she had done better.
That wasn’t necessarily true. I shook my head.
“You have to let them win once in a while, or more customers will come looking for you.”
That was how games worked.
Rather than playing against someone who seemed impossible to beat, people wanted to play against someone they felt they might be able to defeat.
I stood up.
“Let’s start cleaning up and go get some food.”
By the time we finished running the stall, it was already close to eleven.
After moving around constantly, my stomach had emptied quickly.
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(!Signboard!)
(There’s an AI illustration if you scroll down!)
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Hand signal, Sol