'why...'
Lucas was trembling, sweat continuously pouring down and soaking his clothes.
'why...'
The continuous cheers rang out full of excitement, as if they would never stop.
The person sitting across from him had his head in his hands, his face looking even more miserable and anxious than Lucas.
'why did it turn out like this...'
"LUCAS! LUCAS! LUCAS! LUCAS!"
Lucas placed all his remaining cards down on the table. The person opposite froze when he saw it, then his face immediately went blank and lifeless as if the god of death had just taken his soul.
"OHHH!! LUCAS HAS WON AGAIN!!! THIS IS HIS FIFTH WINNING STREAK!!"
The cheers grew even fiercer, and then a whole pile of tokens was moved over to him.
"Here, 2200 tokens, converted to Credits that's about 1100. I knew I didn't misjudge him!" one young man patted Lucas on the shoulder, looking extremely excited.
"Damn it! If this kid wasn't year 6 we'd already have invited him into the gambling club!" a well-dressed guy slammed the table.
"Hey hey! He came to us first, it's not your turn yet!" the other young man pointed at him, refusing to accept it.
"Hmph! Your tiny sports club? If he stays there this gambling talent will rot away! He's a gambling god! He should be where he belongs!!"
"What did you just say?!"
"If you've got the guts then come at me!!"
Then the two of them started fighting, and chaos began to break out.
Only Lucas was still sitting there, his face full of pain.
"I only wanted to visit the sports club..."
Let me explain what happened.
Lucas had gone to the sports club full of enthusiasm, since that was his specialty after all.
Back home his family had always forced him to exercise. If he didn't train, he could forget about eating.
He never complained though. Exercise is good, right? A bit tiring, but having good health is no problem.
And as expected, when he entered the club he saw seniors practicing every kind of exercise pose. There were even many pieces of equipment he swore he had never seen in his entire life.
So he decided, 'Ah! Next year I'm joining this club!'
He went in and greeted the seniors. They greeted him back. When he wanted to try the equipment they agreed right away.
Then Lucas showed off his ability: just by looking once he already knew how to use everything, completely proficient, leaving the seniors astonished.
'Whoa! This kid is like LeBron James!' they thought (don't ask me why they know LeBron James or why he was like him).
So they decided they absolutely had to recruit Lucas into the club... once he was old enough.
Everything went on like that until a few people walked into the club.
"Oi oi oi!! Debt collection time, boys!" a guy with a scar on his cheek said, looking like a street thug.
It turned out the sports club president, the extremely passionate guy who never held back praise for Lucas... was a well-known gambler.
His passion for gambling had made his debts keep growing, and he showed no sign of stopping!
As expected, 99% of gamblers never stop until they hit a big win!
So did he still have credits? Yes.
Did he pay?
Of course he paid... into the slot machines!!!
"BROTHERS LET'S GO! I DON'T BELIEVE WE WON'T HIT THE JACKPOT THIS TIME!!!"
"OUHHHH!!!"
The whole group charged into the gambling club like gorillas injected with stimulants, ready to win everything back.
"New recruit! Follow me!!" the sports club president dragged Lucas along.
"H-HUH?!"
And so Lucas entered the gambling club, a whole new world.
"5! Give me 5!!!" a student who looked like a beggar slammed the slot machine over and over, shaking it as if he was about to break it.
"You chickens, watch how I play," a free-spirited guy whose entire outfit was made of cards stuck together laid down a pair of 2s.
"Hmph! Trash like you isn't even in the same league as me!" someone stood up holding mahjong tiles that were somehow stuck together and spun them like Bruce Lee spinning nunchucks.
"I can do this all day," a guy holding a lucky spinning wheel used it like Captain America's shield, looking extremely determined.
"Go ahead, Mr. Jokestur," a guy wearing only underwear waved his hand to provoke his opponent.
'What the hell is going on here?' Lucas asked himself.
Truly a new and terrifying world.
"Come on! Let's go!!" the club president sat down, eyes burning as he faced his opponent.
"Oya oya? So this is the beloved sports club president? Coming to offer money to us again?" the opponent smiled slyly, treating the person in front of him as a complete idiot.
"Hmph! The one who doesn't play is the winner, but once you've played you must win! I bet 1500 tokens!"
(If you're curious, 2 tokens = 1 credit)
"Oh my, then let me explain the rules. Very simple," he put down 2000 tokens and smiled.
He took out two dice and pointed at a spinning wheel with numbers from 2 to 12.
"First we spin the wheel. Whatever number you land on, you have to roll that exact number on the dice. Easy to understand, right?"
"Fine! Who goes first?"
"After you, the participant~"
"Alright... Let's go!!!"
He spun the wheel hard and landed on 10.
"Boom! Number 10 of a real man!"
"Good good... Now my turn." He spun and landed on 2.
"Okay, now you roll the dice. If you hit it and I don't, all the tokens are yours. If neither of us hits or both hit, we split the tokens equally. Still pretty good for you, right?"
"...You roll first!" He pointed at the opponent with a serious face.
"Oh? You want me to roll first?"
The club members all looked at their president with worry.
"Enough talk! Do it!"
"Fine," he chuckled and rolled the dice.
The moment the dice landed, the whole group sweated nervously as they watched.
Only when both dice stopped moving did they all breathe a sigh of relief.
"It's... it's a 5."
"We got lucky..."
Then they got excited, because no matter whether their president won or lost, he was still the one making a profit since he put down fewer tokens than the opponent!
Lucas watched and noticed the opponent's smirking expression.
"Alright, come forth lower-realm dragon dance!!!"
He threw the dice, they spun continuously, and then landed on a number no one expected.
Number 12!
"OUHHH!!! JACKPOT!!!"
"2000 TOKENS ARE OURS!!!"
The whole group cheered happily. Even the sports club president couldn't hold back and celebrated with his brothers.
Except for Lucas. He looked at the opponent's face as if it was saying "Just as planned."
"...Are we sure we won?" Lucas asked the person next to him.
"You're worrying too much, new recruit! As if that guy would cheat us with a pre-arranged trick by letting us win the first time then provoking us to bet everything so he can take it all the next round!"
"???"
"Alright, today seems to be your lucky day, huh? Congratulations, congratulations," the opponent clapped and smiled in a teasing way.
"No need for praise, no need!" the president scratched his head smugly.
"If today is your lucky day, why don't you try... going all in once?"
His voice was like a devil's, full of dangerous charm.
However, as the sports club president, he wasn't stupid—
"All in! Brothers, hurry and convert all the remaining credits into tokens!"
No, he was a complete idiot. What was I even expecting from this guy?
"Uhm... does everyone think this is a good idea?" Lucas asked worriedly, but they ignored him.
This made him feel a little hurt, because compared to his friends who called him annoying but still listened to his nonsense, these people acted enthusiastic but never listened to anyone!
"Here! 6500 tokens!" He put them down looking extremely arrogant (3250 credits).
This was everything the whole group had. If they lost it would be all gone, not even enough credits left to keep the club.
Meaning if they lost this match the whole group would disband!
"Then I'll put down 7000 tokens, just in case we tie and still have to split equally, okay?" the opponent still smiled.
"Fine!"
So both of them took turns spinning. The club president got 6 while the opponent got 8.
"You roll the dice."
"Phew... Go! Manchester United!!!"
What the hell is Manchester United??
Of course no one gets lucky twice in a row. This time he rolled a 7, very close.
"Damn it! Hmph... whatever, I'm still the one making a profit anyway, there's no way—"
"BROTHER!!!"
"Huh? Nani?"
The opponent had already rolled the dice... and it landed exactly on 8.
"NANI?!!!!"
"LIKE I SAID, TODAY IS YOUR LUCKY DAY BECAUSE YOU GAVE ME THE CHANCE TO TAKE ALL YOUR MONEY! AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH!!!" The opponent stood up, slammed the table, looking extremely pleased and laughing like he had never laughed before.
Damn, does the expression really need to be that exaggerated?
"I... I... uhah!!" The president coughed up blood in pain and fell into Lucas's arms in a pose that looked exactly like a certain guy who was a disappointment.
Hey, of all people, why did you have to fall into my arms?
"卢卡斯...你是唯一一个我没把最后一分钱都榨干的人;求你了,替我报仇吧..."
"I don't speak Chinese."
"Aargh!" He coughed up more blood and fainted on the spot.
"Chamya!!!!" The members rushed over and held him.
What the hell? His name is Chamya?? No wonder that pose looked so familiar!
"New recruit... please... please take revenge for our club president!!"
"..." Lucas then took out his student ID to check his remaining credits and immediately looked pained.
Damn it, these credits were saved so I could hang out with the guys, specifically the one whose name starts with I! (Igor: since when were we that close?)
"Fine... I'll play! Convert 100 credits into tokens!"
Right after that, 200 tokens were placed in front of him.
"Kid... are you sure?" the opponent, the one who had just scammed the money, raised an eyebrow.
No matter how greedy and shameless he was, there was still a limit, especially when the target was a kid who had only recently enrolled and hadn't experienced much yet.
And he was being forced by those muscle-brained idiots from the sports club too? Those guys were both dumb and loved gambling. They had been warned at the beginning but didn't listen, and even said 'are you looking down on us?!'
Yeah! I am looking down on you! Looking down on your intelligence limited by yourselves!
"...I'll play!"
"Hah... you said it," he said, then took out a coin.
No need to guess, it was a coin toss game.
"I bet 600 tokens," he said, his face starting to look sly.
This coin... was a magic item. It would land on whichever side its owner wanted!
Kid, this is a lesson from society. Next time you'd better not come to a place like this to gamble. It's not good, okay~ (whoa, is he kinder than I thought?)
"Heads or tails?" he asked, looking at Lucas.
"Tails!" Lucas answered immediately.
"Alright, I'm tossing now."
Ting
The moment the coin was tossed up and then slammed onto his hand, he only smiled as he opened his palm.
Hmm, it was tails.
...
...what?
"TAILS?!!" He stood up, face completely unable to believe it.
What the hell?? This coin was clearly created by me, I'm the one who can control it, so why didn't it land on heads???
"D-did I win?" Lucas scratched his head.
"Huh? Ah... yeah, you won," he came back to his senses and handed over all 600 tokens. After all, he had said he would keep his word.
"Impossible?! The new recruit hit the jackpot?! As expected, the savior of the club!" one of the group said.
"But it's only 700 tokens, still at a loss..."
Suddenly a guy whose entire outfit was made of poker cards walked over and sat down in front of Lucas.
"This is the first time he's lost at a coin toss. I'm a bit surprised," he smiled as he looked at Lucas.
"Huh? Ah... who are you?"
"Me? I'm the card god. I've never lost to anyone in poker. Want to play with me?"
"Well..."
"I'll bet 5000 tokens if you dare to play."
"But..." Lucas hesitated.
"Don't worry new recruit! Just play! Don't be afraid of anything!"
But I don't even know what the hell poker is!!!
He felt more and more pressure, and truly felt miserable inside.
Earlier when he won he didn't feel happy at all, only relieved that he almost lost all his credits.
He swore that after earning back enough credits for this sports club he would never come here to gamble again. This place really wasn't worth coming to.
And the sports club too. They were all gamblers. Playing with them would one day leave him with zero credits...
"Fine, let's go!"
So both of them were dealt 13 cards. The card god picked them up with a familiar look while Lucas struggled to arrange his.
"Do you know Tiến Lên?"
"Uhm, no?"
"Then let me explain the rules. In Tiến Lên it's blah blah blah, bleh bleh bleh, bluh bluh bluh."
Lucas immediately felt like he was being hypnotized and understood absolutely nothing.
The card god saw that and sighed. As expected this kid wasn't a hidden master or a professional cheater. Yet he still beat that guy earlier. Truly too strange...
Must have just been a coincidence. Consider me bad at reading people then.
"Alright, whoever has the 3 goes first. I have it so I'll go first." He placed a red diamond 3 down.
While confused, Lucas suddenly remembered something from what the guy had said.
"You said... you can play from the lowest number to the highest, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then..."
Lucas slowly placed all his cards down, leaving everyone stunned.
All 13 cards, 13 different cards from the lowest to the highest.
"Is this... allowed?"
"..."
The card god coughed up blood, collapsed to the ground, and looked like he was about to die.
"Card god!!" The coin-toss guy rushed over looking panicked.
"Card god... the true card god... is the kid in front of us..."
"No... Card god is just an unnecessary title! The god of luck is definitely protecting him!" The card god grabbed the other guy's hand, face full of fear.
"He... he is the legendary gambling god!!!"
Lucas stood there, still not understanding what was going on.
Did he know that he was basically a parody version of a famous duelist known for his full-of-gambling style of play from Yu-Gi-Oh, Joey Wheeler?