Chapter 20: The Dice of Death (3)

In the first treasure chest, 50 gold coins were at stake, sitting seven spaces ahead from the starting point.

This round began with the Dealer, so the purple die was already in her hand.

“I’ll begin.”

I nodded in response.

‘The number coming up this time will be 2.’

With that thought, the die left Hailan’s palm and rolled across the floor.

[2 has come up.]

As expected, it was two.

Now, on her next turn, Hailan only needed to roll a 5.

If that happened, the 50 gold coins would go straight to her.

But she probably wouldn’t do that.

‘You have to give your mark some hope if you want to reel them in.’

Hailan would surely let me take the first treasure chest’s 50 gold coins.

She’d probably toss me one of the Shield of Balance items from the second or fourth chest, too.

That’s how she’d tame my greed and take control of the game.

But…

Tap, tap.

‘Sorry, but the real sucker here is you all.’

Thinking this to myself, I flicked the die from my hand onto the table.

As the die spun and stopped—

“Uhmm?”

Hailan made a strange sound.

[6 has come up.]

She was visibly flustered.

I couldn’t help but let out a small, inward laugh at her reaction.

Should a pro really let their emotions show this much?

‘Of course, it must’ve surprised her.’

The number that was supposed to come up was 4.

That was psychologically the perfect number to land on the first treasure chest.

But instead, a 6 appeared, so she must have been quite shaken.

“Uhmm? What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

I blinked innocently and asked. She coughed awkwardly.

“No, it’s just the dry air in here.”

I almost burst out laughing.

She’s a funny woman.

Her throat is scratchy, so she goes ‘uhmm’?

“Right, it’s dry, so your throat gets scratchy and you end up saying weird things, huh.”

I smiled as I handed her the die.

“Here, your turn.”

“…Ahem.”

She looked away, clearly embarrassed.

Hailan tossed the die.

[3 has come up.]

She nodded, as if she’d figured something out.

“Then, I’ll move ahead three spaces.”

With a confident stride, Hailan advanced, stopping two spaces short of the tile with the 50 gold coins.

That was also the tile just before the one my piece was on.

‘Good thing there’s no Rule for Capturing Pieces.’

If there was a rule like in Yutnori, where you could send a piece back to the start if it got caught, I’d have even more to worry about.

The die returned to my hand.

“Hm.”

Feeling its weight in my fist, I looked at the board.

Right ahead, just one space away, was the first treasure chest with 50 gold coins.

But I had no intention of taking it yet.

Tap.

[4 has come up.]

My die showed a 4.

‘That’s probably what she expected, right?’

So Hailan didn’t react much.

She must have thought that the earlier 6 was just a fluke.

She’d be sure of it.

But it was no coincidence.

In truth, I could make the die land however I wanted.

‘I could keep getting the same number if I wanted.’

Rolling a 6 at the start was intentional.

Letting a 4 come up now was also within my control, so I allowed the die to follow its pattern.

Simply knowing the die’s pattern wasn’t enough for this.

‘You have to be able to manipulate the pattern, too.’

By interfering with the die’s pattern, I could make any number come up.

It was simpler than most would think.

Tap, tap.

“Ah, too bad. I needed a 1.”

I pretended to grumble as my piece passed right by the first treasure chest.

Hailan smiled with her eyes.

“You can get it next time.”

“Nah, you’ll probably take it before then.”

“Haha. Maybe I will.”

Even though Hailan said she might take the first treasure chest, inside, she was planning to hand it over to me.

And she would try to do just that.

‘That’s how you hook a sucker.’

But things weren’t going as she hoped.

Because I’d already made my move.

Rattle.

[2 has come up.]

[You opened the first treasure chest.]

“…Huh?”

“See? You grabbed it in a flash.”

The die that left Hailan’s hand showed a 2.

Her eyes were wide with confusion, as if to say, ‘What’s going on?’

And it was genuine.

She was supposed to get a 4, but a 2 came up, so she ended up taking a treasure chest she had no intention of claiming…

‘How flustered she must be. She can’t exactly insist on going back now, either.’

The secret was in my hand.

By knowing the die’s pattern, I could predict the next number.

And, surprisingly, I could even skip ahead in the pattern.

Just like this.

Tap, tap, tap.

I discreetly rolled the die three times in my palm after receiving it from Hailan.

It all happened hidden within my fist.

And then—

[4 has come up.]

[You opened the second treasure chest.]

[You have obtained a Shield of Balance!]

“…!”

A stunned silence fell over the room.

I saw Hailan’s eyes trembling wildly.

Placing my hand over my chest, I let out a big, relieved sigh.

“Well, at least I managed to snag one, haha.”

But behind me, Karls and Tirvaen—who had just been calling me a gambling addict—were now making a fuss.

“Wow! Did you just win that?”

“Even a grub is useful for medicine if you need it!”

…Isn’t it ‘even a grub knows how to wriggle’?

Irgal was just as excited.

“H-how did you do that? That didn’t look like luck!”

“Ugh, stop clinging to me and get away.”

My stomach lurched again.

Anyway, just like Irgal said, this wasn’t luck.

I was manipulating the pattern by ‘secretly rolling the die in my hand.’

‘As long as the die is thrown onto the table, that’s what counts.

For example, if a ‘4-5-6’ pattern was coming up and I wanted a 6, I’d secretly roll the die twice in my hand.

That way, 4 and 5 would be skipped, and I’d land a 6.

If I had to name it, I’d call it a Fake Throw.

This was my strategy for the Dice of Death.

It was a proven method, even in the original Shin B.S.E game.

‘In the original, there was a Practice Throw feature that opened a separate window.’

You didn’t have to throw the die on the table right away; there was a separate interface to skip ahead in the pattern.

Newbies wondered why there was even a practice option for rolling dice.

But Veterans would use it to their advantage whenever they went up against a Dealer NPC.

‘Just open Notepad, play through two quick rounds, jot down the pattern, and you’re set.’

Once you’d figured out the pattern, you could raise your bets and clean out the NPC.

That was a secret trick used in the black market.

But—

‘If you try to win too blatantly, you’ll get in trouble.’

If Hailan noticed I was cheating, she could reverse the game and drop out.

‘If she lost too badly, she might even use force to get her money back.’

In that case, there’d be no avoiding a fight.

So I was being careful with how I used the die.

But still—

‘By the last part of the game, it’ll be obvious.’

If you tried to clean out the Dealer, there was no way to avoid suspiciously monopolizing the treasure chests.

Anyway, aside from the first chest, I had no intention of giving Hailan anything.

‘I’m taking all the rest for myself.’

Just then, Hailan smiled.

“You took the second chest, huh? Congratulations.”

“Haha, lucky me. I had no idea a 4 would come up there.”

I laughed it off as I handed her the die.

I didn’t manipulate the pattern this time.

My goal was to use the pattern as little as possible while taking the Dealer for everything she had.

The best scenario?

That would be making it to the fourth treasure chest without her realizing I was using tricks.

‘As long as the Dealer’s piece is halfway there, she can’t turn back, and I can safely take all the winnings.’

Once you pass the fourth chest, whether you turn back or just race to the finish, it’s all the same.

From there, even if you’re caught, you can just take everything and run.

Resting my chin on my hand, I grinned.

“Well then, your turn?”

The critical moment was close.

Thanks to all my advance planning, the third treasure chest fell to me naturally, and I was able to snatch up 50 gold coins without arousing Hailan’s suspicion.

But the fourth was different.

I frowned as I stared at the board.

‘As expected, this is where the problem comes.’

Right now, Hailan and I were only one space apart.

To get the fourth treasure chest, Hailan needed to roll a 5, and I needed a 4.

The problem was the next number to come up.

It was Hailan’s turn to roll…

‘The next number will be 5.’

I knew that exactly.

If things went as they were, I’d lose the fourth chest to Hailan.

And as everyone knew, that chest held a Shield of Balance.

“Customer? May I have the die?”

Hailan was grinning behind her mask, eager to take my 180 gold.

‘What do I do? If I change the pattern now, she’ll definitely get suspicious.’

While I fiddled with the die, lost in thought for just a moment—

“Uuuhm!”

…What?

Irgal, who’d been quiet until now, suddenly sprang into action.

He spread his torso wide beside me and—

“Achoo!”

Let out a sneeze so thunderous it seemed to shake his soul.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

Thud!

He slammed both fists on the table as he sneezed.

“Wha—?”

The table tilted, causing Hailan to wobble, and even I, who was leaning on the edge, got swept up.

Rattle.

As I flailed to grab onto something, the die slipped from my hand and tumbled away.

Falling to the floor, I was totally thrown off.

‘What kind of lousy acting is this?’

That sneeze was incredibly awkward.

Never mind the acting, the timing was just insane.

‘It’s like he jumped in to save me from a crisis or something.’

Honestly, it wasn’t even that dire!

There had to be other ways!

Sure enough, Irgal whispered to me.

“Hey, I distracted them—do something, quick!”

“Hey, nobody asked you to do that!”

…Fine. Whatever.

Let’s just leave it at that.

He’s got his whole fortune on the line, so no wonder he’s desperate.

‘But now that I think about it, something’s weird.’

He was playing before I showed up, but he only has 92 gold coins?

That’s suspicious.

But something even stranger happened, so my thoughts stopped there.

As I toppled over with Irgal, my nose ended up pressed against his side.

Sniff, sniff.

‘What is this?’

The scent that brushed past my nose left me utterly bewildered.

A strange floral fragrance.

It was coming from Irgal.

It was an absolutely disgusting thing to admit, but…

‘It actually smells kind of nice.’

I was thrown into total confusion.

What the heck is this guy?

Or am I the weird one?

“Customer? Are you alright?”

I almost shouted, ‘I think I’m losing my mind!’ at Hailan’s question, but barely held myself back.

I picked up the die and got to my feet, steadying myself on the table.

…Tap.

Not missing the chance, I rolled the die once in my hand.

Just like that, the 5 was skipped.

[1 has come up.]

“…!”

Hailan’s eyes trembled with frustration as she missed out on the fourth treasure chest.