Chapter 186 – Gambling Hall
How do you increase points quickly?
It’s not about clearing a lot of quests, and it’s not about killing like a madman.
‘The fastest shortcut is to hit it big in the Gambling Hall.’
That was exactly why Ryu Min had spent 23 hours gathering points.
To bet his entire fortune in the Gambling Hall.
Ryu Min opened the progress window and checked his points.
[Points acquired by the Korean Team: 12,775,330]
[Points acquired by Black Scythe-nim: 103,020]
[Time remaining until Round ends: 00:59:39]
‘100,000 points isn’t bad.’
Gathering 100,000 points through quests alone?
‘It’s possible for me because I know which quests have the best value-for-time, but for most Players, it’s basically impossible. Unless they kill.’
Of course, the murderers from other countries whose names were in the TOP 10 would have easily surpassed 100,000 by massacring anything in sight.
Not up to 1,000 kills like Ma Kyung-rok or Joo Sung-tak, but still.
‘They probably killed over 500. In the previous run, my subordinates under me had 200,000 points.’
200,000 was incredibly high, but compared to what Ryu Min was about to do, it was nothing.
Because he planned to multiply it up to 200 times in the Gambling Hall.
Only then would rank 1—both team rank 1 and personal rank 1—be possible.
‘With Clairvoyance, there’s nothing to worry about. It’s basically already a winning ticket.’
That was assuming he knew the Gambling Hall’s location, but there was nothing to worry about.
There was no way someone who’d gone through dozens of runs would forget the location.
‘I should go before it’s too late.’
Ryu Min took a step.
Toward the Gambling Hall for the final reversal.
When the message that the Gambling Hall would open appeared, everyone lit their eyes on fire and tried to find its location.
But with only one hour left, finding a Gambling Hall on this vast continent?
It was like searching for a needle in a desert.
‘Not telling the location was the right call. If tens of thousands gathered at the one and only Gambling Hall, that would be a problem in its own way.’
Everyone had to find it themselves, but the location of the Gambling Hall was, surprisingly, somewhere easy.
Screee—
An inn in the Holy Empire, which could be called the center of the continent.
After entering, Ryu Min headed to the kitchen storage.
“Hey, customer. What are you doing going into the kitchen?”
When an NPC who looked like the owner asked, Ryu Min answered honestly.
“I’m looking for the Gambling Hall.”
“Ahem. So you’re a warrior of the other world, I see.”
After checking his surroundings, the owner moved aside a sack of rice and opened a door in the floor.
Clank—
Looking down, there were stairs leading underground.
“Go in.”
Going down the stairs led to a dark secret passage.
A path connected to the Gambling Hall.
As he walked along the passage, a message appeared along with a vast cavern.
<Sub Quest – Find the Gambling Hall>
[You have completed the sub quest!]
[Points +1,000]
Even people with no points received 1,000 points just for finding it.
‘It’s like they’re saying, “Here, take one free try.”’
It would feel like free money, but it was a trap meant to hook people into gambling.
If you started “just for fun,” you could end up losing your entire fortune.
‘If you’re happy just because you got free points, you should turn around and walk out right now.’
That’s how gambling was a straight path to ruin, just by stepping in.
If he didn’t have Clairvoyance, Ryu Min wouldn’t be here either.
[Welcome to the Gambling Hall!]
[PK is prohibited in the Gambling Hall. Even if you harm someone, no damage will be dealt.]
[If you interfere with gambling, you will be automatically expelled.]
[At a certain time, the door will close and the game will begin. Until then, please wait quietly.]
[Time remaining until event begins: 00:13:49]
After reading the messages, Ryu Min looked around the cavern.
There were already dozens of people inside the Gambling Hall.
All of them were Players who had luckily found it.
‘No—maybe you can’t call them lucky. If they lose everything and leave, nothing’s worse than that.’
Looking around, there were East Asians and Westerners.
Everyone was waiting for the game to start.
“Huh? That person is…”
“Isn’t that Black Scythe?”
Before entering, Ryu Min removed the Doppelganger’s Ring and released Lostyak’s appearance.
Because of that, a few Koreans recognized him as Black Scythe.
‘There isn’t much time left, so there’s no need to hide who I am.’
If he won big in the Gambling Hall, his identity would be exposed anyway when results were tallied.
And once that happened, it would basically be advertising that he could change his appearance.
There was no benefit to hiding his identity.
‘Everyone’s just watching each other without saying anything.’
As explained, PK was prohibited here.
Since they couldn’t deal damage, they were only sizing each other up.
‘If PK were allowed, they’d have started stabbing each other to get gambling funds.’
That didn’t mean skills couldn’t be used.
It just meant you couldn’t interfere with someone else’s gambling.
‘Good thing I can use Clairvoyance.’
Fortunately, Clairvoyance was not an act of interfering with gambling.
Even if he used it to get the right answer, there was no problem.
It was something he’d verified through dozens of runs already.
[Time remaining until event begins: 00:00:00]
As time passed and it hit exactly zero—
Ruuuumble— BOOM!
The cavern entrance was sealed by an iron door.
Now, no one could enter or leave.
Then, a bright light descended into the cavern.
Everyone’s gaze fixed on the angel who had appeared.
[Hello-yo? Aspiring gamblers! I’m ‘Gabi,’ and I’ll be guiding you through the Gambling Hall. Nice to meet you!]
Unlike the angel’s cheerful smile, people’s faces weren’t bright.
Most of them were desperate enough for points that their eyes had turned, so their hearts were anxious and uneasy.
[Oh my, your eyes are hollow—makes you look like veteran gamblers already, huh? Well, fine. Fifty-nine people—more than I expected. Then I’ll explain the game rules right away.]
When the angel fluttered its wings, two gigantic cards—each about the size of a person—appeared in midair.
[The rules are simple. Here we have a red card and a black card. I’ll shuffle them, then present one, and you just guess which color it is. Easy, right?]
“So we just guess the color?”
“That’s really simple.”
“Like odds and evens?”
Seeing people grasp it quickly, the angel continued.
[There are similar games in the human world, right? Odds and evens, casino roulette, and so on. Like those, the probability is 50–50. You can bet as many points as you want, and if you’re right, you’ll double them. But if you’re wrong, you lose them—no mercy.]
It was a fairly “fair” game.
Earth’s gambling halls set things up so the bettor is disadvantaged.
[But you can’t try forever. You get six chances to play. If you win all six, you’ll earn a tremendous amount of points, right?]
If you assumed you bet your entire fortune each time and doubled it each time, then 2x2x2x2x2x2=64.
In other words, you could multiply your points 64 times.
Though the chance of winning six in a row was only 1.5%.
Had someone already done the math?
One Player raised a hand and spoke.
“Angel! If we can only try six times, even if we get everything right it’s only 64 times. But the message clearly said up to 200 times.”
[I was just about to say that. You’re impatient—tch!]
After scolding him, the angel immediately continued.
[What I just described is the normal ‘Standard’ method. If you want higher profit, you can choose the ‘High-Risk’ method.]
“High-Risk?”
“What is that?”
[Instead of a normal bet where you choose how many points to stake, you stake all the points you have. Because of that, you only get one chance, and you only receive the prize if you get all six games correct. If you fail even once, you lose your entire fortune and receive a permanent debuff that reduces your stats by 50%.]
“Holy— permanent stat reduction?”
“And you only get one chance…?”
“If you fail, you’re basically going straight to hell, aren’t you?”
“The risk is too big.”
[But if you get all six in a row, you’ll receive not 64 times, but 200 times the prize. A premium service for those who want to flip their lives in one shot.]
“200 times…”
“Man, that really makes your mouth water…”
When they thought about the prize, it sounded tempting, but most people let it go in one ear and out the other.
It was only a 1.5% chance.
No matter how big the reward, no idiot would bet their one and only chance on 1.5%.
In other words, the failure rate was 98.5%.
[Alright, shall we choose a method to try first? Anyone who wants to challenge the High-Risk method, raise your hand now.]
At the angel’s words, the Players didn’t move at all.
They only mocked the angel’s absurd offer in their hearts.
‘Hah. Crazy angel bastard. What kind of lunatic would bet High-Risk?’
‘It’s more efficient to win and lose with a 50% chance than to bet on 1.5%.’
‘No matter how desperate I am for points, I don’t have the confidence to break through 1.5%.’
Because it was an atrocious probability, no one stepped forward.
No—two people raised their hands.
They were Players from bottom-tier zones, where annihilation was all but certain.
Because if they didn’t win the 200x, their teams would disappear anyway.
“I’ll do it.”
“I’ll do it too.”
[Only two? No more?]
At that moment, one more person raised a hand.
It was Ryu Min.
“Isn’t that guy Black Scythe?”
“Black Scythe is really betting High-Risk?”
“Why would he take the risk when he doesn’t need to?”
“He’s out of his mind, isn’t he?”
‘I can hear all of you.’
They’d muttered softly as if he wouldn’t hear, but to Ryu Min—whose senses were sharpened by the Rune of Sensibility—every word reached him.
‘I get it. I probably look like a crazy bastard. There’s no need to take the risk.’
But if they knew what Clairvoyance could do, they wouldn’t be able to say that.
They’d probably ask why he wouldn’t bet, when he could win 200 times.
Because with Clairvoyance, he could see the back of the cards.
‘Getting six in a row is nothing.’
It was a bet he made because he had absolute confidence he wouldn’t get even one wrong.
No—this couldn’t even be called gambling for Ryu Min.
It was risk-free money multiplication, something he could succeed at with a 100% probability.
[Three High-Risk challengers, then! The other 56 will automatically be Standard. It’s decided. Shall we start the game right away?]
When the angel fluttered its wings, a transparent barrier formed around each Player.
[It prevents interference between you. Someone might attack at a crucial moment or use a skill to disrupt another person.]
Since they couldn’t move, they couldn’t peek at the back of someone else’s card either.
[First, we’ll begin with those who chose the Standard method. High-Risk folks, please wait a bit. It won’t take long. Alright—game one!]
The two huge cards were shuffled in midair, then one card came forward.
[What color will the next card be? After writing the points you’ll bet, choose either red or black.]
The Players fell into 고민 as they looked at the selection window floating before them.
No matter how intensely they stared, they couldn’t see the color on the back.
It was a game that depended purely on luck.
[Please choose within 1 minute. Done? Alright—then we’ll reveal it?]
The angel opened the card.
“Ah!”
“Nice! It’s red!”
“Ahhh! F**k!”
“Haah… I’m screwed….”
As joy and screams crossed, the second game began.
The game was extremely fair.
The cards were shuffled in midair where everyone could see, and they were opened cleanly without any trick.
Since the back was at an angle where it couldn’t be seen at all, Players had no choice but to pick one of the two.
“Ahhh! Fuuuuuck!”
“Holy sh*t! This is fking bullshit! Fk!!!!”
Even Players who’d been happy about winning at first later started spewing curses like everyone else.
In the end, just as the angel said, the game ended before long.
Because all 56 Players had lost every last point by the fifth game.
[We don’t even need to go to six. Everyone eliminated on the fifth—what a shame, but you have no more chances.]
“Angel… please, just one more chance…”
“Please give me some points, Angel…”
They kept betting, thinking they had to win back their principal, and ended up like this.
“Angel, I have a question.”
[What is it?]
“We still have chances left—can’t we borrow points from someone else?”
“Yeah, we still have a sixth chance.”
“Let us borrow points!”
[How pathetic. Points cannot be transferred. Give it up.]
The Players lowered their heads deeply.
“Ah… it’s over.”
“If I knew it’d be like this, I should’ve gone High-Risk…”
Among the people whose points hit 0, there were Koreans too.
“The team points are kind of borderline—what do we do?”
“If we end up getting annihilated…”
Though they trembled with anxiety, not a single one of them could imagine that Black Scythe would win.
[Alright, next up—High-Risk participants, get ready.]
And then, Ryu Min’s turn approached.