“He, he kept winning? Without losing even once? How is that even possible?”
“Who knows.”
The secondary guest who answered briefly shifted their gaze and whispered.
“Looks like he’s going to play a dice game now.”
As if that guess was correct, the crowd moved literally like a real wave, just like the word suggested.
And so, the person who had been the topic of conversation, who had been hidden by people until now, came into view of the man and Director who had been in the dark.
“Ha!”
As soon as the man saw him, he realized why the Director had shown such an odd reaction to his words about how such an immoral secondary guest should have staff called immediately to have his gambling den entry rights revoked.
“That reckless fool!”
The person who staggered over to the dice game table and sat down was a young man who appeared to be in his early to mid-twenties, and clearly a VIP like the man and Director.
“Oh my, Yohan-gun must not have slept well last night.”
The Director muttered as he looked at the young man whose complexion was strangely haggard.
“Hahaha, he was going around in a group with his peers, so maybe he had a good time? I’m envious.”
Then he whistled sharply as if he understood.
The man frowned hard and criticized as if spitting.
“Vulgar behavior!”
“No, no, young people can do that together. Don’t be too strict.”
“Don’t talk nonsense, Director! Don’t forget who invited us here! The Godfather himself invited us, and engaging in such promiscuous behavior here is an act of insulting him!”
“You don’t need to go that far…”
“Besides, only a few including you and me actually came here in our real bodies. Among them, the young people you mentioned are only a few! If it’s a young lady or young master of similar age to that reckless fool, it’s obvious. What would happen if that brat touches them as he pleases? It would be a disaster! An absolute disaster!”
“A disaster? It’s true that the VIP youths are all from good families, but that…”
The Director glanced sideways at the young man sitting at the dice game table.
Clatter, clatter.
Just then, the dealer threw dice into the cup and began shaking it.
The Director continued speaking.
“Yohan-gun is also Chairman Son’s eldest son and proxy. Compared to other young people, he’s better if anything…”
“Director, have you ever heard from outside that Chairman Son has such a son? I haven’t!”
The Director had nothing to refute about that point.
Like the Director and the man, the ‘Teacher,’ Chairman Son was a VIP at Manghyang and a famous entrepreneur. The young man currently playing dice had suddenly appeared at Manghyang with Chairman Son’s invitation.
The young man said he had come in place of his father, Chairman Son, but no one knew the young man. Even though the VIPs were celebrities with such high reputations in society that although they might not know each other’s faces, they knew about each other’s family relationships.
“But look at that face. Honestly, if they look that similar and aren’t father and son, that would be even scarier.”
The Director muttered, then suddenly chuckled and added.
“Or maybe a doppelganger, haha. Or should we go with the local flavor and say something like a yokai? You know, a rat ghost that eats someone’s fingernails and transforms into that person’s appearance.”
The Teacher didn’t even pretend to hear that ridiculous talk.
Perhaps it was because he was preoccupied with badmouthing the young man he disliked.
“They may be father and son, but honestly, if he’s bloodline that’s never been known until now, it’s obvious. It’s a birth that can’t be proudly revealed to the world.”
‘Hmm.’
The Director didn’t refute this time either and just stroked his innocent chin.
He just hadn’t said it first, but the Director was actually making the same guess as the Teacher.
However…
‘Still, doesn’t it not really matter?’
The Director thought so. Among Chairman Son’s family that had been publicly revealed, that young man wasn’t included, but that didn’t really matter. The person who came ‘here’ in Chairman Son’s place was that young man. That’s what mattered.
‘Because it’s the Godfather’s invitation.’
After the world’s funeral, the existing concept of nation weakened, and instead, vigilante groups that gained power in some regions grew their influence and took control of those areas. Among them, the leaders called themselves by various names—’Knight’ somewhere, ‘Sheriff’ somewhere, ‘Lord’ somewhere—and in this region, that name was ‘Godfather.’
In other words, that young man had entered here with a special invitation from the authority figure who was no different from the ruler of this region…
‘If Yohan-gun does well here, his future will be much brighter than his half-siblings.’
Then suddenly, the Director tilted his head.
‘But was his name really Yohan?’
He couldn’t quite remember. Hmm. Was it Yohan, or Joseph, or something else…
“Anyway, that reckless fool is finished.”
The Teacher’s spiteful voice came, snapping the Director back to attention.
“I knew that brat would cause a big accident someday.”
“Did Yohan-gun do something disrespectful to you, Teacher?”
“Hmph. Do you think I would have even exchanged words with such a reckless fool? I just felt that everything he did reeked of vulgarity. It’s been like that from the start! He’s arrogant beyond measure. A greenhorn kid, and a proxy of unknown origin at that, yet he entered by using up the full period the Godfather gave him.”
Now that he thought about it, that young man had entered Manghyang just before the entry deadline written on the invitation.
“But it was within the specified period.”
“He has no manners!”
The Director had nothing to say and just scratched the back of his head.
“And then…”
Contempt beyond disgust flickered across the Teacher’s frowning eyes.
“I don’t know who his mother is, but he’s clearly of vulgar blood. Otherwise, how could a person act so frivolously?”
“Teacher, your words are a bit…”
“Did I say something wrong? Have you ever seen that brat when he’s not drunk? Have you seen him not flashing smiles at decent young people and respectable ladies?”
“Mmm.”
Indeed, that young man was… like that. He was always in a lightly intoxicated state, making a ruckus while playing around and hitting on this person and that person, so to speak.
To put it nicely, he was friendly and sociable, but a rigid person could find it distasteful.
“But he’s got guts. To cause such a big accident.”
“No, Teacher. Still.”
“Don’t try to stop me. Turning away and pretending not to see injustice would be something I can’t do to the Godfather who has shown us goodwill.”
“It hasn’t been confirmed that he used tricks…”
Thud!
The cup that had been shaking with dazzling movements stopped. Unconsciously, the Director looked at the dealer of the dice game.
For some reason, the young man, who was unusually pale and had dark circles under his eyes unlike usual, glared at the dice cup intently and bluntly spat out numbers.
“3, 1, 6.”
The dealer opened the cup. Shortly after, cheers erupted.
However.
“2, 2, 2.”
The game became the second round.
“1, 2, 5.”
The third round.
“4, 3, 3.”
The fourth round.
“The dice are, on the left.”
The fifth round.
“In the center.”
By the sixth round.
“In the center.”
Only a silence like cold water poured over them remained.
“…You got it correct.”
Anyone with a head could tell that the phrase ‘this time too’ was hidden in front of the dealer’s words.
As the audience quietly glanced at each other with meaningful looks, the Teacher sneered and looked at the Director. The Director couldn’t say anything.
“Don’t tell me he really…”
No, but really? Such a foolish thing? Such idiotic behavior of burying his entire future in a dung heap for just a few pennies of profit…
Thud!
But at that moment, the young man sitting at the dice game table suddenly kicked back his chair and stood up. Then, roughly sweeping up his bangs, he pushed through the crowd and moved forward.
“W-wait, sir!”
The dice game dealer, who didn’t know what to do, followed behind and called out to the young man, but he didn’t even pretend to hear.
“Yohan-gun!”
The Director called out to the young man passing quickly in front of him. But the young man seemed unaware that he was being called. With wide eyes staring at the doorway while gnawing on his nails, he looked like someone suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder.
“It doesn’t make sense. He really got it right. He really got them all right. Really.”
While doing so, the young man muttered incomprehensible words. Those mutterings didn’t stop there.
“This isn’t the time, I need to run away. I need to get out quickly. It’s okay, it’s not too late yet. If I just get out of here before something happens…!”
“Yohan-gun! You can’t just leave like that!”
