Chapter 21: Do you fancy a cup of coffee? (3)

Chapter 21: Do you fancy a cup of coffee? (3)

—Mr. Gong-Ja! His hand is a straight. You better fold this one.

“I’ll fold this round.” I dropped my cards on the table.

—Oh, he’s bluffing with a pair! Silly him. Silly! I think you can just call this round and kill him. Hehehe.

“Call.”

—Look what she’s got here! She has a two pair, but—uh-oh—your two pair is better! Gosh, this is so much fun. Let’s go, Mr. Gong-Ja! She’ll see who’s going to win!

“I’ll raise.”

—Whoa, he seems to be aiming for a full house. Don’t worry, Mr. Gong-Ja. I took a peek under the table just now to see the cards, but she’ll never get a full house even after the last card is revealed. Trust me on this one. Let’s go!

“All in.” I smirked.

After around thirty poker hands, the Viper was shaking from anger, his face bright red underneath his eyepatch.

“Fuck! This is a fraud!” He sprang to his feet, rocking the table.

The other Hunters picked up their cups as if they’d seen it coming, preventing their coffees from being tragically spilled all over the table.

Hmm. Impeccable reflexes, I noted, impressed by what I‘d just witnessed.

“It doesn’t make sense! We’ve already done this over thirty times, but he didn’t lose even once! Bluffing doesn’t work either! I don’t know if it’s a passive Skill, but he’s definitely using one! I’m sure of it! This whole game is rigged!”

“Do you have proof of that?” I sipped on my hot chocolate, although it was lukewarm chocolate now. Well, it had a charm of its own like this. “Who knows? Maybe I’m a poker master. I’m deeply hurt if you’re accusing me without any proof. Besides, I want to be on your good side. I’ve always respected you.”

“Hey, is he really a Class F Hunter?” the Viper yelled, looking around at his fellow Hunters. “There’s no way he’s actually F! I bet he bribed the bureau guys to lie for him! That smug face belongs to a Class B Hunter at least!”

“Wow! How did you know I’m not a Class F Hunter?”

“Yes! I knew—”

“I actually became a Class E Hunter yesterday. I was so busy clearing the tenth floor that I didn’t get to report to the bureau.” I smiled. “I’m flattered you have such a high opinion of me. By the way, I think you’re out of chips, sir.”

“Errr....” The Viper staggered toward the table where the eliminated competitors gathered and watched the rest of the game like.

“Welcome, Mr. Viper!” The Inquisitor, the first one to drop out from the poker, beamed at him. “I thought it was about time you were eliminated, so I ordered you another espresso! No need to be polite. Help yourself!”

“I don’t like espressos...”

“Yes, I know that! But being picky is bad, so overcome it!”

“Goddamn preacher...” The Viper slumped into his chair with a morose expression.

Three Hunters had survived until the end. I and the Black Witch were two of them. To my surprise, the Paladin was still at the table, too.

“Hmm.” The Paladin frowned at her cards.

She was known for her uprightness and fairness. In fact, her entire wealth had been donated to orphanages. She was also working as the assistant leader of the Watchmen League, which had been founded to maintain order in Babylon, the Tower’s first-floor city; in the outside world, she would be similar to a police commissioner.

“I lost.” The Paladin put down her cards and sighed. “I was quite confident with my poker face. Mr. Kim, do you happen to have a mind-reading Skill?”

“Well, it might be a mind-reading Skill or it could be x-ray vision. Why don’t you make a guess?”

“...It’s so hard to deal with young Hunters nowadays.” The Paladin smiled bitterly. After a bow, she walked toward the dropout table.

“Hey! You shouldn’t give up that easily!” The Viper huffed and puffed. His mouth was dirtied by smears of espresso. “You should go after him like a tenacious hound regardless of whether it works or not! Are you going to let that conman rob you?”

“Conman? You’re too harsh on our new hero.”

“It’s obvious that he’s using a Skill!”

The Paladin shrugged. “I knew that when we started.”

“Huh? What?”

“It would be strange not to notice. There’s no way a rookie Hunter would have suggested a poker game with us relying on raw luck. The challenge itself is a declaration of how confident he is that he can win without us discovering what kind of Skill he was using. And we accepted the challenge.”

The Viper gaped at her. “I-is that so?”

“Mr. Viper... It’s good that you’re dedicated to your training, but try to analyze the situation every now and then.” The Paladin looked down at the Viper with eyes filled with pity. “From the start, we had nothing to lose. Although a win would be a huge boon...it’s still good even if we lose. The rookie Hunter said that he’ll join all of our guilds. That’s a good outcome in its own way.”

“B-but what about our pride!? He’s a greenhorn, so how can we treat him—”

“Does your pride feed you?”

The Viper couldn’t refute that.

“It feeds you an espresso. Drink up, Mr. Viper!” The Inquisitor put the espresso cup into the Viper’s hand.

“Damn it...”

The last two survivors were the Black Witch, the Rank 2 Hunter, and me.

“This is good,” the Witch remarked as she examined her cards.

“What do you mean?”

“I finally have a chance to talk with you.” The Black Witch raised the stakes. She was probably trying to provoke me. “I’m from Ukraine, or somewhere that used to be Ukraine, to be more accurate. After losing my family in a civil war, I’ve been living abroad all my life. As you may already know, there’s nowhere good for a woman to live alone.”

“You’re right.” I boldly raised the stakes higher.

Since I was now of equal standing with them, I decided that it would be useful to make them indebted to me.

“It’s role-playing,” I said.

“Huh?”

“The theme from the eleventh to the twentieth floor is role-playing,” I repeated.

The Black Witch and all of the other Hunters gave me an intense look. It was only natural—the slightest hint could give a Hunter an advantage, so the information I gave them was invaluable.

“The hint was my reward for clearing the tenth floor.”

That was a lie. I hadn’t received it since it was going to be given after the countdown in the sky hit zero. However, I had the knowledge of the future, so I knew what was going to happen and had no reason to not use the knowledge.

“This is all I know.”

“...Okay. Thank you for sharing your information.” The Black Witch nodded. “I’ll make sure to pay you back for this later.”

Her remark made me look forward to the future.

***

After a good sleep in my hotel room, I headed outside. The plaza was in a festival mood. Hunters celebrated the fact that the tenth floor had been cleared after years. Some bars gave out free beers and those who were confident flaunted their singing skills in the plaza.

However, the one unanswered question continued to bother people.

“But who really cleared the tenth floor?”

“There still hasn’t been an official announcement yet...”

“Some people saw the guild leaders gathering in one place.”

“Have you seen the Sword Star’s video? His frown was really scary. ’It’s not me.’”

“Then who in the world is it?”

As I listened to the conversations of the people next to me, I had to hold myself back from laughing.

I’m right next to you.

[00:02:09]

I was among the crowd, right in the center of the festival. Nearly a day had passed since the tenth floor had been cleared. Meanwhile, the countdown in the sky continued to tick down, slowly but surely.

Some Hunters raised their free beer while others looked at the sky and talked about the mysterious champion. They were like people counting down to the new year outside the tower.

[00:00:10]

“Ten!”

No one asked them to, but when the countdown in the sky reached ten seconds, the Hunters began counting out loud.

[00:00:09]

“Nine!”

[00:00:08]

“Eight!”

Seven, six, five... The Hunters’ synchronized shouts shook the plaza slightly. It wasn’t a new year, but everyone’s eyes were filled with anticipation for a new era.

[00:00:04]

“Four!”

I pulled out my smartphone and checked the news. It looked like the news embargo about me was still intact, because there weren’t any articles about me.

[00:00:03]

“Three!”

Just three seconds before the countdown hit zero, Babylon’s general news website released a flood of articles. Maybe they were hoping to publish an exclusive even one second before the other newspapers.

[00:00:02]

“Two!”

I checked the news.

—Breaking News: The person who cleared the tenth floor is an unknown rookie Class E Hunter!

—Breaking News: The real name of the man who cleared the tenth floor is Kim Gong-Ja. He comes from Korea...

—Breaking News: The Hunter who cleared the tenth floor joined all of the Five Guilds at once.

—Breaking News: The Black Dragon Guild officially announces their welcome for the new hero...

[00:00:01]

“One!”

I met the new era with a smile.