I Picked Up the Trash Others Threw Away - Chapter 20.1

Chapter 20.1

‘No. If he had someone keeping an eye on me, Allen and the other knights would have noticed.’

Maybe he was a player hired by the Moonlake casino? Maybe his role was to interfere with the game so that we didn’t earn more than a certain amount if we kept playing Hwatu.

Trish and I were having a lot of fun with it, and the guys at Moonlake must have watched how we attracted people through the new game, so they must be giving us a warning in some gentle way. To stop at this point.

The amount earned by gambling once or twice in someone else’s workplace had exceeded what could be tolerated.

That’s fine. I was also thinking of stepping back. However, it was a shame I couldn’t make a proper profit and run around like this after having such a hard time getting attention.

I scooped up the Hwatu cards I had lined up, then handed them to the man and suggested playing a game.

“Would you like to play a game with me?”

“It makes me nervous to see you participating in it yourself. What will you bet?”

“How much can you do?”

“Hmm, rather than setting the stakes as an amount… I’d rather it be something else. For example, that strange game the Lady is playing.”

I closed my lips firmly at his answer. Was this game his purpose after all?

What I could bet on anyway was the game itself, not money, and he was the one judging the value of the game, so it was inevitable.

If he really was a player hired by Moonlake, it wouldn’t be difficult to bet a huge amount of money on this game, so if I made a bet and lost, I would be left with a debt I wouldn’t be able to afford.

“Do you want me to hand over the rights to the game if I lose?”

“More like sharing. To be precise, I would like to know more about the rules of the game and the way you play.”

“If I win, what will the Gentleman give me?”

“I will compensate you ten times for the money you have lost so far. If the Lady wins.”

“… So that means that you have the confidence to win as much as you want.”

My pride hurt a little as I said that.

No matter how much of a hidden gem he was, I had trained with masters at this game every holiday in my past life.

I didn’t know which one of us was the arrogant one, but a one-on-one battle would make the decision. He would either give me a huge amount of money after being defeated or get the Hwatu for free.

“Since it’s only the two of us, I’ll teach you a new rule.”

“A new rule?”

“Min-hwatu is a rule that is modified to make the game easier to understand, and it’s an official rule that uses a Hwatu deck.”

It was called Go-Stop, and it was my specialty.

From my grandmother when I was a child to the elders in the countryside, the time had finally come to use skills I had learned from the masters.

I smiled faintly as I held the cards to the interested man.

“Go, or stop. That’s all you have to remember.”

It was an exciting game where the more people there were, the faster the game ended.

First, one of the eight cards spread out was turned upside down and the order was decided.

A victory or defeat that would be determined solely by the players’ skills without any deception.

Who would be the winner of this gamble?

If you bring one card from the left side, it will be a ‘chodan’, and if another hand follows at the same time, it will be ‘go’. The moment you score three points in Hwatu, a full-fledged bet begins.

“I reached the score first.”

“You did. But it looks like you want to continue.”

“It’s no fun if you stop right away.”

And so, after saying ‘Go!’ right away and putting down the cards with a pleasant gesture, the man smiled as if he had been waiting and presented another hand.

I found my confidence again at the Go-Stop that continued smoothly.

No matter how good the player was at the game, he couldn’t immediately adapt to the rules he had never played before.

I could win at least one game. In other words, it was a fairly possible gamble.

“The stakes are multiplied as the game progresses. Since you bet money, I will teach you another rule.”

“It sounds even better when the Lady says it like that. If you run a new game on your own, people are naturally attracted to it since it’s unfamiliar. Sounds like it could be a pretty good business item.”

My hand stopped after picking up the cards. I paused for a moment at his words and thought hard about what his purpose was as he secretly revealed his authority and expressed his intentions.

“With that said, I thought you were a professional player hired by the casino, not a mere dealer… But it seems I met someone more valuable than I thought. Isn’t that right?”

“Well, I never thought of myself as valuable. For now, let’s just say I am interested in the Lady.”

He was sly enough to avoid answering, knowing that wasn’t what I meant. I became even more suspicious of the man’s identity.