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First Game

“Well, I don’t mind that. After all, dying is also a kind of relief for me. I have already lost all hope in the outside world. In here, I saw another opportunity. However, if in the end, I have to die, I am prepared.”

I even amazed myself as I was saying all of that with another apathetic tone. If I could get into the big screen, I could definitely win an oscar with my acting. However, I am not an actor, and there is no one that would give me the trophy. Besides, what I said just now is true. In the real world, aside from my sister, I don’t have any reason for me to keep on living.

Since she needed money for the surgery to keep on living, if I failed to procure it, it would be the same as killing her. When that happens, it doesn’t make any change whether I am alive or not. I would rather die first so I won’t have to witness my sister dying. If I died in this world, my sister would soon follow in my footsteps and die. I could only blame my bad luck when it happened.

I am tired, tired of living. However, if there’s a chance to get a better life, I won’t refuse it either.

As they say, a man with a gun on the battlefield isn’t scary. What’s scary is a man that has no fear of death. That is because there’s no telling on what the man would do. He could shoot everyone, including allies and himself since he had already lost all reasoning.

That’s the kind of concept that I am applying right now. I am telling Bobby that even if he did that, there’s nothing that he can gain from me. Rather than wasting everyone’s time, it would be better to give me a chance since he won’t gain anything from it.

For the first time after we talked, Bobby frowned. He seemed to be thinking about something.

“You know, although I looked uncivilized due to my appearance, I have a sensitive discerning eye. I could tell if someone is lying or not, and strangely enough, although I know your words aren’t telling the truth, you’re not lying either. Also, when you say that you have nothing to lose when you die, that was 100% true. Madman, you’re definitely a madman. I also know from my experience that there’s nothing good in provoking someone like you. *sigh* Alright, let’s take it as I have suffered a loss today. I’ll give you one coin. However, since I also know that you’re a newcomer here, let’s do it as the system’s rule. We’ll do a game, and the reward will be one coin if you win. However, if you lose, you’ll have to work for me. Naturally, I would give you the gold coin as your wage payment.”

Bobby's words and the offer seemed contradictory to each other. He said that he would take a loss, but the wager here is too big. If I win, I will only get a gold coin. However, if I lost, I would become a slave. Well, it seemed that Bobby was still a sly fox in the end.

“Although I don’t mind dying, becoming a slave is even worse.”

“Well, you won’t be a slave. My underling, to be exact. I am lacking a right-hand man to take care of my matters. I find the people before lacking in some aspect, but I think you fit the bills.”

“*sigh* Alright. The result wasn’t set that I would become your worker. Okay, so what kind of game will we have?”

This is the first time I would be doing something that would earn me some gold coin. Because of that, this is the chance for me to learn the workings of the system, and although I have asked for the rules from the system, I want to know whether there are some loopholes that are exploited by the people. For that, experiencing it from the bad people would be the fastest way since they are the biggest suspect to do those kinds of things.

“Since you are a newcomer, I believe this would be the first time you are having a game, correct?”

I nod to Bobby's question, and he continues with his explanation.

“Take it as my goodwill. I will tell you what do you need to understand about the game system in this world. Firstly, nobody will be able to cheat the system. Although the rules seemed to be loose as any kind of game is possible, there’s still some strict requirement to it. If one party considered the other party as cheating and the system acknowledged it, the game would be invalid. However, there’s still some trick that we can use for this.”

Hearing that, it seemed that cheating wasn’t possible, but it was possible to rig the game itself. Bobby then takes out a metal ball from his pocket and lays it out on his right arm. Afterward, he makes a fist with both hands and shows me the back of his hand.

“The game that we will be playing is a simple one, guessing which hand have the metal ball. You saw me earlier. I take out a metal ball and put it in my arm. Now, where is the metal ball, in my right hand or left hand?”

At that moment, I also saw a notification from the system.

「Bobby is inviting you to a ‘guessing the ball’ game. If you guessed correctly, you would earn one gold coin. If you guessed it wrong, you would have to work for Bobby for 9000 years. If you lost the game and refused to accept the result, the consequences would be imminent death.」

Reading that, I feel that Bobby is really shameless. Despite him saying that I would be working as his right-hand man, I would be working for him for 9000 years. I guess, since this term was acceptable by the system, it was true that the rules themselves were kind of loose. Even guessing the ball could be a game, and even whether I was pulled by Sylvia and followed along is considered as a game. Everything could become a game. However, I would need to experiment later with the rules, freedom, and limitation.