Epilogue Chapter 45 - Summer Vacation (7)

“Yeon-Joo... I knew you weren’t that smart, but...”

Lilith stared at Cha Yeon-Joo pitifully. Oh Kang-Woo and Han Seol-Ah also stared at Yeon-Joo as if she were a talking chimpanzee or gorilla.

“N-No! Of course, I’m joking! Who the hell do you think I am?”

“A pushover who spent millions to enhance pixelated junk?” Kang-Woo replied.

“Y-You son of a bitch! What do you think you’re calling pixelated junk?! You have no idea how important weapon enhancements are!”

“You literally said there’s no significant difference even if you enhanced it.”

“The weapon color changes! Do you understand? It shines gold!”

Yeon-Joo went off about the importance of weapon enhancements as veins bulged from her neck.

“Yeon-Joo...?” Seol-Ah muttered as she grabbed Yeon-Joo’s shoulder.

“H-Huh?”

“So you’re saying... you spent millions of won in a game?”

“N-No, well... Th-There seems to be a misunderstanding...”

“What misunderstanding?”

“Well... umm...”

“I’m going to ask Hyun-Woo to freeze your card.”

“Wh-What?! It’s my money! It’s my business what I do with it!!” shouted Yeon-Joo wrongfully.

Considering her salary, it was technically of no consequence to Yeon-Joo even if she spent millions on a game. However...

“What if the kids start following your example?” Seol-Ah said.

“Urgh.”

“You promised me that you wouldn’t use your money recklessly until the kids have grown up.”

“Th-That’s...”

“It’s not like I’m telling you not to use your money on hobbies. I wouldn’t have said anything if it was about a few hundred thousand won, but millions? On a game, no less?”

“Th-The enhancements... the packs...”

Yeon-Joo continued to make teary-eyed excuses but Seol-Ah, who had not even played games as simple as

Minesweeper

, couldn’t understand her. Yeon-Joo shrunk in dejection like a husband forced by his wife to sell his brand-new gaming console.

Kang-Woo intervened as he hugged the dejected Yeon-Joo and said, “That’s enough, Darling. Yeon-Joo has been holding back a lot these days.”

“But...” Seol-Ah slurred.

“And though she spends money on games, it’s not like she spends it on brand name products or other extravagances, right?”

“That’s... true.”

“I agree that she shouldn’t use her money so recklessly so she can be a good example for the kids, but she’s using it for her hobby. There’s no need to grill her so hard about that.”

“But spending millions is too much!”

‘Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree. But...’

“I think it’s fine as long as she promises it will be the last time. Right, wife?”

Yeon-Joo nodded furiously with her eyes shining. “Y-Yeah! I won’t whale as much on games anymore!”

Seol-Ah thought for a moment then nodded. “Haaa, fine. This is the last time, got it?”

“Yes!”

“Don’t get so happy. I’ll be keeping my eye on your bank account to check what you use your money on.”

“Wha— th-that’s...”

“But... I won’t say anything about the money you spend on games. It’s your hobby, after all. Just make sure you don’t get caught by the kids.”

“Holy shit, my wife is so damn cute!”

“Wh-Who are you calling your wife?”

Seol-Ah pushed away Yeon-Joo barraging her with kisses on her cheek. Lilith giggled with her mouth covered as she watched her little sister bickering and turned around.

“That aside, my love. May I try that thing called a slot machine? I’m intrigued by it.”

Lilith’s eyes shone as she stared at the people pressing buttons with lifeless eyes as if they had become one with the machine. She was more interested in the human psyche associated with gambling addictions than the slot machines.

“Hmm... shall we have a go at it?” Kang-Woo suggested.

He was also curious about casinos since he had only heard about them. Unlike Kang-Woo and Lilith, Seol-Ah frowned in displeasure.

“Spending money in a place like this is a bit...” she slurred.

“It’s purely for the experience. Don’t worry about it and let’s try with a hundred dollars each.”

A hundred dollars was still a lot of money but Kang-Woo was more than willing to spend it for a special experience he never had.

“Hmm... okay. If you say so, honey. I’ll give it a try.”

Seol-Ah nodded after much thought and headed into the casino.

“Me too! I wanna try too!” Yeon-Joo shouted.

Kang-Woo remarked, “Yeon-Joo, you—”

She interjected, “You’re not thinking of leaving only me out of it, are you?”

“Ahem.”

Kang-Woo was left feeling anxious as he watched Yeon-Joo staring at the slot machines with sparkling eyes.

‘I guess I have no choice.’

It would be unfair to leave only Yeon-Joo out of the experience.

“Let’s see...”

Kang-Woo and his wives looked around the casino and each sat across from the machine they liked. To be more exact, Kang-Woo chose a machine, and Lilith and Seol-Ah chose the ones on either side of him.

“Mmmm. Right here! I can smell the jackpot from here!”

Unlike Kang-Woo and his two wives next to him who chose the most air-conditioned area, Yeon-Joo thoroughly examined each machine and chose one based on instinct.

“Let’s see... Huh? What the hell? I can’t get a grand jackpot if the bet money is too low?”

Yeon-Joo frowned as she read the description of the slot machine. The minimum amount of bet money to win a grand jackpot was two dollars. Anything lower, such as the dollar or fifty cents bets could only win the player a major jackpot at most.

“Yeon-Joo. You’ll go broke in an instant if you run the two-dollar rolls. Just use a dollar or fifty cents,” advised Kang-Woo to Yeon-Joo sitting at a distance.

Yeon-Joo crossed her arms and clicked her tongue.

“Pshh, you don’t deserve those balls! If you’re a man, go for the grand jackpot!”

A major jackpot was already a massive amount of ten thousand dollars but Yeon-Joo couldn’t help but be drawn by the shining one million dollar sign. She knew the probability of winning the grand jackpot was as low as winning the lottery but having even a 0.0001% chance felt completely different from having no chance.

“Two dollars, let’s go!”

Yeon-Joo snorted excitedly as she mashed the two-dollar button, kickstarting her casino experience.

“H-Huh? That’s weird.”

“Just once...! I just need one!”

“I won’t ask for the grand! A major... no, even a minor jackpot is fine!”

“ARRGGHHH!”

It did not even take an hour for her hundred dollars to disappear like melting snow.

“Fucking stupid machine!” Yeon-Joo kicked the slot machine that ate her hundred dollars and stood up. “Haaa, whatever. I guess this is how casinos are.”

She knew slot machines were but a void to throw your money into. She shoved aside her regrets and headed to the machine Kang-Woo was using. He still had money remaining, likely because he was pulling using one dollar, which had no chance of the grand jackpot appearing.

“How’s it going?” Yeon-Joo asked.

“How do you think? My money’s getting drained. You’re done already, Yeon-Joo?”

“Yup. It sucked up all my money without leaving a single penny.”

“That’s why I told you to pull with one dollar.”

“Screw that. It sucks up your money all the same, whether it’s one or two dollars. It’s only a matter of how quickly you lose it all.”

“That’s true.” Kang-Woo clicked his tongue and turned to Lilith sitting next to him. “What did you think about your slot machine experience?”

Lilith tilted her head in confusion. “Hmm. I still don’t understand why humans get so addicted to gambling.”

Although she was earning small amounts of money, albeit not a jackpot, she lost as much as, if not more than, she earned.

“It’s not like the process itself is interesting or has some sort of strategic factor... It’s literally throwing away your money so it’s a little displeasing.”

“I feel the same way, unnie,” said Seol-Ah as she nodded from the other slot machine next to Kang-Woo. She frowned and continued, “I don’t understand why people get so addicted to things like this and lose all of their life savings.”

She expected to feel something different if she tried it herself but was only left with more questions.

“I think we’ve experienced it enough. Shall we leave?” Kang-Woo suggested.

“Yes, honey. Let’s get out of here.”

“Hmm. It's a bit of a shame but I don’t see a point in continuing.”

“Let’s get the hell out of this shitty place.”

BEEP—! SWOOSH—!

Loud noises and flashing lights came out of the slot machine Seol-Ah was using as they were about to pack their things and leave.

“Wh-What the hell?”

“Huh...?” Seol-Ah stared blankly at the words

Major Jackpot

written on the slot machine screen in disbelief. “I won... ten thousand dollars.”

She had earned roughly thirteen million won just from pressing buttons.

***

“H-Honey! I-I won! I really won!”

Seol-Ah jumped in place, wide-eyed in disbelief. Kang-Woo could tell how excited she was from her breasts violently shaking along with her jumps.

“Wow, I didn’t think I’d see it. Congrats, Darling.”

“Ehehe. I kind of feel... over the moon.”

Ten thousand dollars wasn’t chump change, but it wasn’t enough to change someone’s life either, especially for the Oh Kang-Woo family with astronomical wealth.

“Urgh... S-So this is how terrifying gambling is...”

Money earned from gambling brought about pleasure on another level compared to money earned through hard work. It was to the point that one would be willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars just to experience the feeling again.

“Aha, I think I get it now.” Lilith snapped her finger as she examined Seol-Ah’s reaction. “The unexpected luck of winning a jackpot after a losing streak... Humans get addicted to this feeling of victory, I see.”

One could only know the terrors of gambling after earning money through it. The pleasure of winning a jackpot was inexplicable— it was to the point that Seol-Ah, who had been apathetically spinning the spots, had jumped for joy.

“The humans addicted to the taste of victory will continue to pour money into gambling, I’m sure. Regardless of how much they lose.”

To gambling addicts, it didn’t matter how much money they lost— they could never quit gambling due to their pursuit of the exhilaration of winning the jackpot again.

“Urgh... let’s get out of here, unnie. I feel like I’ll want to keep going if I stay here any longer.”

Seol-Ah, feeling uneasy, grabbed Kang-Woo’s arm and headed toward the exit.

“You should at least claim your winnings, Darling.”

“Oh, right. But... where do I do that?”

“Let’s go ask at the counter.”

Kang-Woo, Seol-Ah, and Lilith went to find their earnings, leaving Yeon-Joo by herself. Her eyes shone brightly.

“Jackpot... If Seol-Ah won ten thousand dollars with just a hundred... I could win too if I spin just a little more, right?”

‘Not the major... but the grand jackpot.’

“H-Hehehe.”

Yeon-Joo smiled as she stared at the

One Million Dollars

sign.

There was one thing Lilith failed to understand... the true terror of gambling was that it influenced not only the person who won but also those around them.