Surviving a Shounen Manga

Episode 13
Goldam Casino
A week later.

[Adventure King serialization resumed]

[Chapter 6 – Becoming a Handyman at the Casino!]

[Belongs to the realm of the ongoing chapter]

[Squatjaw is subject to character evaluation in this chapter]

After checking the message in the hologram window, I felt it was about time.

“Kid, take out everything we’ve collected so far.”

“All of it?”

“Yeah, everything we’ve gathered this week.”

“That’ll be quite a lot. Just a sec.”

As Cocoa wiggled down the open mouth of the leather bag,

Ttlll.

A huge number of vials jumbled out in a heap.

“Slowly! They might break.”

“Squatjaw should just stop making a fuss and distracting me.”

“… Well, let’s sort these out by type.”

After I sorted them out, the list looked like this:

[Yep, show me! Clairvoyance Potion] – 12

[Hey, I got tricked! Duplicity Potion] – 10

[Gotcha, you bastard! Lie-detection Potion] – 11

[I’m the God of MCQ Guessing[1]! 50% Chance Potion] – 8

[Something good might happen[2], Luck Potion] – 7

[I hear only you, Whisper Potion] – 1

“How much did it cost you to get all this?”

“130 million gold.”

“That’s too much.”

“The whisper potion was a bit expensive.”

“How much did you skim off the top?”

“Nothing. Who does Squatjaw think I am?”

“Give me a lie-detection potion.”

“I just set aside 3 million gold for running errands. Fees and such.”

“…”

This is why I didn’t want to let her go do the shopping.

Still, it couldn’t be helped. A kid buying a clairvoyance potion has a different look compared to somebody like me buying one. I wanted to lie low and not alert the cops as much as possible.

“Now, how much cash do we have left?”

“A lot.”

“I mean the precise amount.”

“About 300 million gold?”

“Don’t just take an arbitrary storage fee for your leather bag.”

“Then, 400 million.”

“Hmmm…”

Two more banks were robbed, but the loot was still only 400 million. To be honest, I felt a little sad.

“Your face screams that it’s still lacking. You money-grubber.”

“You’ll know when you become an adult, too. Money is always lacking.”

In fact, to be precise, this 400 million wasn’t all. There was still gold and precious metals left. If all of that could be turned into cash, the total amount would increase severalfold. However, to do that, I needed to either visit the auction house or find a fence, and I didn’t have the time for that right now.

Of course, even with just this much, you can buy and drink any special potion like water. There is no need to worry about money.

The problem is that, this amount of money isn’t enough to be active in this chapter.

‘… Is it possible?’

As I checked my plans, I once again thought about ‘what will happen from now on’.

Goldam City. The so-called ‘City of Nightlife’.

[Chapter 6 – Becoming a Handyman at the Casino!] and [Chapter 7 – The Queen of Goldam City] take place here, where the casino lights in the city centre drive away the darkness like a sun risen in the night.

The chapter progression is quite simple.

In the previous chapter, Leo and Kiriko set out on the road without much thought, so they get lost from the first day of their journey. You try to reach the village, but a mountain came out, and then you thought you found the village, but you ended up at the sea shore. Eventually, they run out of food and suffer from starvation.

After struggling for a few days, the two of them arrive in Goldam City and go to a restaurant first, but are kicked out because they have no money. Turns out that they lost all their money while wandering on the road.

At the time, someone tells them about a free buffet. When asked where it was, he replies, ‘Goldam Casino’ at the heart of the city.

Entering the casino, the two are surprised by the huge spread of food all around.

This was, of course, for the invited distinguished guests, but the two, who mistakenly assume this is the free buffet, inhale all the food without anyone able to stop them.

With this as the turning point, they gradually start to get entangled. This is the start of their relationship with the ‘Queen of Goldam City’, the true ruler of this city and the owner of the casino.

This Goldam City episode was one of my favourites.

There are several reasons for this.

First of all, the scene composition is excellent, the new characters are full of personality, and above all, the plot develops in fresh ways.

In most shounen manga, there is a strong tendency to devote the early parts towards showcasing the strength of the protagonist. There’s nothing quite like it to spark interest, draw attention, or make the protagonist stand out.

However, this Goldam City episode is something completely different.

In this chapter, Leo doesn’t use his abilities to knock people down. Same goes for Kiriko. Surrounded by casino security due to their gaffe, the two neither fight against them nor run away. Rather, they enter the casino kitchens to work off the cost of the food.

Leo grilling steak with lightning, and Kiriko with his long red hair serving the food.

This is the main gist of [Chapter 6 – Becoming a Handyman at the Casino!].

Of course, this situation doesn’t last forever. Because what usually happens in such places with an extreme gap between the rich and the poor, also happens here.

A casino VIP comes to the kitchen to evaluate the cuisine, and tries to molest a female kitchen employee. Leo, angry at this, blows him away, and the confrontation with the casino proceeds in earnest from there. Thus begins [Chapter 7 – The Queen of Goldam City].

In my opinion, there were at most two ways to make my presence known in this Goldam City arc.

First. Infiltrate the kitchen in advance and get involved with Leo naturally.

Second. When Leo fights with the Queen of Goldam City, play the role of an assistant by his side.

The former option was easier and less risky. There were no special qualifications required, and very few possibilities that a variable would arise.

In addition, you could spend a long time together with him in the kitchen, and it wasn’t a bad environment to bring out a character’s personality. Because everything that happens there is some kind of a gag.

However, in terms of impact, the latter option was naturally the one that could catch and attract the readers’ attention more. In the first place, Chapter 6 itself was only a stepping stone for Chapter 7.

You couldn’t do both together. You had to think of the plausibility, and above all, the timing was wrong.

After thinking about it for the past few days, I decided to go for the second option. Since there’s a hurry to reach a target, it’s better to choose the option with a large reward, even if it carries some risk.

The latter option, in contrast to the first, required quite stringent qualifications.

Nothing less than being a casino VIP. Because only then you become eligible to participate as a member of the Queen’s side in the confrontation between the Queen and Leo.

The confrontation is not some simple conflict of strength. If it were, this episode wouldn’t have felt so fresh to me.

The two sides compete via games within the casino. It’s called a ‘death race’, and a total of seven games are played one after another. If the challenger wins all of the first six games, they reach the final match against the queen.

My goal was to become a participant in the ‘1vs5’ poker game, the sixth stage of that race.

The reason I specifically chose that game was because it was the most difficult for Leo before the 1:1 confrontation with the queen, and at the same time, it was criticized by the readers because of the abruptness of the victory.

Only in this game, Leo didn’t win in a legitimate way, but with the cooperation of Kiriko and the kitchen staff. By serving food filled with laxatives to his opponents, Kiriko made them abstain one after another.

In fact, the author must have been very embarrassed at the cold reaction. Although, from my point of view, the development was pretty plausible. Leo and Kiriko working in the kitchen earlier had built up to this.

But the author had overlooked how his readers would feel. The readers didn’t like the protagonist winning in such a disrespectful and unsportsmanlike way.

That was the exact point I was aiming for.

What if I could be the helper instead? Then, there’d be no need to hand Leo such an unsightly victory.

‘The plan can work. The key is plausibility.’

Anyway, to do this, I had to become a VIP within the next few days. Only then would I be able to receive the Queen’s invitation.

This is exactly what I’d been preparing for, over the past week.

50 special potions, and 400 million in cash.

It was quite a diverse assortment, but felt a bit lacking in liquid assets[3].

I didn’t know what the standards were for casino VIPs, but one thing was clear – over the next few days, I had to win more, and lose more, than anyone else.

“Little kid.”

“Huh?”

“Have you ever gambled?”

Cocoa understood the meaning behind my words right away.

“Are we going now? To the casino?”

“Answer the question first. Have you ever done it?”

“Of course. It’s my specialty.”

“Real funny.”

I didn’t completely believe the little kid’s words, but I was still a little excited. Because these ignorant and muddled characters were often oddly lucky. Like Leo.

“Heh, my hands were starting to itch. I’m bored of nicking readies from banks.”

“Where did you even learn to talk like that? Alright, get ready to move. Oh, but we can’t go straight to the casino.”

“Then?”

“Do you think they’ll let you in if you look like this?”

Cocoa was wearing the same things as when we first met. A thick cotton tee-shirt and torn overalls. Of course, who knew when they were last washed. I didn’t much feel that they were dirty because we were in a manga, but, well… the casino probably wouldn’t agree.

Of course, I wasn’t very different either.

“Let’s go shopping. We should get a few outfits.”

“Oh! Then I’ll wear sunglasses.”

“Buy them of you want. Let’s get a move on.”

Actually, I had also gotten tired of the repetitive life.

Now was the chance to have a good time.

Relax, Goldam Casino.

Here comes a pro hacker at EZ Games Online 7-Card Stud and Go-Stop Poker.[4]

From luxury sunglasses to children’s party dresses, shoes, and black ribbons.

It’d been an hour since we entered the casino more splendidly than anyone else.

“Hey, just one million gold.”

“Be quiet.”

“Then 500,000… no, even 300,000 gold.”

“Shut up, you money-eating hippo.”

“This time for real! Really real! I can really feel the touch this time!?”

Cocoa lost a whopping 20 million gold.

I stared at the nine-year-old gambler, asking me for money with red eyes.

Contrary to expectations, this girl had no talent at all.

Not just a lack of talent, her gambling level could be described as miserable.

A level where you throw away all your 10 million gold starting funds in 10 minutes, then smile shamelessly and say it couldn’t be helped because the bet amount was small.

Then continue the sequence with 5 million gold, 3 million gold, and 1 million gold – with the exact same results.

Done in 10 minutes, then dusted in 5 minutes. Even a sharper[5] playing to lose wouldn’t have lost so quickly.

Change seats, change games – nothing worked.

Even after giving her a few special potions, there was no improvement.

If you can’t pop a slot even after taking a luck potion… isn’t that the end the story? The girl was basically totally hopeless at this.

It was a godsend that I’d confiscated the money in advance.

“Damn it! Give me the money!”

“Haha…”

I pondered what would have happened if I had sent this girl separately to the kitchen. It would have been much more valuable if she had opened up an acquaintance with the main characters and learned to cook a bit in the process.

“Just quietly follow me sipping a drink or something. I’ll let you play roulette once in a while.”

“Roulette? Really?”

“Hmm. So, keep your mouth shut.”

“Great.”

Then, after roughly patching the problem, it was time to look for a suitable board to play a few games.

Suddenly, I heard a roar from somewhere.

“Huh?”

“What happened?”

It seemed that I wasn’t the only one who sensed the strange atmosphere. Questions were popping up from all over the place.

And then,

“There!”

“Third Hall…”

The guards started running towards somewhere in unison.

Aha!

Looked like the guys had arrived. Or maybe they were already happily eating the food laid out in the banquet hall down there.

When I thought so, somehow, I felt my tension rise a little.

‘Shall we take it slowly?’

It was then –

“If you’re scared, just go back.”

“…?”

Some snake-eyed guy was grinning in front of me.

I glanced at the guy’s hand.

Seriously, bluffing without any basis.

His face-up cards were 2, 5, 7, and 10 of Hearts.

It looked like he was trying to complete a 5-card Flush, but really. How many were missing already?

Besides, I wasn’t in a mood to make a scene. There was no point in arguing with a small fry.

I immediately took a sip from the glass of water in my hand, which had [Yep, show me! Clairvoyance Potion] mixed in it.

“Nice…”

“Is your throat burning?”

“You talk a lot.”

“Looks like you’re getting cold feet, so I had to say something. You don’t lose if you don’t play. Don’t waste a busy man’s time.”

“I agree with that. There is no time to waste.”

Then, as I put strength into my eyes, I could clearly see the cards he was holding.

2 of Clubs, 3 of Diamonds, Jack of Spades.

This son of a bitch has got some balls.

“All-in.”

From now on, let’s go strong.

Editor’s Notes:

[1] 찍기의 신 (lit. God of 찍기). 찍기 is the act of picking a random answer at multiple choice questions. See Namu Wiki.

[2] Reference to the old Korean manhwa, 어쩐지 좋은 일이 생길 것 같은 저녁. This was later turned into a game. In its day, its popularity broke records.

[3] 실탄 (lit. live ammunition) is a financial slang for money that can be used immediately, or leftover funds from invested capital. Translating as liquid assets to keep the context.

[4] 한게임 (Hangame) is an online game website operated by NHN Entertainment. Also called EZ Games in the US. 7-Card Stud should need no introduction. 로우바둑이 is online poker that seems related to Go-Stop, another Korean card game – see Namu Wiki.

[5] 타짜 (tazza, lit. sharper/card sharp) is what you’d call a gambler who would do anything to win, including cheating. It is also the title of a Korean manhwa. There were also several Korean movies adapted from it, the best-regarded being the first – Tazza: The High Rollers (2006).