25.NTL Fantasy

 

With the most annoying face possible… well, she always has an annoying face, but anyway, Lieutenant Commander Eun ridiculed Han Sarang with that face.

 

 

And….

 

 

“….”

“Why? What? Did I say something wrong? I’m trying to comfort you, you little shit.”

 

 

Han Sarang, overcoming her annoyance, glared with wide eyes.

A look that seemed like she would start shooting if she had a gun right now.

Han Sarang’s image in the country was already that of a ‘psychopath’ or ‘crazy bitch,’ so an ordinary person would have been scared.

 

 

But Lieutenant Commander Eun was just as much of a psycho.

She’s even a “chongpo gyeong” – a superintendent who gave up becoming a Senior Superintendent. A similar case is “jangpo dae” (a colonel who gave up becoming a general). She’s a true invincible thug who no longer cares about promotions.

 

Even her direct superior, Senior Superintendent Shin Do-hee, can’t control her.

 

 

“So, your pride is hurt and you’re upset? You’re a funny bitch. Then you shouldn’t have done something like this in the first place.”

“…Fuck off.”

“This is my dongsaeng’s house. If anyone’s leaving, it should be you. Running away from a perfectly good house… are you really 27? Or are you 17?”

 

 

Han Sarang was very upset but didn’t have anything to say, so she just trembled in anger as Lieutenant Commander Eun continued to mock her.

 

 

“No sense of responsibility~ No ability~ All you had was connections and looks, but you ran away? You even gained weight? Now you have nothing? You’re just a burden?”

“Wow… she’s being a real bitch.”

 

 

Yul-ryung, who was next to them, was getting pissed off at the level of humiliation.

How much more would the person involved feel?

 

Han Sarang, biting her lip until it bled and trembling with anger, finally jumped up from her seat.

 

 

“Oh? Gonna hit me? Your hand will just hurt.”

 

 

I thought she was going to slap her, but Han Sarang’s actions were completely unexpected.

She roughly put on a nearby hat, grabbed her phone and wallet, and went outside.

 

 

Of course, she glared at Lieutenant Commander Eun with murderous eyes before that.

 

 

“…What. Another runaway?”

“It seems like she left because she was pissed off rather than running away.”

“What a fucking bitch. Hey. Just kick her out.”

“She’s the Commander’s daughter, you crazy bitch.”

“Hehe. Is that why you’re letting her stay? Looking at it this way, I feel a little sorry for her.”

“It’s not just that. Isn’t it about love for comrades and love for the country?”

“Bullshit.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

+++

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Han Sarang, who ran out of Eun Yul-ryung’s house, finally sighed deeply when she got a little further away from the house.

 

She ran out because she was so angry at Lieutenant Commander Eun’s harsh words, but when she thought about it carefully, what she said wasn’t wrong. It’s just annoying.

 

 

“Haa….”

 

 

In fact, she didn’t like the current situation either.

 

 

Even if she played games,

Even if she watched movies,

Even if she watched dramas,

 

 

Her heart wasn’t satisfied.

 

 

She knows it too.

That she’s wandering, lost her way, and lost the will to live.

 

 

Doubt about the military.

Doubt about her own abilities.

 

Is it really okay for someone like me, who couldn’t do anything in an emergency, to become a commander?

I’ll be promoted to colonel and general in the future,

Do I deserve it?

Do I have that ability?

 

 

Maybe it would be better for humanity if I just stayed put and didn’t do anything.

That might be a courtesy to those who might become her subordinates in the future, and a courtesy to those who died as her subordinates.

 

 

“No, it’s just the military itself….”

 

 

In fact, she wasn’t the only one experiencing this confusion.

After that day, the shock of the Incheon incident was so great that articles were published about many soldiers in Korea and around the world feeling a sense of futility, and it was having a great impact on society as well.

 

 

Rather, it was because she was a woman of her stature that it ended like this; some soldiers couldn’t overcome the emptiness of life and made extreme choices.

 

 

Moreover, the atmosphere is depressed not only in the military but also in society as a whole.

 

As many as 400,000 victims.

This incident, in which a huge city was literally destroyed, caused great shock and fear to all of humanity, and the number of people who couldn’t overcome this fear was increasing day by day.

 

 

If society and the state do not take appropriate measures, a very large social phenomenon may occur.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“….”

 

 

As I walked aimlessly, I ended up in the center of Gangnam.

Even though it was still bright daylight, various entertainment establishments were actively soliciting customers as if it didn’t matter, and a huge number of people were coming and going around the towering casino.

 

“Stats….”

 

 

I muttered without realizing it.

And I moved my steps like a person led by a ghost.

 

 

Surely, stat allocation is free at the Stat Casino.

 

 

I had refused every time Yoo-eun suggested it a few times, but now I was somehow curious about it.

 

 

What exactly are stats, and what is this damn ‘phenomenon’ that can render useless all the things I’ve trained, built up, and researched for so long in an instant?

 

 

What the hell are those things that can so easily take away the position I’ve worked so hard to build?

 

 

“Oh? Han Sarang-nim?”

 

So she stood here.

 

 

“Oh my… did you come to the casino?”

 

 

His women, the maids, approached with kindness.

I stare blankly, but they still have smiles on their faces.

 

 

Are they really welcoming me from the bottom of their hearts?

Or is it just part of the service industry?

 

 

Such a question suddenly crossed my mind, but I ignored it at this moment because it was meaningless.

 

 

 

“Yes… I’m here to… look around.”

“Please come in~.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“This is the game zone where you can enjoy various games.”

 

 

The casino I had only seen in movies was unfolding before my eyes.

The game zone, which uses multiple floors, is the core of this building.

 

 

Even though the Harem Palace is controversial around the world and is being criticized, there were still many people.

 

“From poker to everything else. Would Han Sarang-nim like to try it?”

“No, I….”

“Come on! Don’t hesitate.”

 

The maid, who forcibly led Sarang, who was reluctantly shaking her head, pointed to a place where people were especially crowded.

 

 

“The place surrounded by those people is the biggest hit of this casino.”

“The biggest… hit?”

“It’s a game called ‘Life.’ Well, the basis is a pachinko machine that you put coins in and spin, so it’s very simple. If you win, you can take all the balls piled up around the machine.”

“….”

 

 

I was speechless for a moment.

The balls are piled up as high as a person’s waist, so much so that the stairs are buried, and they give you all of that?

 

 

“Each of those balls is a ‘chip.’ When you buy them, you can buy 10 bronze chips (1 stat), but the moment they are piled up in that ‘mountain,’ they become 100 times… one ball becomes a ‘silver chip (10 stats).’ About ‘200 million’ has been accumulated so far. Everyone steps into ‘Life’ to reverse their lives with their own circumstances. Hehe.”

 

 

The maid’s smile was strangely eerie.

 

 

 

 

 

“Oooooh!”

 

 

 

 

Around that time, the people surrounding the machine cheered, and when I looked to see what was going on, a few of the balls of a woman who was playing the game were overcoming the first stage, which looked like a pinball machine, and entering the second stage.

 

 

“Go!! Go!!!”

 

The woman got up from her seat, very excited, and the people watching together shouted ‘Let’s go!’

 

 

“Let’s take a closer look.”

 

 

The maid grabbed Han Sarang’s arm and approached ‘Life.’

I could feel the intense heat.

 

 

 

 

Dalgurak!

 

 

“Oooooh!!”

 

 

 

 

 

Stage 2, the plate.

 

The triple-layered plate has three holes, each with a hole large enough for one ball to enter.

Only one of them is a hole that leads to the bottom, and the other two lead to the ‘mountain’ around the machine through a pipe.

 

 

If you reach the 2nd floor and the final 1st floor through the goal hole, you win!

 

 

Therefore, the probability is very low.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But if you overcome this, you can have more than 200 million stats.

 

 

A whopping 200 million!!

 

 

You can use it as stats, or you can sell it and use it as money.

It’s up to you.

 

 

But either way, if you win, it’s a life reversal.

 

 

 

 

 

“Go!! Go…!”

“Ah….”

 

 

The intense heat suddenly subsided.

 

 

Because all the balls that had entered the 2nd stage went to the ‘mountain’ through the pipes from the 3-layer plate.

 

 

“….”

 

 

Thud.

 

 

And the woman sat down.

 

 

“…Fuck…fuck….”

 

Her hands were trembling.

 

“Customer?”

 

When the maid, who was standing quietly next to her, asked politely, the woman shook her head, trembling.

It meant that she no longer had any chips.

 

 

“Then how about a loan?”

“A… loan?”

“Yes. We are lending chips with what you own as collateral. The interest rate is 10% every 10 minutes.”

“T-Ten percent every ten minutes??”

“Yes. But if you ‘win,’ it’s nothing.”

“….”

 

 

The woman looked at the maid with a bleak smile and opened her mouth.

 

 

“I, I don’t… have… anything….”

“Oh my. What are you talking about? I can see it.”

“?”

 

The maid grabbed the woman’s chest tightly.

 

 

“It’s right here. Your ‘body’.”

“!!!”

“You can get a loan by betting your entire life? That’s why it’s ‘Life.’ You challenge it by betting everything you have. How about it?”

“W-What….”

 

The maid fondled the woman’s chest as if she were appraising it.

 

 

“Hmm… for a customer like you… I’ll lend you 3 gold chips.”

“T-Three gold chips?”

“Woah!”

 

 

Exclamations erupted from the surroundings.

 

 

Three gold chips are a whopping 300 stats.

It’s enough to buy 3,000 balls to use in ‘Life.’

 

 

And 3,000 is three times more than the number of balls the woman has used so far.

 

 

 

Gulp.

 

 

 

 

“How about it? Would you like to take another step towards reversing your life?”