Of course, Heidi never made any money.
Her gaming skills weren’t that great, but to be fair, these games were designed to prevent you from making money in the first place.
That said, there were times she did win in the games.
Was it beginner’s luck? She managed to double her money in a snap by defeating a game with a low probability of winning.
“Since you hit the 3x, we’ll pay you 3,000 gold.”
“Woo, wow… 3,000 gold….”
Every time that happened, I subtly encouraged Heidi.
When I whispered to her, “Just a little more, a little more,” she’d flinch and respond in ways that were incredibly entertaining.
She definitely seemed more susceptible to temptation because she was still young.
“…What a pity, if you had bet not just 1,000 gold but the whole 10,000 gold, you would have won 30,000 gold….”
“Ugh… 30,000… 30,000 gold…! My 30,000 gold…!”
“So unfortunate, right? Aww, so unfortunate….”
Greed glimmered in Heidi’s eyes. Although she was just a 2D character, I could feel her angst and desire resonating from her.
There was an undeniable excitement and faint thrill in her voice.
“Roulette is fun too, hehehe….”
“Ru… let… hehehe… sounds fun….”
“Shall we go play roulette? Come on….”
All I had to do was give her a little push from behind, just like that. Is there anything easier than this?
[Looks like the Gambling Abolition Committee needs to intervene.]
[Whispering is too naughty.]
[Is Kayak doing this on purpose? It’s hard to resist.]
[I was watching with my family for the holiday, and the visuals are a bit embarrassing.]
[I want some ASMR saying ‘go gamble’ in my ear….]
[If the broadcast host is telling me to gamble, I’d probably go bankrupt too.]
[Heidi, please, hurry and get out of the gambling house!]
[Going to play games like a hypnotized person is oddly creepy.]
[Minor kidnapping and financial extortion, yikes.]
[This might be a bit controversial.]
[Controversial, haha! Isn’t Heidi just trying to grab some broadcast views?]
[I thought Heidi was boring, but seeing her burn money at the casino shows she has potential.]
[All the scholars, get out!]
In the end, it was only a matter of time before Heidi went bankrupt.
“…My money… What have I done….”
After losing everything, Heidi started rolling around on the floor.
“Ahhhh… Aaaaaah…! My money…! Please give me back my money…!”
“Want your money back, do you, dear customer?”
I pretended to bob the character’s head up and down like I was orchestrating a teabagging.
“But you willingly spent money playing the game yourself, how can we return that?”
“Uuuugh… But… but… Kayak was there helping me….”
“Helping you with what?”
“….”
[When the teacher gets serious, it’s scary ㅠㅠ]
[Even though I cheered her on a few times….]
“Life is a real deal, Heidi. Do your best!”
[This is a real-life thug move, no joke.]
Heidi couldn’t say a word. Even though I prodded her a bit, the final decision was always hers to make.
It seems she wasn’t silly enough to dwell on that fact, as a smart and clever girl.
After a moment of being frozen, Heidi’s next action was an emotional plea.
“I, I really need that money… Kayak, please… give it back….”
But emotional appeals wouldn’t work on me.
“Do you need money?”
“Yes, I can’t do without that money… my 10,000 gold….”
“I can’t just give it back for free.”
I needed some conditions… what would work well?
Should I pile on massive interest? Like, it would balloon up if not paid back quickly? Or maybe collateral? That helmet looks nice; should I make her leave that as collateral?
After a moment of thought, I came up with the best method.
“Heidi, you’re part of a guild, right?”
“Yes, but….”
“Then you must have a lot of acquaintances on the server, right?”
I stepped a little closer to Heidi and continued speaking.
“Just bring anyone you know. I heard there’s a fun casino—something like that.”
“Th-that’s….”
“If that person comes and plays a game, I’ll return your 10,000 gold.”
It’s kind of like a referral event. You know, a famous marketing tactic.
It’s not just face-to-face anymore; nowadays, apps do a lot of referral events too.
You send a code to a friend, and if they use it to install the app, you also get benefits; I was applying a similar method.
“Come on, bring just one person. Preferably someone who likes games and has money.”
“…Just one will do, right?”
“Yes, yes, I’ll be waiting. Heidi.”
[Bring someone who’s gonna get wrecked ㅋㅋ]
[Backup is coming ㄷㄷ]
“Go fetch a cash cow, Heidi!”
[And thus, Heidi became an employee of the casino—a tragic tale….]
[At least I’m glad she’s the first one to get fleeced.]
[For real ㅋㅋ better to take the hit first.]
[Heidi, just don’t even show your face here until you bring someone to take the fall.]
[This isn’t a place for a kid.]
Despite the clear hints that I was planning to fleece that one person like her, Heidi left without a word.
Well, if she wanted to save herself, there was no choice. She probably had people in her guild she didn’t get along with. Bringing someone like that would be enough.
And after bankrupting that person, I’d make them bring in another, and that new person would bring in another… and thus, a perfect pyramid scheme, the birth of infinite power!
If a new person brings in another new person… it’s the perfect pyramid scheme, the birth of infinite power.
“This is totally multi-level marketing….”
“Hey, An-sae. Multi-level marketing? Come on.”
“I mean, they called it a friend invitation event.”
With that, she flashed a friendly smile.
*
It had been about two weeks since the Taker server was created.
There was a time when the participant, Han Kang, almost caused the content to plummet by gossiping behind the scenes, but as a seasoned server master, Taker managed to smooth things over by bringing in Kayak.
As time passed, the Taker server revealed itself as a large server with many streamers participating.
For these relatively low-tier streamers, just participating in the server was a fantastic opportunity.
“Thank you for the invitation, Heidi!”
The girl, VTuber Cookie, with her hair tied in cute braids, bowed her head.
Yet, despite her adorable appearance, she was actually five years older than Heidi. In fact, it was hard to find any streamer younger than Heidi.
“Well, it was the guild master who told me to invite you. Thank Seung-tae, not me.”
“Got it!”
“Alright, let me give you a brief tour. Follow me.”
Heidi, being one of the founding members who had been active since the server’s inception, was more than familiar with it.
Of course, there were always new changes happening in the server, but those were very few.
The rest were things she was so accustomed to that explaining them was no trouble at all.
“So, you should pick one of farming, mining, or fishing… fishing is the easiest. I’ve heard there might be a probability adjustment in the next patch though. Unless they severely nerf it, fishing will likely stay the best choice.”
“I see…! Fishing, hmm hmm.”
While taking notes, Cookie typed away on her keyboard and asked An-sae.
“So, what’s at the bottom of the central plaza? I saw a lot over there while walking.”
“That place….”
Heidi hesitated before answering.
“Just try to avoid it. It’s dangerous there.”
“Dangerous?”
“It’s more of a… place where naive folks get taken advantage of… a street of entertainment and pleasure, if you will….”
Looking confused, Cookie jumped in place a few times.
“You won’t get it just from words, right? Come along with me once to check it out.”
“Sure!”
Heidi and Cookie began to walk, even though it was nighttime, towards the street dazzling with various lights.
-Kayak Casino
-Kayak Maid Cafe
-Racetrack
Signs flickered on and off like neon lights. Just as Cookie was admiring them, she heard,
“Good day, Owner! Would you like to come in for some service?”
“Hello, Noble! Would you like to come inside and receive our services?”
“Uh, me? Noble?”
“The maids are waiting for you! You can receive services from girls tailored to your tastes!”
A woman burst out of a building labeled as a maid café, dressed in a frilly, lace-adorned getup.
She was doing some kind of solicitation toward cookies.
“I just came to take a quick look. I’ll come back another time.”
“Yes, yes, Heidi Noble. I’ll be waiting!”
Heidi casually sent the maid away, and the maid didn’t cling too tightly.
Next stop: the casino.
“Ah, no! No!”
“You don’t have the ability to pay your debts… Off to the block factory. No, actually, to the racetrack!”
“Ugh…!”
A man was being dragged away from the casino, looking completely broke and headed for the racetrack.
Heidi didn’t say much, but Cookies voiced her confusion while watching the scene unfold.
“Why are they dragging him to the racetrack…? Does he have a part-time job there or something?”
“You’ll see.”
As they headed to the racetrack, voices from the crowd could be heard.
“The number 2 horse isn’t looking too good… Is this a scam?”
“Jun Hyun got dragged here because he went broke.”
“See, I told you not to overdo it.”
The viewers looked down from a glass balcony, watching people lined up below, looking like they were waiting at a sports arena.
The people standing below had numbers tattooed on their backs.
1, 2, 3… they were lined up in order from 1 to 7.
“What is this…?”
Cookies, looking bewildered, didn’t have time to process it as the match began.
Bang-!
With the sound of bullets being fired, the participants bolted.
“Damn it, Abok! I bet it all on you! Run faster!”
“Mu Yeol, run! The future of the guild depends on you!”
“Why is number 3 running so fast? Did he dope?”
The participants were racing hard on an obstacle-filled track, and the audience was shouting excitedly.
The racetrack. Yes, this was a racetrack. However, instead of horses, it’s people being used for racing.
“If you fall into debt, you either get sent to do hard labor at the block factory, dragged to the racetrack for human racing, or made to serve at a maid café.”
“…What a scary place.”
“Be careful, Cookies. Enjoying the game is great, but falling into debt can lead to situations like that.”
Cookies slowly nodded her head.
Indeed, whoever thought of this had come up with an exceptionally cruel system.
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