I conquered dungeons alone when Yeonhee needed time to adjust after her Strength and Agility levels increased by quest completion boxes. I did three in total, and together we did twelve. It had taken us two months to conquer fifteen American dungeons. That meant we had conquered one every four days.
[Accumulated Points: 55320]
“How about you?”
“47310.”
While the two months had given us much profit, Yeonhee had lost her smile. She was looking out the window indifferently, and it could not be helped. She murmured about dungeons even in her sleep, and she had shouted Marie’s Hand a lot yesterday.
“Mick.”
“Yes.”
“Head to Wilson Hotel.”
Yeonhee asked why, and I motioned to a sign outside that said Welcome to Las Vegas.
“Weren’t the dungeons in rural areas?”
Yeonhee asked in a whisper, but her eyes shone with anticipation. It really was a land of dreams, even for Yeonhee in this state.
“Everybody, take the load off. We will decompress in Las Vegas.”
My words served as a trigger as the air lightened up for the first time in two months.
“You won’t change your mind?”
Yeonhee smiled. I knew that hunters could not go on hunting and working non-stop, and Las Vegas would be a perfect place to relieve some stress. (EN: ^_^ )
**
While Yeonhee was at the slot machines, I was playing blackjack in a VIP room. It was the only game I could earn some money by card counting, which I had picked up in a seedy casino in my past life. I had earned three hundred thousand dollars with my million buy-in, and I aimed to earn within the limit just short of what would get me in their “Black Book”. (EN: Buy-In; The amount of money that a player is restricted to using when joining a particular table, including a minimum requirement, maximum amount, or both a minimum and maximum.) (EN: Black Book; “Black Book” is the nickname frequently used to refer to a list of people who are unwelcome in casinos. The name comes from the fact that the people listed are essentially blacklisted.)
While my head hurt from concentrating, I was enjoying myself. I lost ten thousand here and earned fifty thousand there. Gambling isn’t fun, winning is fun.
It was then I heard a familiar language.
“You guys play somewhere. I’m going to play a round of blackjack.”
What made me notice him was that the voice was also familiar to me. He sat next to me, which had been empty. The man looked at me and then he put his chips on the table. There were at least five million.
“Korean?”
The man asked me, and I knew then who he was. He had not been worth remembering, which had made me take my time. A year ago, he had raised a commotion in a plane that had been heading to Seoul. (EN: Chapter 88)
Hansil Group’s son, whom Yeonhee also knew. His name was Changho Cho. I did not feel the need to answer him, as he was pouring money in a Las Vegas casino when the Korean public still felt that the IMF crisis had not ended yet told me what kind of a person he was. (EN: Sun is talking about the misconception that Jonil was foreign owned. As he’s actually responsible for that… ^_^ )
I had been about to move to a different table when he asked me again.
“I am Changho Cho. As fellow Koreans we should introduce ourselves.”
He did not remember me and now motioned with his chin to command me to sit down. He would think it natural that I would do so even in America. I scoffed inwardly. Hansil was not known in America, and I would have to explain that it managed Korean national airplanes.
The dealer was waiting for me, and I sat back on the table again and bet a ten thousand chip. He had bet a hundred thousand.
“Won’t you introduce yourself?”
“Forget the small talk and focus on the game.”
“What?”
“We’re not in Korea. Remember that causing a disturbance will kick us out of the casino and focus on the game. A Blackjack table is no place for formal introductions.”
The casino guards were looking at us because of Changho’s raised voice, and he changed his expression to a sneer. I won, and he lost in that round.
“Petty bets will not take you anywhere.”
He mumbled out loud as he bet another hundred thousand. As I said, blackjack was the only game the player had a chance of winning. He won a hundred thousand and looked at me again. While he seemed to want to fight it out with me, his chips disappeared while mine increased. He lost all of his chips while mine had become two million.
He seemed to have hurt his pride, as he ignored his secretary’s whispers and had him bring more chips. I started raising my bets from now on. If such a loser was pouring money on the table, I thought winning more would not place me on the “Black Book” since the casino was raking in cash.
He now had lost all of his chips again, and half of them were mine.
“Bring more.”
“You have to stop now.”
There was a high probability he was not in fact using his own money and he had embezzled it from Hansil. Also, as I held the majority of Hansil shares, his misconduct would be my loss. I opened my mouth then.
“I believe you should stop.”
“Don’t intervene. You seem to have become overconfident at winning a bit. Look at your clothes.”
He was not even drunk as he said the words. His secretary instead apologized like he did so often.
“Director, the situation will be worse if you do not come now.”
The situation was already bad, as he had already lost twenty million dollars in Las Vegas. If the money had not been laundered correctly, things would go haywire on his return. Of course, it might not be publicized, but he would get a phone call. I could not let a guy like this remain in Hansil.
He stood up and left and told me he would see me at the Poker table.
I thought that would be the last of him, but I met him again after a nice dinner and show with Yeonhee. We encountered each other in front of the elevator.
He must have recognized me and especially Yeonhee but acted like he did not remember us. Instead, he told his call girl how amazing his job was for us to hear.
“Jonathan Investment does not withdraw funds from their firms…”
He lost twenty million dollars of his firm’s reserve money?
“The world’s a small place, isn’t it?”
Yeonhee whispered as she stood close to me like she did not want to be near him. Other guests were also present, and we each pressed the buttons for our hotel floors in the elevator. His was on the 40th, which would be the high-class suites. He was the only one to stay there, and other eyes focused on him due to his doing so.
However, all that changed when I pressed the top button, and his expression had been… (EN: ^_^ )
After entering our Penthouse suite, the first thing I did was to call Jamie to have her hold a Hansil shareholder’s meeting and check their accounts.
<Also, I do not believe Changho Cho, a director and a descendant of the founder, will be useful in Hansil in the future…>
That had been enough. He would be kicked out of Hansil. (EN: LOL!)