CARD XXI: You can't compete against me.

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"I quit."

Eyun's head snapped back from the now closed door at the screeching noise of the chair being pushed back. She glanced at Ni-ki before getting up to follow her two friends. She glanced at Ni-ki before getting to her feet. She was about to follow her two friends when she was stopped by a cold hand that gripped her shoulder.

"If you leave now... it will be over for you," Ni-ki reminded her with a shadowed smile. He pushed her down onto the seat, using the movement as support to get up himself.

He watched the expression on her face, hesitation clashing against impulsiveness. She knew that she couldn't go, even if she wanted to at first, she couldn't.

She had to be here.

She had to win.

No matter the sacrifice.

"You really quit?" The dealer, too surprised by this unprecedented event, was betrayed by her mouth speaking faster than her head could think. But when the boy's piercing gaze met her, she was instantly startled.

"Do you need it on paper, worthless one?" He asked, exhaling in annoyance.. Ni-ki raised both of his eyebrows as he tilted his head to the side. "Hm?" He sighed at the lack of response. "Ruining my fun, as expected," he sneered in disappointment.

His puma eyes flickered mindlessly to the dealers' backdoor.

They widened, unclear whether shocked or surprised to see those of a certain boy. He took one last look at Eyun, who was now back in her seat, and made his way out of there, satisfied enough for the time being with what he had done.

The sky-blue eyes followed the figure in a state of confusion and heavy suspicion until the dealer came into view. "Please proceed, Kim," she advised Eyun as the angel found two new pieces in the game.

4-1; 1-8.

It was the fourth round, which meant that there were only two stones left from each of the players. With one quit, it became a game between only her and those two.

They were a team.

From the start, she had noticed not only their constant eye contact, but also the closeness between them. They were only a hand movement away from each other.

A hand movement. Eyun's stone slipped from her hand and fell at the dealer's feet. She bent under the table to pick it up. She caught a glimpse of the other two participants' hands.

Playing was like fighting on your own.

Both tapped each other's palms. Six times the boy, one times the girl.

Eyun straightened and switched to her only remaining stone, replacing the fallen one. "Gambling is a game of probability, isn't it?" She placed the 8-8 on the table, leaving the 1-6 as the remaining stone.

"And the probability of such a thing as togetherness in a game of chance is as good as non-existent. Unless, of course, it is the downfall." She leaned over and smiled at both of her opponents as the dealer announced that she'd won.

With their loss, two of the masked students had approached their table and dragged them from it, as roughly and quickly as if they had never occupied the seat in front of her.

She rose from her seat, her eyes on the remnants of her former opponent's stones.

6-1, 1-4 on his side; 4-7, 7-6 on her side.

IF I WERE THE DEVIL ; YANG JUNGWONWhere stories live. Discover now