In the wilderness, any prayers go unheard. Those who are easily overtaken or dominated by their fears will eagerly maintain a different and hollow version of themselves, a meaningless reality. A human's heart is subject to change, as the body and mind will constantly evolve— but the train of thought and process of actions sometimes never change. Most people simply don't learn their lessons, even after many times someone could teach them.
The elderly woman let out a puff of smoke before scoffing. "What a bunch of good-for-nothings."
"Overconfident, arrogant, deceitful, always thinking of kicking others down..."
Her stare was reduced into a glare as she set her eyes on the Jack. "Each and every self proclaimed master..is a good-for-nothing."
"You make it sound like you've got some experience." The Jack uttered lowly.
"Yeah." She scoffed, closing her eyes. "The absolute sleaziest trick master I knew..."
"Was my idiotic late husband." She opened her eyes. "Always so full of himself. Everything that came out of his mouth was a brag. The lies of that man smothered him in debt and women...I don't know why I stuck with him for so long."
"After that idiot died, I arrived in the borderlands...and thought of myself purified from even his debts."
She grit her teeth.
"And yet here I am, trapped and having to spend a night with a character I hate the most."
"..That too," the Jack said, after a few seconds of silence, "will end soon, thanks to me."
You stared at the Jack for a second before smiling mockingly. "Oh~, I forgot to say something."
"That thing you showed us," you pointed at the Jack, then towards his hand, "with the cards disappearing and reappearing.."
"If you could do that, you would be able to palm any card you like." You rested your chin on your hand. "So what if, let's say, you hid one or two cards inside your jacket sleeve?"
"..."
The Jack stood silent for a few seconds, and you could've sworn that you saw his eyes widen by the slightest. He let out a scoff, smirking before looking up to you. "I was wondering what you were about to say. Always the most irrelevant stuff that come out your mouth."
"So what?" He uttered as he distributed the cards. "Are you going to conduct a body research on me? In this moment, maybe I just returned a sleeve card to the deck?"
"Nice. Why not make a bet with me?" You smiled at him, pointing at your own sleeve to demonstrate. "There's a card left in your sleeve. Yes or No?"
Amon grit his teeth, furrowing his brows in anger. "This is stupid. This far into the game..."
He slammed the table in a fit of rage. "This is pointless! There's no time!"
You waved at the elderly woman. "Old lady!" You smiled nonchalantly at her. "You want in?"
She looked at you with confusion in her eyes, asking for context.
"Is there a card in his sleeve or not? Which do you think?" You asked, tilting your head slightly, curious for her answer.
Her eyes widened in surprise by your question, though she quickly recovered and exhaled an air of smoke. "Good grief. What an unpleasant role."
She set down her cigarette and lit out the fire that was put upon it. "Don't think this is your doing, young one."
You tilted your head once more before smiling at her, placing your hand on the table to grab a card out of the 2 you were distributed.
"..You two, what are you talking about? And you, what are you—" Amon's eyes widened as he realized what you were about to do.
You held the card in your hand and showed it to everyone before crushing and crumpling it, dropping it on the ground with a calm and smug expression.
"Oh, no." You let out a mocking chuckle. "I've crumpled an inconvenient card."
You spoke with the same smug expression, uttering the next words in a mocking sing-song tone. "In front of everyone's discerning eyes, I've cheated, haven't I?"
You smiled in satisfaction once you heard a mechanism whirr in the distance, lighting up the button in front of you.
"What.." Amon uttered, looking around with eyes widened in shock, "what the hell are you doing?!"
"There's one bullet each gun." You explained, pointing to his gun. "But you already used yours earlier on that magician, so you basically don't even have a gun anymore. It's pointless to even try. I mean, you were the one who organized this mechanism right? So, you should have seen this coming. You're kind of dumb for that."
"In this situation, the only one to exact judgement on the girl..." the elderly woman said out loud, hitting the red button to reveal her gun, "...is me, isn't it?"
She picked up her gun, aiming it towards you. "To another person, game over."
You smiled at her, looking at her finger. She pulled the trigger, quickly moving the gun towards the Jack to shoot him instead of you. You got confused at her actions, but you were slightly relieved, as you were able to live yet another day, or only for a few more minutes.
The Jack fell to the floor, laying on his back as blood spilled from his wound.
"Nice. You hit a vital organ." You smiled, inspecting his body before darting your eyes on each of his sleeves. "Oh my. Looks like he did have some cards up his sleeve after all."
You looked at the woman, scoffing as you saw guilt in her eyes. "In front of everyone's discerning eyes, he cheated. Apropos Restraint was exacted. So, old lady, your actions were justified."
She stood silent for a few more seconds, still seeming guilty.
"In this world, it's kill or be killed. So you did the right thing. You're probably going to be stuck here forever anyway, so it's futile to cry about a 'sin' you committed."
"You could have shot me, you know?" You hummed, looking at her curiously. "Yet you knew you were right."
"If I were to kill you, I would have lost to his trickery." She exhaled an air of smoke. "Besides,"
"43 years." Her eyes glinted with hate. "I've been stuck with that pathetic man. Even if I don't, I've come to understand these 'trick masters', or so they call it."
You hummed once more. "You've been through a lot." You smiled at her. "My condolences."
"Finally," she muttered, "it's down to us two."
ROUND 4, START.
TIME REMAINING: 3 MINUTES.
You picked up all the cards back into the deck, passing it to her. "Your turn to deal~."
"..Nevertheless, you're quite the girl, huh?"She cracked a small smile to you and closed her eyes.
"Defeating the Jack of Diamonds like it was nothing. You're a really smart girl. You've manipulated everything all the way to defeating me. Since I've used my gun, no matter what tricks you use in front of my face, I can't do anything. With the card you destroyed, my chances of winning are reduced."
She opened her eyes, keeping her small smile. "You really are an amazing girl, huh? Coming up on the end of my life, I have no regrets. Let's just end this quickly."
"You've fought well." You smiled at her nonchalantly, twirling a piece of your hair on your finger. "Let's play this round without any malice or resentment."
Her eyes widened slightly in confusion and shock, looking at your calm and fearless expression. After a few seconds, her eyes widened even further in realization before regaining her composure. "..I finally figured it out."
You tilted your head, asking for context.
"Why you're so calm all the time." She let out a chuckle. "You're simply.. not interested in the concept of life. Is that it?"
Your smile got slightly wider as you let out a small laugh. "I guess you're right."
"..So young, yet so empty." She sighed, looking at the ceiling. "You really are a sad existence."
"Oh?" You muttered, keeping the same calm smile you have had since the beginning.
"..Yeah." She smiled at the ceiling. "I've been in the Borderlands for long enough, and I have no regrets here. You were the most interesting girl I've met in all of my days here. Thank you."
"There's nothing to thank me for," you said, running a hand through your hair. "I simply played the game."
"And for that, I don't want to waste any more of your time. You've done enough, so,"
She looked up at the ceiling with a calm and peaceful smile.
"I give up."
In a matter of seconds, her head was shot by the red laser. She stood still for a few seconds before her whole body went limp on the table, dying whilst keeping the calm smile on her face.
You heard the white board let out a melodious chime, signifying that you've cleared the game.
GAME CLEAR. CONGRATULATIONS. YOU HAVE EARNED A 4-DAY VISA AS A REWARD.
The noose around your neck suddenly untied and let go, giving you the freedom of getting out of your chair. You got up and stretched, grunting as you did so.
"That was the longest hour of my life. How boring." You stopped to stare at the elderly woman's body.
"Thanks." You muttered, walking away. "Easy win."