Don't Feed the Professor! - Chapter 59

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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A silence fell.
The Broker chuckled, a rasping sound.
“……I see you’ve got taste.”
―Creak.
The Broker grabbed the rope around his neck with one hand and pulled it taut. Then, as if removing a necktie, he slipped his head free from the noose.
―Click.
Watching the Broker step down onto the carpet, I swallowed silently, my throat dry. He walked toward me with heavy, deliberate steps.
Until then, Bibi, who hadn’t moved an inch, spoke up.
“So you were the ‘manager’ all along?”
“That depends on your perspective, doesn’t it?”
The Broker pointed to his temple with one finger.
“A gambling addict’s brain has faulty wiring, you see. The reward centers have essentially melted away—put simply, their sense of reality becomes very blurred. The driver’s seat was empty, so it was child’s play to climb in.”
“You took over her body?”
“Not so much took over as……, well……, ‘borrowed’ it.”
…….
“In any case, I was impressed. Truly impressed. Not a single person has ever actually found me. They all collapsed from exhaustion or got trapped in the elevator screaming. But that aside.”
The Broker reached into his jacket pocket.
I tensed, but what he produced was an ordinary gaming chip.
“A special prize.”
“……I have no intention of returning to the Casino.”
At my words, the Broker laughed again.
“That’s not your decision to make.”
Just then, Bibi cried out.
“Amelie, the clock……!”
I lifted my head. The clock hand on the wall was spinning backwards. I tried to reach out desperately, but my hands grasped at nothing.
The whirring sound of a slot machine filled my ears as my consciousness drifted away into a haze.
* * *
Seven, cherry, gun.
I sat in front of a slot machine in a red one-piece dress, pressing the button.
Ding-ding-ding, whirrrr.
“……?”
I looked around.
‘What time is it……?’
The Casino has no windows, no clocks—the longer you stay, the more your sense of reality dulls.
‘I feel like I’m forgetting something…….’
I checked my smartphone. The message inbox was empty.
Then suddenly, an arm stretched out from behind me and pressed the slot machine button.
Whirrrr, cherry, cherry, cherry.
Coins tumbled from the machine with a clatter.
I turned slowly to see who stood behind me.
“……Bibi?”
“Were you waiting?”
I stared blankly at him, and Bibi seemed flustered, clearing his throat awkwardly. He straightened the lapel of his suit as he asked.
“Does it feel strange?”
“Huh? No, it’s not that…….”
I fell silent. Something was wrong. But what exactly?
“Amelie?”
“Oh, sorry. First I need to meet the Broker. Apparently you can only exchange chips for over ten million won at the VIP Area.”
“That’s quite a sum.”
“I’m a bit worried. I’ve never had good luck.”
Bibi laughed.
“We’ll see about that. Let’s start at the Roulette Table first.”
Right, first I’ll win some chips. I followed Bibi.
“Oh, and…….”
Bibi suddenly turned back to speak.
“That dress suits you.”
…….
I felt like I’d heard that somewhere before.
I looked down at the smartphone in my hand.
Shouldn’t I be calling someone? There’s something, something that feels…….
“You coming?”
“……Yeah, let’s go!”
I put my smartphone in my clutch and quickened my pace.
And shortly after.
“Rather than come empty-handed, would it be alright if we had a drink and talked things through slowly?”
The man behind the golden bars looked at me, his chin resting on his hand.
He smiled as if amused and spoke.
“Ah, thank you. I’m truly delighted. But tell me, who were you planning to offer that to?”
“Pardon?”
Offer……?
“That was for……, you……?”
The man’s head tilted at an odd angle.
“Who is ‘you’?”
“Um…….”
“I already told you who I am.”
‘Oh right. I definitely…….’
Wait a second.
‘Before? What do you mean before? This is my first time here.’
The Broker extended his pale hand between the bars.
“No, you know exactly who I am.”
“……I do?”
“Yes. This is very important. You brought that to offer as tribute not to the ‘Broker’ but to ‘me’. Isn’t that right?”
…….
“Come on, hand it over. To ‘me’.”
“……Why.”
“What?”
Bang, I dropped the box onto the counter.
“Why are you ordering me around?”
“……Ha ha.”
I looked around. The Exchange Counter’s lighting was subdued, and the air was quiet.
Something really is off.
I shouldn’t be here.
‘The time…….’
As I reached into my bag for my smartphone, the bars vanished.
The golden bars that had separated the Broker from me disappeared, and the man in the black tuxedo stood right in front of me.
“Let me out.”
“Yes, yes, of course you should go. Can’t force tribute on anyone, after all. But before that……, how about one more game.”
He handed me a golden Casino chip. I shook my head instinctively.
The Broker’s teeth bared in a smile as he spoke.
“That wasn’t a question.”
* * *
Seven, cherry, gun.
I stared blankly at the slot machine.
In my hand……was a golden Casino chip.
“Why am I…….”
At an unfamiliar crunching sound, I lifted my head and saw a woman leaning against a nearby pillar, chewing on a chip.
A dark liquid of unknown origin dripped from her lips, mixing with saliva.
…….
I toyed with the chip in my hand.
‘This doesn’t feel real at all…….’
Then an arm stretched out from behind me and pressed the slot machine button.
Seven, seven, seven.
Jackpot.
Golden coins poured out in a cascade.
Click, click, clang.
The coins kept falling without pause. Soon they began piling up on the red carpet.
“Eh…….”
I turned slowly. There stood a man in glasses and a tuxedo, smiling at me.
“Hello.”
It was a smile like a mask.
“Who are…….”
“You have something for me, don’t you?”
Before I could even think of running, ice-cold hands seized my shoulders.
Spider-like fingers crept past my collarbones, crawling up my neck and jaw.
“I’m thirsty.”
The man whispered.
“Amelie, right?”
“How did you…….”
Watching my lips barely move, it laughed with a rasping cackle.
“If you want, I’ll even tell you my real name. You’ll speak it with your mouth while handing over the offering with your hands. Or…….”
Cold fingers brushed my lips. The sensation sent a chill through me, and suddenly my mind snapped awake.
“Maybe it’d be better if you fed me directly with your mouth…….”
“I’m not giving you anything, you bastard!”
I cried out and slashed the man’s face with my clutch.
“Ugh……?”
Surprisingly effective!
But what was in this clutch…….
‘That’s it.’
I brought down Amelie’s smartphone repeatedly on the man’s skull.
His mask-like face began to contort.
His eyebrows, eye sockets, the muscles in his cheeks, his entire face twitched grotesquely, like an ill-fitting garment being worn.
Seizing the moment, I kicked a chair out of the way and bolted between the slot machines.
The machines began spewing coins everywhere, but I didn’t stop to look.
‘The Lobby. I have to reach the Lobby.’
But something’s wrong. Was the Casino always this huge?
Behind me, it burst out laughing.
“Amelie, Amelie, Amelie! Where the hell have you been all this time?!”
I ran without looking back. My shoes had already flown off somewhere long ago.
But no matter how far I ran, I couldn’t find the exit.
All the while, its laughter drew closer.
Was there anything I could use as a weapon, anything with real impact?
As I ran through the cascading coins, my foot caught and I stumbled.
‘No!’
I rolled across the carpet and sprang back up, pushing through the crowd toward the Roulette Table and into the VIP Area.
There had to be an emergency exit near the Exchange Counter—where large sums of money change hands, there would be one. That was my reasoning.
As I bounded up the stairs two at a time and shoved open the glass door, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me inside.
“Bibi?!”
“Shhh.”
Bibi placed a finger to his lips and looked around cautiously.
“Let’s get out of here first.”
“Where the hell were you?!”
“Keep your voice down.”
“Oh, sorry. But you……, your face looks a bit…….”
Bibi looked down at me. His face, usually not like this, was pale as a mask.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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