The woman who grabbed Daniel’s hand introduced herself as Ref.
Without revealing anything else besides her name, and since Daniel wasn’t particularly curious either, he didn’t bother pressing for more details.
After exchanging names, the two headed towards a nearby sundry goods store. This was because when Daniel heard that Ref had been involved in a poker-type gamble, he suggested buying a deck of Trump Cards.
Caught off guard by Daniel’s suggestion, Ref ended up paying for two decks of Trump Cards before heading back to the front of the tavern.
“Hey…”
Ref looked up at Daniel, utterly clueless about what he was up to.
“Why’d you buy Trump Cards? And two of them, no less?”
“If I recall correctly, madam mentioned someone was cheating, right? In that case, we can’t expect to win using ordinary methods.”
With that, Daniel opened the Trump Card box, pulled out a few cards, and set them aside.
He then placed the remaining cards back into the box and handed it over to Ref.
“Please keep this. Consider it a token of good luck.”
As Ref took the cards with a puzzled look, Daniel slipped the cards he had set aside earlier into his sleeve.
While Ref was still confused about this, Daniel grabbed the doorknob of the tavern and pushed it open.
Inside, the tavern buzzed with lively chatter.
The faint smell of alcohol and various savory snacks wafted through the air, reaching Daniel’s nose as he stepped inside.
Ref followed closely behind, drawing the attention of the tavern patrons, who began eyeing the unfamiliar outsider warily—especially since he had entered alongside the woman who had just caused a ruckus and been kicked out.
Through his sunglasses, Daniel observed the crowd as the tavern owner approached him.
“What brings you here? Don’t tell me you’re some mercenary hired by that lady…”
“Just give me a glass of rum. Oh, if you have tequila, I’ll take that instead.”
Daniel’s calm order left the tavern owner momentarily speechless.
Seeing the tavern owner’s hesitation, Daniel flashed a friendly smile.
“Don’t worry. We’re not here to cause trouble. I just want to drink and maybe play a game of gambling.”
Hiring a pro, huh? Realizing this, the tavern owner called out to the crowd.
“Pramcol! This customer wants to play a round!”
At this, Pramcol, who had been lounging against the wall at a corner table while stacking chips, raised his head.
The lanky Pramcol glanced at Daniel, then smirked faintly.
“Suckers are always welcome. Come on over.”
With permission granted, Daniel approached and pulled out a chair to sit down.
The tavern owner followed suit, taking a seat at the table as well.
“To start with…”
The tavern owner explained.
“You might not know, but the gambling here is basically poker. There’s no betting limit. Got it? Nod if you understand.”
Daniel nodded, prompting the tavern owner to pull out a bulky pouch from his waist and slam it onto the table.
Peeking inside revealed a pile of old chips.
“Decide how much you want to bet. I’ll exchange it for chips.”
“Oh. The lady behind me will cover it.”
The suddenly pointed-to Ref twitched her shoulders.
While she had expected something like this might happen, actually being put on the spot made her somewhat irritated.
“…How much do you need?”
“Bet as much as you trust me.”
How am I supposed to trust someone I just met? Despite finding it absurd, Ref thought that since they’d come this far, she should see it through. She opened her wallet.
“Fine. All in.”
Pulling all the bills out of her leather wallet, Ref handed them to the tavern owner.
Though surprised by the sizable amount, the tavern owner quickly regained composure, rummaged through the pouch, and placed dozens of chips on Daniel’s side of the table.
“Here you go.”
With a nod, Daniel reached into his pocket.
“Oh, one favor—if you don’t mind?”
“What is it?”
Daniel pulled out the Trump Card box from his pocket and handed it to the tavern owner.
“The lady insists on a fair game. She seems suspicious of cheating. While I don’t believe it myself, just in case, could you replace the deck with these Trump Cards?”
Since there was no real reason to refuse, the tavern owner accepted the card box.
Opening it, he gave the cards a quick once-over before nodding.
“Looks like you bought them from the nearby store. Confirmed they’re not rigged, so let’s use these. Pramcol, any objections?”
In response, Pramcol shrugged playfully.
Seeing this, Daniel realized that the cheating Ref mentioned wasn’t related to tampered cards.
If the cards had been rigged beforehand, Pramcol would’ve tried to prevent their replacement.
‘Then what kind of trick is it?’
No rush needed. He’d figure it out as they went along.
“Let’s get started then.”
With that, the tavern owner dealt two cards each to Daniel and Pramcol.
After the initial betting, they moved through the flop and turn, finally reaching the river.
Once all five community cards were revealed, Daniel checked his hand.
‘Two Pair.’
Getting Two Pair in poker isn’t very common.
It meant it was a decent hand to bet on.
Just as Daniel was pondering this, Pramcol loudly declared without even trying to psyche him out.
“Raise.”
This meant Pramcol wanted to increase the stakes.
After a brief pause, Daniel called and revealed his hand.
Pramcol had ‘Three of a Kind.’
With only Two Pair, Daniel lost, and Pramcol grinned as he collected the chips.
“Thought you were some hotshot since that lady brought you. Guess I was wrong.”
Without responding, Daniel simply smiled faintly.
Over the next five consecutive rounds, Daniel didn’t win once.
Watching this, Ref started to grow anxious.
‘What the hell is he doing? You idiot…!’
While it wasn’t clear if he was recklessly spending someone else’s money, seeing Daniel call even when he only had One Pair made Ref feel increasingly uneasy.
On the other hand, Daniel remained perfectly calm.
Because he had figured out Pramcol’s trick.
‘Such amateur moves.’
Pramcol had won every single round by the narrowest of margins.
While cheaters messing with the cards were common, winning by such slim differences every time?
That indicated an accomplice among the spectators signaling Pramcol about Daniel’s cards.
‘The accomplice must be giving away my hand through signals.’
To avoid suspicion, Pramcol was deliberately staging close wins.
Now that Daniel understood how the opponent was cheating, all he had to do was turn it around to his advantage.
“Your skills are impressive.”
With this not-so-sincere compliment, Daniel started the sixth round against Pramcol.
As the dealer—the tavern owner—dealt the cards, Daniel proceeded with the poker game until they reached the final phase: the river.
The five cards in Daniel’s hand revealed a garbage hand: No Pair.
A normal player would’ve folded immediately.
But Daniel calmly pushed all his chips to the center.
“All-in.”
Not only Pramcol but also the onlookers were stunned and started murmuring.
Even Ref, watching from behind, was shocked.
‘You crazy bastard! What the hell are you doing?!’
Just as everyone thought Daniel was bluffing, Pramcol smirked.
‘Seems like he’s trying to bluff. Sorry, but I can see your entire hand.’
Thinking it would be a pity to let Daniel off easy after feeling sorry for him, Pramcol spoke.
“Call.”
Pramcol shoved most of his chips into the center.
At that moment, Daniel channeled mana into his central nervous system, accelerating his nerves.
In the slowed-down time, Daniel swiftly swapped his cards from his sleeve and returned to normal speed.
Since the whole thing happened in the blink of an eye, not even Pramcol suspected Daniel had switched his cards.
Unaware, Pramcol revealed his hand.
“Two Pair. What about you?”
Though already knowing, Pramcol asked out of courtesy.
Fully aware of Pramcol’s intentions, Daniel coolly revealed his own hand.
“Royal Straight Flush.”
The ultimate hand in poker left Pramcol’s eyes wide open.
‘What? When the hell…?!’
For Pramcol, who hadn’t seen Daniel’s hands move, it felt like being bewitched.
After staring blankly at the cards for a while, Pramcol looked up, beads of cold sweat rolling down his face.
Daniel was smiling as if he had planned this from the start.
“Why? Is this your first time seeing a Royal Straight Flush?”
Infuriated by Daniel’s sarcasm, Pramcol gritted his teeth.
“You bastard! Where the hell did you cheat?!”
“Cheat? Where’s the evidence I cheated?”
“Don’t play dumb! You definitely…!”
In his excitement, Pramcol hesitated mid-sentence, realizing the danger.
He noticed the hostile gazes of the onlookers fixed on him.
If he exposed Daniel’s original hand here, it would be tantamount to admitting he had been cheating all along.
Amidst the heavy silence, Daniel picked up the tequila glass the owner had provided and took a sip.
His gaze never left Pramcol, even as he drank.
‘If you’ve been cheating others here like you did me today, right? Am I wrong, Pramcol?’
Just as Daniel had guessed, quite a few people in the tavern had lost money to Pramcol.
Lately, Pramcol’s reputation within the tavern had plummeted to nearly trash level.
Even now, though some onlookers belatedly realized Daniel had swapped his cards, they stayed silent.
They were hoping Pramcol would lose that much.
In such a tense atmosphere, exposing Daniel’s original hand would mean admitting to cheating—and possibly getting beaten to death.
Realizing his self-inflicted predicament, Pramcol’s pupils trembled.
“Oh dear, Pramcol.”
Daniel looked at Pramcol with a concerned expression.
“If I were you, I’d accept the result quietly. Otherwise…”
Leaning forward with his elbows on the table, Daniel continued softly.
“You’ll end up half-dead today.”
Chilled by those words, Pramcol had no choice but to nod.
*
Meanwhile, as Daniel was having fun at the gambling table, Lucy was busy handling duties at the General Staff Headquarters.
Finally finishing all her work after a long overtime session, Lucy gathered the documents.
“Colonel, it’s time to go home…”
Her sentence trailed off as she reflexively glanced at the desk where Daniel usually sat.
Daniel wasn’t there.
Because he had been dispatched as a diplomatic envoy to Belanos.
“…”
Without Daniel’s usual trivial comments at quitting time, Lucy felt an odd emptiness.
She blinked silently, shook her head, and stood up.
There was no point dwelling on sentimentality when he’d be back soon anyway.
As she picked up her briefcase and prepared to leave the office, Lucy paused.
Footsteps were coming down the corridor.
Wondering who it was, Lucy watched as the door opened and Colonel Ernst entered.
“Head of the Operations Staff.”
Lucy saluted, which Ernst weakly returned.
Sensing an unusual low mood from him, Lucy lowered her hand curiously.
“Director, is something the matter?”
At Lucy’s question, Ernst clenched his teeth and nodded.
Taking a deep breath, Ernst looked at Lucy.
“Lucy Lieutenant. I’ll say this only once, so listen carefully. Your superior officer, Colonel Daniel Steiner, was aboard the diplomatic vessel that…”
Unable to meet Lucy’s eyes, Ernst glanced downward.
“…was sunk by a terrorist attack.”
“Sunk.”
The weight of that word froze Lucy’s thoughts.
Staring blankly for a while as if unable to comprehend, Lucy finally questioned.
“Is this… confirmed fact?”
Operation Staff Director Ernst wouldn’t lie about something like this.
Lucy’s rational mind knew this premise well.
Yet she still asked, as if trying to deny reality through a defense mechanism.
Ernst nodded again, exhaling shakily, causing Lucy’s lips to part slightly.
Heavy silence enveloped the room as Lucy chose her words carefully before bowing her head to Ernst.
“I’ll be heading home now.”
Completely understanding her state of mind, Ernst didn’t stop her.
Thanks to this, Lucy left the office, clicking her heels down the corridor.
Various memories swirled chaotically in her mind, merging and scattering in fleeting moments.
With each passing thought, Lucy’s breathing grew increasingly shaky.
‘Why…’
Why was Daniel Steiner’s ship attacked?
Why didn’t I know about it?
Why did I find out about this only now?
Throwing unanswered questions into her heart, Lucy descended the stairs.
‘I have to ask…’
She intended to contact an intelligence operative within the organization to uncover the full story of the incident.
Lost in these thoughts, Lucy misstepped on the staircase.
Her ankle tilted sideways, causing her body to wobble.
Quickly grabbing the railing, Lucy managed to steady herself in a crouched position.
Though she avoided falling, her breathing became more labored than before.
Her haste had made her commit a mistake she’d normally never make.
Half-closing her eyes and panting heavily, Lucy slowly closed them.
A memory of Daniel surfaced amidst her chaotic mind.
– “If you have time for Christmas, you can join me. If you want, that is.”
Daniel’s playful face offering to share stollen came vividly to mind.
But Lucy knew.
With Daniel gone, there would never be a Christmas where they shared stollen together.
Unconsciously biting her lower lip hard, Lucy slowly opened her eyes.
The moisture in her red eyes carried emotions closer to anger than sadness.
She had a pretty good idea who ordered the sinking of the diplomatic vessel.
‘If it was truly the United Nations who attacked the diplomatic vessel carrying Daniel…’
She could no longer trust Count Kaledra.
