Suho couldn't set his mind at ease, so he assigned not only Minsu but also Minji to Jiho.
He had never been to one himself, but he had a feeling that a gambling den would be a brutal place,
and besides, Suho himself had over twenty more androids in his subspace storage,
and on top of that, he had Joshua, so he could afford to spare the androids.
After Suho left, Jiho stared blankly at the piles of money.
It felt impossible to tell whether this was a dream or reality.
The stacks of 50,000-won bills piled up with barely room to step in the room were such a surreal sight that any thoughts of gambling completely evaporated.
Only after a long while did Jiho think to move, and after worrying about how to move all that money, he ordered a large number of carriers online in various sizes.
And receiving the carriers delivered that same day, he plunged into the task in earnest.
Rip—thud.
Removing the wrapping from the blocks of money on the pallets was work in itself.
They were sealed so meticulously and tightly.
"Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two... thirty-nine, forty. Okay. The small ones fit 1 billion, the medium ones 2 billion, the biggest ones 4 billion each."
By carrier size,
Jiho filled them with money in units of 1 billion, 2 billion, and 4 billion won.
The work of stacking bundles of crisp new bills was so enjoyable in itself that he focused on it without realizing how much time had passed.
After filling the carriers with so many bill bundles that he couldn't set up any more, he decided to pay off his debts first.
Tens of billions to Suji, and tens of billions to his so-called friends as well. Of course, he hadn't forgotten the hefty interest on top of that, and since it was cash, everyone who received it beamed with joy.
And the last place he visited was the loan sharks'.
It was where he had left his two androids, deactivated as collateral.
In the smoke-filled room, one fat man with a beard and four muscular men covered in tattoos were playing cards.
Betting money was piled messily here and there on the poker table, and Jiho's two androids had lost all light and stood in the corner like mannequins.
Seeing Jiho, the fat man with a cigarette in his mouth welcomed him with a gleeful expression.
"Well... who do we have here. If it isn't our big shot, Jeong Jiho. Need more money? What are those things you brought?"
"No, I've come to pay my debt."
"Oh! Your debt? 2 billion won already? I told you there was no rush, so why are you in such a hurry to pay?"
"I'll pay it back right now."
When Jiho held out the carrier, President Park, a middle-aged man with a thick beard, gestured.
At that, the tattooed thugs beside him opened the carrier Jiho offered and counted the money.
"That's right. 2 billion won."
"We're good now, right? Please write me a repayment receipt."
Then President Park, who had been wearing a vicious smirk, stroked his beard and said.
"Hmm, now that I look at it... you're short."
"What? That can't be."
"Of course it can. How many weeks has it been today...? The interest rate is probably going up a lot starting today. Right? Isn't that right?"
At that, the tattooed thugs immediately played along.
"Yes, that's right, President Park."
"I'm getting old, so my memory is fuzzy, but these brats are still young and remember well. Starting today, it's probably 2.5 billion won, probably?"
Utterly nonsensical strong-arming.
In fact, what Jiho had originally borrowed from President Park was 1 billion won.
That sum had ballooned to twice its size in just a few weeks through nonsensical usury,
and Jiho had brought about 2.2 billion won just in case they tried to pull something when he came to pay his debt, rather than just 2 billion.
Yet despite cleanly acknowledging that the 2 billion was correct and counting it, President Park's shamelessness in now demanding even more made Jiho grit his teeth.
"Don't speak nonsense. I've clearly paid it all back."
"Tsk, debtors always turn out to be so shameless. Hey, our valued customer doesn't seem convinced."
"Yes, boss. Damn... this punk whose hair isn't even dry yet, talking back to his elders like that..."
One of the tattooed thugs tried to grab Jiho by the collar, but was easily subdued by Suho's android, Minji.
The man glared at Minji with raised eyebrows and growled.
"Let go, I said let go. I'm far from a gentleman who goes easy on someone just because they're a woman."
"Hostile approach by an unregistered individual detected. Warning: retreat beyond a 5-meter radius of Jeong Jiho."
"Shit, it's an android! What are you doing!"
"Yes, boss! Kyaak—ptui."
The thugs picked up tools the moment they confirmed Minji was an android.
The man tried to pull his arm free, but Minji didn't budge an inch.
"Waste her!"
The tattooed men charged in with steel pipes and such, but the security androids knew neither fear, hesitation, nor mercy.
"Entering suppression protocol in accordance with security principles."
Crack—at the same time as an unnatural sound came from the muscular man's arm that Minji was holding,
"Argh! My arm! This crazy robot bitch!"
Swoosh—smack—
Whirl—thud-thud!
The dazzling movements of Minsu and Minji began.
It was instantaneous. The high-end security androids Minsu and Minji completely subdued the four charging thugs in mere seconds.
Three groveled on the floor. The remaining one had completely lost consciousness and lay limp.
President Park pressed a bell somewhere with a tense face and shouted.
"Everyone! Get up to the second floor!"
The sound of people rushing up the stairs was heard.
Jiho's face turned pale at the rapidly changing situation.
"Crisis detection protocol executing. Forcibly rebooting deactivated units 241B-01 and 02."
Perhaps because they were from the same manufacturer, the mutual complementary function between androids activated, and Minsu woke up Jiho's two deactivated androids.
Wheeeee—
Jiho's forces suddenly increased to four.
"Which bastards are these!"
"Uaaaaah!"
Gangsters who ran up from downstairs charged into President Park's office room wielding tools, but
Smack—thud-thud!
Swoooosh—whirl smack!
Pow—pow—crunch!
The thugs, beaten to the brink of death by the four androids, slumped like corpses and piled up on one side of the office.
"Fuck! This bastard!"
President Park pulled a gun from his drawer and aimed it at the androids, but
Bam—
he couldn't even fire the gun.
Instead, accompanied by a crisp sound, Minsu's foot embedded itself in the man's face.
A very clean and concise spinning kick.
With teeth shattering and falling out, President Park fell backward and lost consciousness.
Then Minji lightly caught him from behind so that the back of his head wouldn't hit the floor, and laid him down.
Afterward, the four androids pulled special material cable ties from small packs at their waists and bound everyone tightly.
They tied them so they couldn't move an inch, laid them down in order,
and placed a holographic notice spinning in the center that read: *These are criminals being arrested. Do not touch. Police are on their way.*
Minji stood up and said.
"Report to the Western Police Station and upload of incident footage completed. Let us go."
Weeeeee....
The autonomous vehicle Minsu had called remotely for Jiho had already arrived in front of the building.
* * *
Paying back the money took an instant.
Jiho's debts were cleanly resolved in a single day.
Having paid off all his debts, Jiho started going to the casino again.
Now accompanied by four androids following him, he put bundles of money into large carriers.
He stuffed them full, had the androids pull four large carriers that fit up to 4 billion won each, and with a total of 16 billion won in cash prepared like that, Jiho left for the casino.
Since it was a gambling table structured so that he would inevitably lose, Jiho of course lost big once again.
But something was different. The feeling was different.
When he lost, there was no anxiety, impatience, or tension, and even when he occasionally won, there was no ecstasy or excitement.
*Why is it like this...*
Jiho vaguely thought that perhaps it was because his mind had been shocked and intimidated by the incident with the loan sharks.
In just a few days, he blew through all 16 billion won,
and prepared another 16 billion won to hover around the gambling tables.
There were still piles of money in the room that he hadn't even managed to unwrap, so he felt incredibly secure.
Moreover, Suho-hyung stopped by once in those few days and, saying he had spent a lot of money, gave him two more pallets of cash, adding another 50 billion won.
The piled-up money grew even more than before. It had reached the point where he couldn't walk around the room without stepping on money.
He lost all the money at the second casino too,
packed up money for the third and left, enjoying himself until the money ran out.
What remained in the room now was 97 billion won.
Three consecutive casino expeditions.
There were times he lost and times he won, but in terms of feeling no excitement, they were the same.
Jiho was packing money for the fourth trip into carriers when he threw down a bundle of bills and lay sprawled on the bed.
"Hoo... it's not fun."
At some point, money no longer looked like money to him.
Honestly, the smell of the bills filling the room was enough to give him a headache.
"At first, it smelled so good..."
Winning was meaningless, losing was meaningless,
a strange state where even having money left nothing to spend it on.
Jiho was not yet used to this emptiness.
Wrapped in that unfamiliar sensation, Jiho lay there with no intention of getting up.
* * *
"He did not go out to the casino today."
Suho raised his eyebrows after receiving the report from Minsu later.
"Already?"
"Yes. He was organizing money to use for gambling, threw it aside, and has not moved since."
"Hmm... how much did he spend?"
"Excluding the debt repayment, the money lost at the casino is currently approximately 48 billion won."
"Only that much...? He hasn't spent much. But he's already tired of it?"
"His exact psychological state has not been determined."
"Okay... I understand. Good work."
Suho fell into thought.
Of course, it was a welcome thing that Jiho had lost interest in gambling.
If making gambling seem boring and dropping his interest came first, then afterward, his life could be normalized through more in-depth treatment.
Continuous treatment and support would be needed for a while to resolve psychological and behavioral issues, but the collapse of a gambling addict's psychological reward structure was certainly the watershed moment that opened the door to recovery.
But Suho couldn't shake a somewhat chilly feeling.
Human desire was not infinite.
Cheonyangwon had won.
* * *
"The clan leader has been convening meetings often these days."
"Indeed."
The executives of the Sanarae Clan gathered in an instant.
The executive team, consisting of five members excluding Lee Danbi, were key figures in the clan's operations and held many roles, but they were also raid leaders each commanding their own raid teams.
Thus, the executive team was composed entirely of A+ rank Admittees.
In the meeting where everyone had gathered, pointing at the face of one person displayed on the presentation screen, Clan Leader Lee Danbi opened her mouth seriously.
"Starting today, I'm giving you a new mission."
"Who is he? That guy?"
"He looks young?"
"An assassination target?"
"Haha! You've watched too many movies. What do you think we are, the mafia!"
"His name is... Jeong Suho? Do you know him?"
Lee Danbi's explanation continued amidst the raid leaders murmuring and looking at each other.
"You've all heard about the newly awakened S-rank Admittee."
"Ah, I know."
"So that's him. He's younger than I thought."
"Rumors are rampant, but officially it's still closed..."
"Right. Based on our intel, this man named Jeong Suho is that person."
"Oho."
"Hmm, he's handsome."
There were even female raid leaders smiling brightly and showing favorable impressions.
Lee Danbi's explanation continued.
"The important thing is that this man is not unrelated to the potion incident that keeps happening at the On Tower Auction House."
"What?"
"Uh, how?"
"What's the basis? Are you sure?"
Only then did the clan executives show deep interest.
Lee Danbi shook her head.
"It's not certain. Nothing is certain. It's just a hunch. But... the birth of a new S-rank Admittee shrouded in mystery and the auction house incidents, these two enormous changes coincide exactly. I believe the axis of this change is unthinkable without him."
"Hmm... the clan leader's intuition..."
"Unnie's instincts are usually pretty spot on."
"So you're planning to do something based on that hunch?"
Raid leaders showing interest with arms crossed.
Lee Danbi looked around at each one, made eye contact, and nodded before opening her mouth.
"I think our clan has to recruit this person by any means. It may not be widely known to the public, but we all know well—the situation in the Tower is not easy. Ever higher towers are appearing, and supplies for upgrades are lacking. Competition is fierce because of that, and the safety of the Admittees climbing is increasingly precarious."
It was something everyone knew. Therefore, no one could refute Lee Danbi's words.
"Even with money, it's not easy to acquire all the supplies and materials we need to grow stronger and be properly equipped. But this person... I don't know how, but he's someone who makes that possible. That is why. That's the reason we must have him."
Then one person raised a hand and asked.
"I agree with that. But how do we recruit him? He seems like a big shot who won't be moved by a small sum of money, doesn't he?"
"Right, he probably won't be swayed even by an enormous salary, let alone a small amount. So I'm going to try a different approach."
"A different approach?"
"Yes, so here's my plan. Starting today, any team that isn't raiding the Tower will stick to this person and his family, one team each."
"Hmm..."
"Of course, it's the off-duty teams moving. You'll receive extra pay. Double."
"Oho..."
"How long will we do that?"
"I don't know, just keep doing it. Until... an opportunity arises? Anyway, you're protecting them. It's nothing difficult. Just stick close discreetly."
Thus began the close-range protection of Suho's family by high-rank Admittees of the nation's top clan.