NOVEL WEB Chapter 6.2
I unconsciously sniffed the air.
It was Lee Ju-ha’s scent. The same smell I’d get if I buried my nose in her neck, now filling the apartment.
“You’re here?”
I looked over and saw her lying on the bed, scrolling through her phone.
She was wearing a loose white T-shirt and baggy shorts.
The T-shirt had stretched into a V-neck, revealing her cleavage clearly.
‘This is turning me on.’
Normally, I wouldn’t even entertain such thoughts and would just awkwardly sit down, but…
Of all days, after dreaming that dream, it was harder than ever to look away.
Damn it, get a grip!
“Ughhh.”
She sat up, her hair all messy, like she’d been lying down all day.
“I uploaded it right away, but it hasn’t finished yet. Just wait a bit.”
“You uploaded it… right away?”
“Yeah. It came out great.”
The fact that she uploaded it immediately only made me more anxious.
“Um… you did blured my face properly, right?”
“Of course, I did it properly. You think I’d let your face get out there?”
“But how’d you edit it? Did you learn how to edit?”
I asked casually, trying to probe.
Lee Ju-ha answered indifferently.
“No! I asked an older classmate to do it for me.”
What the hell!
My mouth dropped open, but Lee Ju-ha responded as if it were no big deal.
“Relax, it’s a trustworthy senior. That’s why I asked them. Do you think I’m crazy enough to share it recklessly?”
“Well… yeah, I guess…”
“It’s obviously a female senior, right?
If it’s a male senior, it’s game over for both of us.”
I nervously bit my nails while waiting for the upload.
Not being able to check it on my own phone made it even more frustrating. To check, I’d need to pay for it, so I had to rely on Lee Ju-ha’s phone.
“Ah, damn it.”
Just then, familiar sounds started coming from Lee Ju-ha’s phone.
Ding, ding.
The kind of chime you’d hear in online gambling games.
‘Unbelievable…’
Back in the day, she picked up some sketchy habits like ladder betting and odd-even gambling from a group of delinquent guys, and it seems she hasn’t entirely let go of them.
Now, she’s moved on to even riskier games like baccarat and poker. Honestly, I don’t get it—she’s probably losing a lot more than she’s winning. So why does she even bother?
“Ahhh, damn it!”
I flinched.
Startled by her irritated reaction, I shrank back and pressed myself into the corner.
Forget sex or anything like that. If I make a move, Lee Ju-ha will probably beat me like a dog.
“Ugh, I just lost fifty thousand won, damn it!”
Then don’t do it, you idiot…
I awkwardly averted my eyes, pretending to be engrossed in my phone.
“Hey. Do you know how to play Hold’em?”
“Hold… ’em?”
“What the hell is that, you nerd?”
I don’t know these terms only delinquents use!
“Oh, poker, I mean poker. Don’t you know Texas Hold’em?”
“I know poker.”
Poker…
Suddenly, unpleasant memories resurfaced.
The reason my family fell apart… Hwatu and poker.
Thinking back to my childhood made my mood drop instantly.
“Are you good at poker?”
Hmm… I’m probably better than you, right?
Considering Lee Ju-ha’s track record as an airhead, I doubt she could play better than me.
“I don’t know. Just a little?”
“How do you know it? Did you learn?”
I didn’t learn it formally.
I wasn’t interested in the first place.
It’s just something that was ingrained in me from being with my dad.
“Rather than learning, it’s more like…”
“Hey, you try this.”
Suddenly, Lee Ju-ha leaned right into me, handing me her phone.
I was momentarily flustered by how close she was, but I took the phone first.
[Texas Hold’em].
“…So this is the kind of thing delinquents do a lot.”
It looked a lot like the flashy pages those troublemakers in the back row of class were messing around with this morning.
Even if they win, there’s no guarantee they’ll actually get their money. So why even bother? Not that explaining it to them would make any difference—they wouldn’t understand anyway.
“I’ll put ten thousand won in for you. Give it a try.”
“…What happens if I lose?”
“Then you’ll just have to sell yourself a bit more. For ten thousand won.”
What the hell?
Ten thousand won through OnlyFans? Could I really earn that much that quickly?
Well, if I lose, I can just cover the ten thousand myself.
With a resigned sigh, I turned to the all-too-familiar, yet now sickeningly nostalgic, screen.
‘Start.’
It had been ages since I last played, and I hadn’t practiced at all, but my eyes instinctively started darting across the screen.
They even set up positions for the SB (small blind) and BB (big blind).
There were currently three participants. Conveniently, the balance amounts weren’t visible.
‘Call.’
Suddenly, my heart started pounding like crazy, and my hands began to shake.
Should I really be doing this? That uneasy thought clashed with another, more dangerous one: If I really tried, I could probably…
The mix of those two thoughts made me feel a bit dizzy for a moment.
‘Cards dealt.’
As soon as I hit the call button, I was in.
With my entry, there were now four players total.
Along with the sound of the cards being dealt, I received two cards immediately.
Spade 3, Club 7.
The worst hand possible.
A trash hand… starting with absolute garbage.
“Hey, fold! Just fold! It’s a trash hand!”
Fold—basically telling me to quit. It’s the same as forfeiting.
Normally, that’s the right move, but since it’s my first round, there’s no real need to do that just yet.
If the pot grows too large, I can fold then. For now, I should observe how the game plays out.
It’d be even better if I could figure out the tendencies of the other three players… but asking Lee Ju-ha about it would probably just make things more confusing, so I didn’t bother.
“I’ll handle it.”
“What do you mean, handle it? It’s a trash hand! What are you even gonna do with it?!”