That’s How They Became Villains

#39. Blackmail is a Villain’s Basic Skill -1-

Marchina was the casino master of the Golden Continue branch in Cheongang.

Marchina had a purpose.

To live long using the money earned through Golden Continue. Though it sounds like a figurative expression, it meant exactly what it said.

In this city, one could buy lifespan with money.

Even though the average human lifespan had decreased, this was the reason why the city’s power structure remained intact.

The poor die faster, while the wealthy live a life close to eternity.

Some might criticize this as a rotten world, but Marchina, who had been different from the start, didn’t see it that way.

Marchina’s parents had died struggling with poverty.

They didn’t just die; they sold their future lifespan, used that money for gambling, became penniless, and died.

However, Marchina did not blame God. Even after seeing her parents’ bodies, dried up like mummies after having all their lifespan extracted, she did not curse the world.

She was simply terrified of the death right before her eyes, and vowed that she would never die like that.

Marchina assessed the casino’s atmosphere while wiping her glasses.

Recently, there has been an increase in troublemakers from the outskirts causing disturbances.

‘Thuggish bastards.’

She couldn’t entrust the casino’s security to people like them. She needed to find a replacement.

But she was somewhat reluctant to entrust it to large corporations like Cheongang, as she disliked how they always tried to be the superior party and overcharged for their services.

Why hasn’t the detective agency I hired contacted me yet? This is why one shouldn’t hastily trust news reports.

“Haah…”

While pretending to clean the glass by breathing on it, Marchina naturally released her stress with a sigh.

Let’s think about something else. Yes, how about something related to money?

Marchina observed the appearance of today’s guests at Golden Continue.

Among the seemingly normal guests stood some thug-like figures.

The guards she had hired were blatantly ignoring their presence as if they didn’t exist, and guests who felt uncomfortable were gradually vacating their seats.

Cancel that. It was impossible to think about anything else.

Marchina placed the spotlessly cleaned glass on the display shelf and came out from behind the counter.

She thought having a cigarette might help clear her head.

“Aagh, damn it!! Why isn’t this paying out?!”

And then Marchina’s eyes caught an unusual scene.

At a row of slot machines, a man was paying an enormous amount of credits, and a woman next to him was encouraging his excessive spending.

Looking closely, one slot machine had already consumed credits worth 700 million.

Yet the slot machine’s payout rate, as if it were malfunctioning, continued to record negative numbers.

This seemed bizarre even to Marchina, who personally repaired the slot machines with her own hands during break times.

Is it…normal for it to not pay out this much?

Of course, at every casino, slot machines’ payout rates are calculated to be negative.

Game masters are not charity workers, so this was obviously necessary but this was really not paying out way too much.

Someone who didn’t know better might suspect the casino was rigging it.

That wasn’t the only strange thing. The woman encouraging excessive spending beside him wasn’t an amateur.

As if she had some grudge against the man, she was saying things that triggered his pride, creating a situation where he couldn’t give up.

As a result, the time it took for the man to lose 1.1 billion was just 5 minutes.

Eventually, the situation concluded with the man, unable to contain his anger, taking it out on the slot machine and being dragged away by the guards.

“What on earth…?”

Marchina, who had suddenly earned 1.1 billion, forgot why she had come out from behind the counter and just muttered blankly.

She thought that with a woman like that in the casino, she could make big money that would make protection fees seem trivial.

So Marchina immediately approached the woman and handed her business card.

“Hmm, you want to hire me as a manager for Golden Continue?”

“That’s right, ma’am.”

The casino master of Golden Continue, who introduced herself as Marchina, approached me and said.

“What makes you say that?”

“To be direct, I saw how you just…to use a somewhat harsh expression, ‘fleeced a man to his soul’ a little while ago.”

“Oh, and?”

“Do you know how much that gentleman spent on the slot machine in just 5 minutes before leaving?”

“How much?”

“1.1 billion.”

‘What?’

I was genuinely surprised and almost broke my poker face.

No way…Was this man under a lot of stress? I just teased him lightly from the side, and he burned 1.1 billion because of that?

“I’m making this offer because I see potential. If you work as a manager at our Golden Continue and occasionally lead such customer acquisition activities, I’ll give you up to 10% of the revenue as payment.”

“Wow, 10 percent?”

I pretended to be surprised, but it didn’t really impress me. I had no idea how much 10 percent actually was, and besides, I was no longer someone who could be tied down to one place.

Back home, there’s a love-starved scientist, a robot that hunts down rich people, a cooking shuttle, and a medic who heals well and has a good personality.

“Thank you for the offer, but I’ll have to decline.”

When I expressed my refusal, Marchina distorted her distinctively decadent eyes, grabbed my hand arbitrarily, and said:

“Why? Isn’t this an unbelievably good offer?”

“Why…? I just don’t want to do it?”

“What? In this city, money is power, strength, and life! You’re rejecting this offer for such a reason?”

“Hmm…”

That’s true, but.

Still, it was troublesome to cling to someone who said no like this.

I knocked her hand away and said with a bright smile:

“Then give me 80 percent.”

“What?”

“I’ll consider it if you give me 80 percent.”

“No…what are you…”

“Honestly, the revenue from customer acquisition activities is entirely due to me, right? And only 10 percent? I wouldn’t take it even if you offered three hours of work per day with room and board.”

“…”

Marchina couldn’t close her gaping mouth.

She seemed at a loss for words in the face of my flawlessly perfect logic.

[Your inner malice admires your audacity]

No, seriously, am I wrong?

The more I think about it, the angrier I get. Trying to make herself look good while offering just 10 percent of the revenue.

“…This one’s completely crazy.”

Marchina grimaced as if she had stepped in dung and went back to her work.

I didn’t bother to stop her or curse at her.

She was the casino master of Golden Continue here, and someone I would inevitably see again soon.

However, I decided to remember this incident.

Let’s get started

Okay!

Got it

While thinking about how much protection money to extort, Marchina, who had been hoping to make some good money after a long time, returned to the counter with a headache instead.

Upon returning to the counter, she remembered that she had actually left her seat to smoke but she neither enjoyed her break nor avoided getting a headache.

Marchina’s decadent eyes seemed to grow even gaunter.

“…”

But thinking about it again, Marchina had no reason to curse that woman so much. Regardless of her intentions, she had already made money for Marchina.

Normally, she should have been grateful.

‘Then give me 80 percent.’

However, when Marchina recalled that innocent face boldly demanding 80 percent, she grimaced once more.

It felt like she had been completely caught up in the woman’s pace. Was this how that man earlier felt before losing 1.1 billion in a fit of anger?

“Oppa, are there usually this many rough-looking people in casinos?” “No? This place is particularly low quality.”

Just then, Marchina heard a guest’s voice. It was a female guest with a dog-like face and brown hair braided in a single line. Next to her stood a man with thick muscles answering her question; they appeared to be siblings.

“See those guards standing over there?”

The man continued his explanation, pointing at people one by one.

“Even with armed people watching, they’re openly causing trouble and disturbing others. What do you think that means?”

“Aha! Those guards and the rough people are in cahoots!”

Ah, damn it. Who are you two now?

To Marchina’s eyes, their behavior looked like a kind of suicide.

Those trash from the outskirts were already quite violent in nature. They wouldn’t just stand by after hearing such words.

“What?”

Sure enough, the biggest thug in the group began approaching, dragging a club on the floor.

“Was that directed at us just now?”

The large thug put his arm around the man’s shoulders. The ominous atmosphere made the remaining guests start to leave, reading the situation.

“Stop!”

At this, Marchina, feeling a headache, shouted at the thug.

“Look, Goliath, this is really inconvenient. After extorting money last time, how soon are you back at it again?”

“Hmm? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

The large thug, Goliath, played dumb.

“What did we take from you?”

“Don’t play innocent. If you keep this up, I might stop hiring you guys and side with the Cheongang Group instead.”

“Oh my, how scary. I guess our Marchina really could do that.”

Goliath patted the man’s arm that he had his arm around.

“If you could have done that, you would have already. Don’t waste time and just hand over the money.”

“…How much do you want?”

“Let’s see, this time I think we need to take at least 50 percent?”

“That’s absurd!”

“Why is it absurd? You don’t pay taxes, right? Just think of 50 percent as paying taxes like other citizens, isn’t that right?”

“Wow, Marchina-ssi. You pay 50 percent in taxes?”

At that moment, someone entered the counter area.

Instantly, everyone’s attention at the counter focused in that direction.

There stood a beautiful woman with a lovely smile. It was the same woman who had rejected Marchina’s recruitment offer with ridiculous sophistry.

“Who’s this lady?”

Goliath turned his head slightly and asked.

To this, the smiling woman quickly scanned the counter to see if there were any civilians left.

“Why ask such a thing? You’re all going to die here anyway.”

She snapped her fingers.

At that, the man, Kim Seok-ho, who had been waiting quietly for the signal, grabbed Goliath’s wrist that was on his shoulder.

“Huh?”

And boom! Before Goliath could realize what was happening, he was slammed to the floor and lost consciousness.

“Boss!”

The thugs readied their weapons.

In response, nanomachines similar to Nazha’s began to surge around Seok-ho and Seolhwa, who had been disguised as guests until now.

The nanomachines formed a kind of makeshift suit, completely covering the siblings’ appearances. The once imposing thugs began to back away, intimidated by the dangerous-looking suits.

“Didn’t they ask for 50 percent earlier?”

The smiling woman, Chae Yu-ha, stepped forward as if to protect Marchina and said:

“Then we’ll take just 40 percent. It was 80 percent earlier, now half that. Wow, isn’t that cheap?”

“…What?”

A huge question mark appeared in Marchina’s mind upon hearing those words.