The masked gentleman eventually spread the cards out like a fan and held them out in front of her.

It was as if he was silently asking her to pick one.

When Seo Ye-in pointed to a card as instructed, it floated up into the air.

[J of Hearts]

Next to it, another card rose, showing only its back.

“—? —?”

The masked gentleman pointed at the two cards, gesturing up and down with his fingers.

It seemed like he was asking, “Will this card be higher or lower than the J of Hearts?”

Based purely on probability, it should be “lower”.

If A is 1 and K is 13, then J is 11.

But without a moment of hesitation, Seo Ye-in gave her answer.

“Higher.”

As soon as she spoke, the facedown card spun around, revealing a Queen of Spades.

It was higher than the Jack, so her answer was correct.

The masked gentleman slapped his forehead with a dramatic smack! Meanwhile, the masked clown silently pointed at him and mockingly laughed.

However, it seemed the mini-game wasn’t over yet.

The masked gentleman shuffled the cards again with a flourish before spreading them out in a wide fan.

When Seo Ye-in picked another card, it floated into the air, showing its back, and four symbols appeared before it:

Heart, Club, Spade, Diamond.

This time, the goal was to guess the suit of the card.

Though the odds were much lower in this four-choice scenario, Seo Ye-in once again gave her answer immediately.@@@@

“Club.”

The card spun around, revealing a Seven of Clubs.

Having secured her second win in a row in the blink of an eye, the masked gentleman grabbed his head and swayed in despair.

On the other hand, the clown who was now even more delighted silently shook with laughter.

Before long, the masked gentleman placed the recently chosen Seven of Clubs in midair and began shuffling the cards for the third round.

Shuffle-shuffle—

The masked gentleman’s flashy hand movements revealed his determination not to lose this time.

When he spread the cards out into a fan, Seo Ye-in pointed to one, and it floated into the air, showing its back as it rose next to the Seven of Clubs. R??N?ВΕS?

Besides the card, four suit symbols and an up-and-down arrow appeared at the same time.

This time, she had to guess both the suit and whether the card was higher or lower than the Seven of Clubs.

That’s just unfair.

Even if it was a mini-game, there were rules about maintaining some semblance of fairness.

It seemed the masked gentleman was truly desperate not to lose.

Of course, by that logic, Seo Ye-in herself could be considered shamelessly lucky.

At this point, one would expect her to hesitate or deliberate a little, but instead, she simply glanced at the card and declared,

“Diamond.”

“~?”

The masked gentleman leaned forward and cupped his hand to his ear, clearly signaling that he wanted to hear the rest of her answer.

Seo Ye-in answered curtly.

“Equal.”

“......!”

The card that appeared next was the Seven of Diamonds.

If she had answered higher or lower, she would have been wrong.

She actually got that right.

To pick both the correct suit and the exact number out of thirteen options; it was nothing short of incredible.

There was no doubt about it: Seo Ye-in’s victory was absolute.

The masked gentleman, seemingly resigned to the outcome, slumped his shoulders in defeat.

Meanwhile, the clown clapped his hands enthusiastically before stepping forward with a sly grin.

Now it was the clown’s turn to host a mini-game.

The masked clown rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a toy crocodile head.

Its mouth was wide open, revealing eight unevenly spaced teeth.

The crocodile tooth game.

Also known as “Crocodile Roulette”. The game required participants to take turns pressing the teeth.

However, one of the eight teeth was a trap. Pressing it would cause the crocodile’s jaws to snap shut with a clamp!

The unlucky player whose hand got caught would lose the game.

“~~!”

The clown extended the crocodile head toward Seo Ye-in with a polite gesture.

Just as she had done during the game with the gentleman, Seo Ye-in pressed down firmly on one of the teeth without a moment’s hesitation.

Click.

A small sound echoed, but the crocodile’s mouth remained open.

Seo Ye-in took off her Fluffy Cloud Bracelet and handed it to me.

The Fluffy Cloud Bracelet and the Storm Cloud Bracelet were a pair.

I was confident that if we put them in the Surprise Magic Box, it would return them to us in some form as a set.

Although proceeding as-is seemed like a good plan,

“Let’s check out the shop first.”

“Let’s do that...”

The Long Ears Magic Item Shop was just a few steps away.

There was no harm in delaying the box opening until we looked around.

Who knew? We might find something useful in there.

When we entered the shop, the familiar-looking shopkeeper greeted us.

She had a kind face and her ears weren’t pointed at all.

Even though we were now in the Gray Kim Ho and Gold Sloth state, she recognized us at a glance.

“It’s been a while. Welcome!”

“Hello.”

“Looking for anything in particular?”

“Today, we’d like to see some A-rank items.”

Shops typically didn’t expect much from first-year students.

After all, how much could a first-year afford to buy, even if they did manage to scrape together some money?

However, we’d already proven our buying power during our first trip to the downtown area by using two B-rank exchange coupons.

Because of that, the shopkeeper casually guided us to the A-rank section.

Compared to other parts of the shop, the A-rank display area was noticeably smaller.

The immense value of each A-rank item explained why even a magic item shop located in the downtown area of Dungeon Island couldn’t afford to stock them in abundance.

Because of that, it didn’t seem like it would take long to browse through everything.

I started by quickly scanning the skill books and trait scrolls.

There’s nothing for penalty reduction.

Clicking my tongue in slight disappointment, I moved on to check if there were any materials compatible with the Crow Branch.

Unfortunately, it was another dead end.

I had a feeling there wouldn’t be anything.

After all, it wasn’t exactly common to find items compatible with spatial materials.

Since I hadn’t expected much to begin with, I wasn’t too disappointed.

This was something that would take time, and I had no choice but to be patient.

With that thought in mind, I was about to turn away when one particular item caught my eye.

It was a transparent glass bottle filled with a shimmering, translucent liquid.

[Fairy Queen’s Delight (A)]

...If it’s this.

Although it wasn’t directly related to my original goal, it was a fantastic item to use for an impromptu surprise reveal.

I didn’t hesitate for long before making my decision.

“I’ll take this.”

***

Despite being a consumable item, Fairy Queen’s Delight carried a hefty price tag, as befitting its A-rank status.

Of course, with the promise Ahn Jeong-mi had made to me, I was more than willing to pay that amount.

Seo Ye-in and I left the downtown area and moved to a quiet resting spot.

It was the same place where we had obtained the Fluffy Cloud and Storm Cloud Bracelets.

Sitting side by side, we opened the brilliant surprise magic box and placed the two bracelets inside.

Then I poured every last drop of the Fairy Queen’s Delight into the box, leaving none behind.

If I had placed the entire glass bottle inside, it might have been classified as a “potion”, which would potentially change the surprise box’s result.

But if it’s already used, that’s a different story.

With these three items now in the box, my first goal was to obtain a “bracelet set”.

The second goal was tied to the effect of the Fairy Queen’s Delight.

The potion I had poured in instantly seeped into the two bracelets, and from them, a fresh, vibrant energy began to radiate.

Its powerful enchantment effect would greatly enhance the value of the bracelets.

They would likely become at least A+ rank, which meant I could expect even better results.

After closing the lid, I handed the surprise box over to Seo Ye-in and asked,

“Lucky Charm-nim, are you ready?”

“I’m ready.”

“Feeling good about this?”

“Very Lucky!”

“Excellent. Let’s see what we’ve got, shall we?”

Seo Ye-in pulled the box closer, slowly lifted the lid, and then—

Boooom!

A loud explosion echoed as clouds completely engulfed our view.