“This is a challenge the king has set for the traitor.”
“The traitor enters a prison corridor. Five doors stand in a row before him, numbered one through five by the king. He has only one chance to live: he must go through all five doors, one after another, and come back out… Well, that is, if he can make it through them alive. If he survives all five, he can leave the prison unharmed.”
“The king tells the traitor that one of the five doors hides a man-eating lion. The traitor gets one chance to guess which door it is. If he guesses correctly, the lion will be taken away. In other words, the door that would have meant certain death will become safe.”
Hearts Girl took a slow sip of her drink, watching the listeners’ reactions.
This wasn’t the exciting part of the story. It was only the beginning.
As things stood, the traitor had a one-in-five chance of survival. All he had to do was guess which of the five doors held the lion.
Across from Silver-Masked Woman, the muscular man from Team Three asked anxiously, “Just tell us—does the traitor make it out alive?”
This guy was clearly the type of viewer who went hunting for spoilers the moment he started a show.
Chi Wei, on the other hand, was the type who’d already seen the ending and knew the answer.
But she wouldn’t spoil it. The other listeners would probably get annoyed.
But still—
She leaned over surreptitiously and rested her head on Silver-Masked Woman’s shoulder, whispering, “Want to know? I’ve heard the ending. I can tell you now.”
There might have been no expression at all beneath Silver-Masked Woman’s mask. She lifted a hand and pushed Chi Wei’s face away.
“If I get the chance, I’ll be the first to deal with you.” Her voice was icy, her threat unmistakable.
“Sure. Before I die, let me see what you look like, then?” Chi Wei’s eyes curved with a smile. “If I die in the arms of a beautiful woman, I’ll be happy to be a ghost—uh…”
A hand clamped around her throat and pinned her against the back of the sofa.
Silver-Masked Woman watched her face redden, then let go. “Shut up.”
Chi Wei rubbed her newly liberated throat and coughed a few times. She looked at the other woman with a smile, a glint of meaning in her eyes.
At the bar, Hearts Girl continued the story, answering the muscular man. “Why not hear what the king says first?”
“The king tells the traitor, ‘There’s no way you can know in advance which door the lion is behind.’ And in this game, the king never lies.”
“In other words, whatever the king says must be true. That’s one of the rules of the story’s game.”
“Here’s the interesting part: the traitor says he now knows which door the lion is behind.”
At that, Ink in Water furrowed her brow almost imperceptibly. Several other players wore complicated expressions, too.
The traitor had “no way” of knowing in advance which door held the lion?
Hearts Girl continued at an unhurried pace. “The traitor laughed. He’d seen through the king’s psychological trick. The answer to the prison corridor was simple: there wasn’t a lion behind any of the doors.”
“The traitor reasoned that since the king’s words were true, he could make the following assumption—”
“Suppose the lion is behind the fifth door. If he passes through the first four and finds no lion, he’ll know the lion is behind the fifth. But the king said he couldn’t know. So the lion can’t be behind the fifth door.”
“Once the fifth door is ruled out, only the first four remain.”
“But the same logic applies. If the traitor passes through doors one, two, and three without finding the lion, he can conclude that it’s behind the fourth. That would also contradict the king’s claim that he ‘can’t know in advance which door the lion is behind.’ So the lion can’t be behind the fourth door, either.”
Hearts Girl chuckled. “If you keep following that logic, the traitor decides there’s no lion behind the third door or the second, either. That leaves only the first door. And since the king’s words must be true, there can’t be a lion behind the first door, either.”
“The traitor’s conclusion was that none of the five doors held a lion. It was all a trick the king was playing on him.”
“So, full of confidence, he started walking through the doors one by one…”
Some of the players waited tensely for what came next.
It was impressive, to be fair, that the traitor could reason all this out in the middle of a life-or-death game.
It all sounded completely airtight.
Every step followed logically from the one before it.
“But when he walked through the third door, the lion inside killed him,” Hearts Girl said with a mocking smile. “The king’s final verdict was: ‘What an idiot.’”
The muscular man blurted out, “Why?”
Chi Wei raised a finger to her lips and gave a soft “Shh,” telling him not to ask.
Wasn’t asking why the same as agreeing with the traitor’s reasoning—and making himself “the idiot”?
The muscular man might not have been the sharpest, but he wasn’t stupid. A moment later, he caught on and fell silent.
Master Appraiser, the leader of Team Three, smiled kindly. “That was a good story. Quite interesting. Young lady, what else did you want to say?”
Anyone paying attention could tell Hearts Girl hadn’t launched into a story on a whim.
Ice cubes clinked against the side of her glass before she tipped it to her lips. Her voice grew a little muffled, but not unclear—just casual.
“I only wanted to remind everyone that pointless assumptions and speculation can trap you before the outcome is even decided.” She gave a sardonic smile. “If we’re going to cooperate, then let’s be straightforward with each other. Don’t get clever for your own good, or you might end up paying for it.”
Chi Wei, still looking like a casual listener absorbed in the story, began to applaud.
Clap, clap, clap.
“What a fun little story. I agree.” She smiled at Silver-Masked Woman.
A quiet laugh came from beside her.
Master Appraiser stood up. As Team Three’s leader, he spoke with grandfatherly warmth.
“Since when did it become a young lady’s job to lecture an old man like me? Heh… I suppose you still don’t trust us. Never mind. Time will tell. I’m sure we’ll all be able to lay our cards on the table in the end.”
The Blonde Woman walked up to Hearts Girl with an earnest expression. “I understand. Don’t worry. Our team has already agreed that we’ll choose ‘Cooperate’ next time.”
Of course, if anyone suggested that they not cooperate, she’d be the first on her team to object.
Chi Wei thought the Blonde Woman’s eyes were clear as a naive little rabbit’s.
There was no greed or guile in them. Chi Wei could see right through her. If it wasn’t an act, the woman had to have some serious luck on her side.
Right? Otherwise, how could a sweet, naive girl survive more than one game?
The three teams’ brief afternoon gathering came to an end, and the players went back to their own business aboard the cruise ship.
More than half the day was gone. The only thing left on the schedule was Team Three’s final trip to the Lottery Room to vote, at six that evening.
The first day had passed without much suspense.
The real scheming would come later.
Master Appraiser returned from the sea-fishing deck to his room by central elevator. He’d caught nothing, but fishing had never been his real concern.
He was thinking about the game when the elevator stopped at the second floor.
The players’ rooms were on the fifth floor. Silver-Masked Woman stepped inside but didn’t press a floor button.
Since they were on the same team, the atmosphere in the elevator felt much more relaxed.
“Heading back to your room, too?” Master Appraiser asked with a genial smile. “Where have you been?”
As team leader, it was only natural for him to build good relations with his teammates.
Silver-Masked Woman answered only one of his questions.
“I’m going where you’re going. Back to your room.”
Master Appraiser froze and eyed her warily.
Just as she’d said, Silver-Masked Woman followed him straight into his room.
……….
18:00
Team Three entered the Lottery Room.
18:05
The players from Teams One and Two waited outside without much concern.
As the first two teams to enter, they already knew the Lottery Room had a new set of rules inside.
Team Three would have to read and familiarize themselves with those rules, which would take time.
It was perfectly normal for them to be a few minutes late, so none of the players waiting outside looked particularly uneasy as they checked the time.
But another five minutes passed.
18:10
“Why haven’t they come out yet?”
Someone frowned at the still-closed Lottery Room doors and muttered the question.
If Team Three stayed inside too long, people would start getting suspicious.
Chi Wei leaned against the wall with her arms folded, lost in thought.
Time crawled by.
Each second stretched into an eternity in the corridor.
Someone pressed an ear to the Lottery Room door, hoping to hear something inside.
But there was nothing. They could only turn back with a frustrated sigh.
“Could they be discussing something in there?”
Everyone believed Team Three wouldn’t “betray” them now.
Still, holding a private discussion so openly was bound to draw scorn. It hardly encouraged unity.
Hearts Girl smoked and thought, Does Team Three have no brains?
Why couldn’t they meet in secret, when no one knew? Why make sure everyone knew they were having a private discussion and risk driving the other teams away?
All it did was make Teams One and Two trust Team Three less.
As far as the current situation went, it did more harm than good.
Hearts Girl paced a few steps down the corridor and tapped ash into the trash can. Then a thought struck her.
Could this be Team Three’s strategy, too?
Could the four of them have something else planned?
At the same time, Chi Wei abruptly straightened away from the wall.
Her gaze sharpened. A sudden, ominous premonition rose in her heart.
The next moment, she looked at Hearts Girl.
She saw suspicion and unease on the other woman’s face and became certain that Hearts Girl hadn’t chosen “Prediction” this round.
This is bad.
Chi Wei’s foreboding only grew stronger.
18:30
The Lottery Room doors opened, and Team Three emerged, each wearing a different expression.
Their faces looked like a paint palette someone had knocked over.
The Blonde Woman was furious. The muscular man’s eyes darted around guiltily. Master Appraiser looked composed, though he feigned helplessness. Only Silver-Masked Woman gave nothing away.
Chi Wei met her gaze. Their eyes were like two ancient wells, still and unfathomable.
Master Appraiser looked around at everyone and let out an apologetic sigh. “I’m sorry. We pressed the wrong button. It wasn’t on purpose, so I hope everyone can forgive us this time.”
