[player]You actually said something out loud! Noah takes a quick look at me before hastily covering her mouth with her hand. It looks like she realized she had spoken out loud. She lowers her head and taps the screen of her mobile phone, acting like she is refusing to communicate with me. [Noah](Text message) I just can't be bothered talking to people I'm not familiar with. It's not a big deal. [player](Text message) But we're acquaintances now. It's time to start communicating verbally. [Noah](Text message) I refuse. [Noah](Text message) Everyone other than Strix members is a stranger to me. I won't talk to you unless you have what it takes to become a member of Strix. I let out a sigh. My ability to get on well with others doesn't seem to work with her. Why is that? [Noah](Text message) I think you should deal with the immediate crisis first. [player](Text message) ? [Noah](Text message) A background check has been completed in advance on all the buyers who are eligible for the auction. [player](Text message) Seriously? Is it impossible to have a little privacy on the Internet? [Noah](Text message) Based on what I know, judging from how frequently you receive sales calls from various agencies recently, you don't have much privacy in real life either. [player](Text message) Can't you be nice and avoid mentioning things that hurt? [Noah](Text message) Let's get back to the matter at hand. (I wonder why it's so easy to start talking about other things when I'm talking to you. I hope you'll reflect on this.) [player](Text message) Okay, continue. (You can't clap with one hand. We should both reflect on this.) [Noah](Text message) I'm pretty sure that they investigated your living habits when they did the background check. How you're spending a fortune today for an afternoon tea isn't at all consistent with everyone's perception of you. [Noah](Text message) For example, when you pull for characters in a game, you wouldn't spend a lot of money on a character that can only be used for two hours, right? [player](Text message) You make a lot of sense. I'm starting to get worried. [Narration]I wait for a long time for the person who notified me to complete the next part of the transaction, but no one shows up. When I look up, I happen to see two staff members behind a nearby pillar looking in our direction, who seem to be discussing something. [player](Text message) What should I do now? [Noah](Text message) Countless Springs is a legal business. In the worst-case scenario, they will take away your right to complete the transaction. They won't harm you. [player](Text message) That's good news. [Noah](Text message) At most, the boss will just exact revenge on you. [player](Text message) ...May there be no Kutsuji in heaven. The two staff members seem to have finished their discussion and start to walk towards us. I close the text messaging screen of my conversation with Noah and act as calm, composed, and relaxed as possible. [Staff A]Buyer No.17, please follow us to the back to complete the next part of the transaction. [Staff B]The lady with you will need to wait here. [player]Can't we go together? [Staff A]Sorry, according to our rules, you, the buyer, must complete the next part of the transaction alone. Noah pats my shoulder and nods at me. According to my understanding, she is telling me to relax and go, but this situation is like trying to complete a task alone in an escape room game. Even if all your team members are cheering for you and saying things like "good luck" or "you can do it" to you, it doesn't mean you won't worry about those NPCs who are hiding and can rush out to scare you at any time. I follow the staff through a corridor that isn't too long and see something familiar in the middle of a room--a mahjong table, which surprises me. Will I be paying in the mahjong room? [Staff A]According to the rules, you'll need to play a game of three-player mahjong with us first. [player]Although I know this is One Han City, isn't this rule a little too formulaic? It almost sounds like it's necessary to verify everything with a game of mahjong before doing anything in One Han City. [Staff B]You don't need to worry. It's just one game of three-player mahjong, so it won't take long. However, you'll need to wear a device. [player]A device? I watch as they walk over with some metal patches connected to a huge instrument behind them and quickly attach them to my carotid artery, temples, etc., without giving me a chance to say no. I can feel micro-currents from the thing they attached to me and play a game of three-player mahjong at the same time. Although I sit down at the mahjong table and prepare to play a game as they requested, there's a huge question mark in my head. As it's necessary to adjust the mode of automatic mahjong machines to play three-player mahjong in One Han City, most dojos find this troublesome and refuse to let players play three-player mahjong. However, according to a manager of a dojo who is unwilling to disclose her age and name, the main reason is that dojos make less money per table when people play three-player mahjong than four-player mahjong, which makes sense as there is one less person paying per table. For this reason, I don't have much experience with playing three-player mahjong in person. But I can only bite the bullet now that things have come to this. [player]Hmm... I almost knocked a tile over. It's so inconvenient playing mahjong while wearing these things... A wire hanging around my wrist makes me almost knock over a tile at the beginning of the game. However, the two staff members facing me just smile reassuringly at me with a look of understanding on their faces without expressing any intention to take off the things restraining me. Since there's nothing I can do about it, I try to keep my movements small and controlled to lower the chance of making a mistake in a physical sense. Three-player mahjong is special not just because it has special rules such as reduced tiles and the Kita rule. Compared with four-player mahjong, it is more of a winner-take-all game, so the two are quite different in terms of making offense and defense related decisions. As only a few Yaku need 1 Man and 9 Man tiles, these two Terminals tiles are less important than usual. I hope I won't see many of these two tiles in my hand. Worrying about something really does seem to make it more likely to happen. Fortunately, I drew a pair of 1 Man that can be used as a Janto. Based on my current hand, although my Pin tiles form a Closed Wait, my Sou tiles have already formed a Mentsu. In addition, as I have 1 West Wind in my hand which is my seat wind, and having 1 North Wind also guarantees that I can score 1 Han of points, my hand is decent. If I can get another West Wind tile to form a pair, I will be able to finish the game quickly. [Staff A]West. [Staff B]Same. [player]H-Haha... Like a game of mahjong, life has its ups and downs. My wishful thinking didn't work out. Sighing secretly in my heart, I can only hope the first tile I draw is good. However, I draw a 9 Man, which means I started this game with basically two useless tiles. What a depressing start. Should I play Kita and wait for another chance?
