The current round of games finally came to a close, and with them, day two of the tournament. The various competitors got out of their seats, shook hands, and made their way out of the casino.

I myself took the chance to finally close my eyes and stretch. The ways people were cheating today was nothing short of sheer insanity. The counterfeit chips in a fake pocket was sensible enough, but the fake cameraman with a radio transmitter and the actual magic? It sent my brain into overdrive. I was a hawk, and didn’t let anyone on the floor out of my sight.

Of course, none of the cheaters I’d caught after that were anything like those two, and were in fact disappointingly boring. And they were only disappointing because I’d put in everything I had just to catch them. Small fry like them honestly weren’t worth it.

But when the competitors began to walk away, my eyes locked on the only cheater still here who was worth it.

Scout Mazzocco, a man dressed in what I could only describe as “too much”. Even my starched skinny jeans from yesterday were nothing compared to the high-waisted yellow zoot suit the man had on that looked like they were straight out of an old cartoon. Seriously, he looked like he was a walking banana or something, all that was missing from the getup was some green face paint.

I didn’t even notice it earlier because my attention was all on the fact that he was cheating at cards using actual magic, and I couldn’t blame myself for that.

My eyes focused on the out of place man as he, unlike the other competitors, made his way to the viewing stands. Just like all the other losers of this round of the tournament, his shoulders were slack and his face hung in a pout. His feet dragged him forwards in a slow shuffle that almost made me feel bad for catching him. Almost.

Three of the viewers made their way down and greeted him, the ones who were staring at him during the competition. The only reason I remembered who they were was because [Detect Cheating] didn’t find any dirt on them.

Their conversation started off with a series of pats on his back, trying to cheer him up. And then one of them looked at his hand and frowned. While Scout had partially cheered up, the reaction had made him shift to a defensive posture. He said something I couldn’t hear and the entire group broke out into a series of harsh whispers.

I only smiled to myself smugly and tapped my pocket. They were probably upset about him “losing” his magic bracelet.

[Skill Level Up! Situational Awareness 6 -> 7]

[Situational Awareness Perk Obtained! Lip Reading]

“Why the hell did you take it off in a public place? It’s pretty much jewelry, of course someone’s going to steal it!” shouted one of the viewers, his name was Artyom.

“I wasn’t about to get shit all over the battery! I don’t care if the holding material is also brown so nobody would notice, I’m not about that risk!”

“That- that isn’t even a risk,” said Lucius with a tired expression. “Why would you even think that?”

“Come on, Ash, back me up here,” pleaded Scout to the third member of the group.

“No way, man,” they shook their head. “Even I don’t take mine off when I’m in the field.”

“But this isn’t the field! It’s a poker tournament! We’re on vacation!”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“You’re an idiot sometimes, you know that?” asked Artyom. “Well our vacation is over now, so let’s just head back. And we’d better find that battery before we actually get going.”

Scout slumped and followed the others towards the exit.

I was curious now. Scout wasn’t acting alone, and these others also knew about magic, calling the bracelet a battery. On top of that, despite him cheating and the others having full knowledge of it, they were considered innocent by [Detect Cheating]. As in, completely innocent, they weren’t even cheating on their partner or anything! Finding a group like that was rare, and I slowly began to turn towards them to follow. But I only made it halfway towards the door before I was interrupted.

“Oh, Mike! There you are!” exclaimed a deep voice.

I turned around to see my current boss, Damian Goldshanks, approaching me with a woman on either side of him. He was dressed in a rich, white suit while the ladies wore red and blue pastel dresses each.

“Uh, hello, Mr. Goldshanks,” I said. “What can I do for you?”

“Come see me in my office.”

I froze, and the breath I took was stuck. I quickly nodded and followed the heavy-set man into the back. When we were finally behind closed doors and sitting on opposite facing couches, Goldshanks began to speak.

“Oh, don’t worry, Mr. Smith,” he said candidly. Him using my last name wasn’t exactly reassuring, however. “This is just the orientation I was going to give you yesterday morning. I have no complaints about the work you’ve done for me. Well, except for your tardiness, but you said it won’t be a problem going forward?”

I finally let the air out again in a sharp exhale. “I’m glad to hear it, sir. And yes, this won’t be a problem tomorrow. Sorry again.”

“The fault isn’t entirely yours.” My boss let out a short chuckle. “Bringing you on board was a whirlwind for everyone, especially with such little notice.” He settled down and leaned forward, his eyes bore into my soul. “But let’s get back to business.”

I slowly nodded.

“I’d like to formally introduce to you my daughters, Amira and Alina.”

The two women sitting either side of him gave me a cheerful wave.

I began to wave back, but stopped partway through. Wait, daughters? These two who were always on his shoulders? I thought they were his sugar babies or something, but that meant…

I took all of my willpower not to show any of my disgust.

His daughters looked confused at my sudden jerk, but Damian continued. “I made this casino as a place that would be safe for these two. A place that would keep everyone who worked inside its walls safe from the kind of world that lurks just outside. A world obsessed with sex, that expects you to be just as interested no matter how much you aren’t.”

Whatever nauseatingly lurid thoughts that were going through my head suddenly stopped. I leaned over and looked at my boss with confusion, then curiosity.

“I’ve never had any interest in it myself.” Mr. Goldshanks waved a lazy hand. “I never even got a girlfriend, or a boyfriend for that matter! And because of that, I was bullied mercilessly. And I don’t just mean through school, what a laugh that would be if some teenage punk made me the man I am today, but no. It continued into college, and even the workforce.”

“The test you gave me when I first came here…” My voice trailed off as I remembered how my boss offered me one of his daughters as an assistant. “It wasn’t just to see if I was a spy.”

“Well, it started out that way. But your speech at the end, how you poured your heart out about what you went through to find a job and your convictions; it moved me! I realized that you’re one of us! Many of the people who work for me were forced to have sex as part of their jobs, and they came to me because they wanted reprieve from ‘societal expectations’.”

He made a spitting motion, but nothing left his lips. He looked back at me, and there was now something dark.

“But even I’ve been known to make mistakes about people. If I have any reason to believe you’re trying to bring into my casino what I’ve worked so hard to keep out, I’ll make sure you never work in this city again.”

I nodded back hurriedly, trying not to wipe away the bead of sweat forming on my brow.

“But if you’ve got a good head on your shoulders, Mike, then it shouldn’t be a problem!” Goldshanks gave me a friendly grin, completely at odds with how he looked a second before. “Just use your common sense and treat others how you want to be treated.”

I nodded again, my eyes turned to the ground, exhausted from the sudden flux of fear to relief. But that wasn’t how I wanted to respond to Mr. Goldshanks, my boss. That wasn’t how I wanted to respond to a kindred soul. I steeled my confidence and looked up at him with one final nod. “That was always the plan, sir.”