IC C3

Chapter 3

1. Sovereign Casino

It had already been four months since Kang Siwon arrived in Macau. It was his first time setting foot abroad, and it had not been by choice but by force. Even so, he had grudgingly adapted. Lately, one could even call the routine he lived “peaceful.”

But on the day he heard the rumor about the spy—

That night, for the first time in a while, he dreamed. In the same grim shipping container he had seen three years ago, he was beaten mercilessly for having his identity exposed. The violence poured onto his body like a torrential downpour, shredding not just his body but his mind into tatters.

When he finally jolted awake, he was drenched in cold sweat.

“…Hah.”

Siwon dragged a hand down his face. He was exhausted to the bone.

He had had no option but to accept Director Park’s offer, yet discomfort still lingered. Regret for his misguided decision always chased after him. Even now he wanted to flee. But suppressing those impulses, he readied himself for work. After all, even if he could turn back time, he would not have chosen any better. This was the best he could have done.

All he could pray for was that his identity would remain undiscovered. And even if spies were exposed, he wished it would be Jushang that got caught instead.

“Hello.”

“Ah, Xie Wei. Already time for your shift?”

When he stepped into the cage room, the staff from the prior shift greeted him. The man checked his watch and nodded.

“Hmm, a bit early, but you can take over. Nothing unusual—records balanced, chip inventory correct.”

“Yes.”

Siwon stood before the tray. Even though his colleague claimed everything balanced, the manual required he check again before beginning his own shift.

In a casino, chips were money itself. The duties of cage staff were precisely to manage those chips—exchanging customer cash for chips, converting chips back to cash, and overseeing the overall flow of funds.

“Checked them? All good?”

“Yes.”

“Good, then I’m off. See you tomorrow, Xie Wei.”

“Thank you for your work.”

The employee from the previous shift exited. Now work began in earnest. Siwon shoved thoughts of the spy rumor aside. He was busy enough as it was, both as cage staff and as a spy for Baeksa‑pa.

“This week’s mission… analyzing the frequency of high-denomination chip use by day of the week.”

Baeksa‑pa wasn’t even a casino competitor, so what could they want with this kind of intelligence? He didn’t know, nor did it matter. His only role was to obey.

Feigning thorough chip inspections so his coworkers would not suspect him, he quietly inserted and memorized the data.

“Xie Wei.”

Someone called out. Startled, he turned. It was the coworker seated next to him—a peer who had joined the casino the same day and undergone training together with him.

“What are you doing tomorrow?”

“Sleeping.”

“And after you wake up?”

“I’ll just sleep all day.”

His curt replies made the coworker widen his eyes in surprise before asking again.

“Why?”

“Tired.”

“Ah, right. You’ve been pulling night shifts four days straight. No wonder. Okay, then what about the day after tomorrow?”

Despite his near one-word answers, the conversation persisted. Siwon felt awkward and uncomfortable at his coworker’s repeated attempts to chat. Though he was grateful for the friendliness, just speaking to colleagues was burdensome for a non-native speaker like him. Especially now with rumors of a spy circulating—it was worse than ever.

“The day after tomorrow I’ll be sleeping too.”

“Oh… I see.”

The coworker backed down, sheepish. Just then, an excited stir erupted across the room.

“Ooooh…!”

“Yeahhh!”

The awkward air lifted slightly. Curious, Siwon turned his head toward the noise.

At one table in the games section, an unusually large crowd had gathered. Spectators watching a game was common, but this one was overheated—like a festival.

“That’s Lei Jun’s table. They say he’s the new dealer who draws the most customers. Looks like that’s true.”

“….”

“Come to think of it, Xie Wei—you’re rooming with him, right?”

“…Yeah.”

Indeed, that successful dealer was also his roommate in the dorm.

Sovereign Casino assigned dorm rooms in order of hiring. Thus, employees from different divisions often ended up sharing, and so it was for Siwon and Lei Jun.

They had lived together nearly four months, yet Siwon was still not close to him. This wasn’t only due to his poor language ability or his precarious situation as a spy. Rather, he felt uneasy around Lei Jun. Probably because…

“Damn. Look at that smile. He could’ve made it as a celebrity.”

His coworker’s comment said it. Lei Jun was excessively handsome. Because of his inhuman beauty, Siwon had felt that discomfort ever since their first meeting.

“Isn’t it just his looks making him popular?”

“No, his gameplay’s thrilling too. He handles troublesome customers smoothly.”

“A born dealer, then.”

His coworkers gossiped. The round finished and the crowd began to disperse, leaving Lei Jun even more visible.

His crisp dealer’s uniform clung perfectly to his tall, proportionate frame. Coupled with his striking features, he was a spectacle. It was easy to agree that he might excel even as an entertainer.

But in the end, he was still a man of gambling.

Siwon twisted a smile inwardly. There was another reason Lei Jun as a roommate unsettled him. Siwon despised everything to do with gambling, and therefore despised dealers most of all.

Of course, every employee at Sovereign was connected to gambling. But dealers were another level. They were the symbol of the casino, the archetype of gambling itself.

Yet despite the thought, Siwon couldn’t peel his eyes off him. Lei Jun seemed the human incarnation of the casino—not only dazzling and glittering, but beguiling, seducing people with a beautiful voice and skilled hands. A man born from a world fundamentally unlike his own.

“Excuse me, I’d like to cash in these chips.”

A customer interrupted his musing. Siwon straightened his head and focused again on work.

“I’ll head off now. Good work, everyone.”

At quitting time, Siwon left the cage room at once.

The fatigue clung heavily to his body. Like he had told his coworker before, he wanted nothing more than to return to the dorm and sleep.

Still, he thought to stop by the supermarket. His neglected daily routine had left his fridge empty. Or perhaps he would order takeout for once.

“Xie Wei!”

As he walked, immersed in his options, his name was called. It was the coworker who had spoken to him earlier.

“Going back to the dorm?”

“Yeah.”

“How about instead of that, come have some beers with us?”

Only then did he notice the group standing by him. They were all clad in uniforms, though from mixed departments. Apparently, Sovereign staff sought to foster camaraderie.

“Sorry, but I…”

“Tired, right? I know. But come on, there’s a soccer match tonight. Drinking while cheering—it’d be fun.”

As his coworker coaxed him, the rest watched. Their eyes carried both curiosity and suspicion. With rumors of a spy in the air, such attention was burdensome.

“Sorry, but I really should…”

As he searched for an excuse, suddenly someone draped an arm over his shoulder. Startled, he turned—and met a friendly smile filling his vision.

Lei Jun.

“No way. Xie Wei already has plans with me.”

“Huh, Lei Jun…?”

The coworker shrank, startled. Why had such a prominent figure appeared? Yet other staff familiar with him greeted warmly.

“Lei Jun, you coming for beer too?”

“I know a great pub. And you can really handle your liquor.”

Others chimed in as well. But he declined with gentle firmness.

“No. I said I have an appointment with Xie Wei tonight.”

“What kind of appointment?”

Siwon also wondered. What appointment? In truth, they hadn’t exchanged more than “You back?” or “Have a good shift” in passing.

“A roommate’s secret.”

Lei Jun pulled Siwon along with an arm around his shoulder. Somehow, he must have noticed Siwon’s discomfort just now.

Though uneasy accepting help from someone he wasn’t close to, following Lei Jun was still the best way out of the situation. In silence, Siwon walked beside him.

When they reached the staff corridor, the area grew quiet. Siwon gently pushed Lei Jun away.

“Thanks. You can let go now.”

“Hm? But it’s comfortable for me to keep it there.”

“….”

They weren’t anywhere near close enough for casual skinship like this. Why was he behaving so familiarly all of a sudden? On guard, Siwon tapped his arm off. Only then did Lei Jun release his shoulder with a question.

“Xie Wei, are you always like this?”

“Like what?”

“Do you always push people away like that?”

“…I don’t push people away.”

Suspicion nagged—why ask something so personal, when they weren’t close? Besides, it wasn’t as though he deliberately pushed others away. He had actually wanted to get along with colleagues; it was safer to look unremarkable.

But the problem was language. Though his Chinese had improved rapidly at Sovereign, it was still nothing compared to a native speaker’s. When colleagues spoke Cantonese quickly or used slang, often he could barely follow. That made even casual conversations difficult.

“To me, it seems like you don’t even want to talk to me.”

“That’s not true.”

“Yes it is. Even during the game you glared at me with a scowl.”

“I didn’t—… Wait. You noticed I was looking?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I notice, when you can look at me?”

It was hard to argue with that. Siwon fell silent. Lei Jun pressed further.

“You find me unsettling, don’t you?”

“No, I…”

“Even when I speak, you give half-hearted replies, like you don’t want to converse.”

“Sorry. It’s just—I lived in Canada, remember?”

He pulled out the useful excuse he relied on often. Whenever he failed to understand colleagues’ words, or was ignorant of things any local Macanese would naturally know, he leaned on this alibi.

“That’s why. My accent is weird, so it bothers me… I’m not very good at Cantonese.”

He didn’t care if Lei Jun considered him rude. But he needed to plant reasons, to reduce suspicion as much as possible, for why he was taciturn.