28. Golden Tower
About two hours after leaving the airport, the plane was flying toward its destination at 100km altitude. In the pitch-black interior, engine sounds and wind collision sounds could be heard, but the hunters were sound asleep. Near the emergency light, a man was reading a book. The book was small enough to fit in an inner pocket, making one wonder just how much content could be contained. On the cover was written 『cardo』 in golden letters—at a glance it looked like it could be a novel or a philosophy book.
"Reading in the dark will hurt your eyes."
Turning his head toward where the sound came from, a man who seemed to have just woken up on the opposite side was yawning. He had long hair down to his neck, with bangs swept up and fixed with a headband. He seemed unable to sleep deeply anymore due to the uncomfortable seat, continuously stretching his arms here and there.
"Ah, I thought we'd arrive quickly since it's the same branch, but are we still not there?"
The man with the headband unfastened his seatbelt, got up from his seat, and headed to the makeshift restroom at the shuttle's rear. The restroom door was closed but the sound of water could be heard. Shortly after, the man who came out of the restroom sat with his bottom half on his seat and opened the window cover. Outside was pitch-black night, but as if the destination was approaching, lights on land were visible distinctly enough to be identified. Looking at the city lights sparsely illuminating the massive darkness was so peaceful that one might think headquarters' statement that the entire city was covered with madmen was somewhat exaggerated.
As the aircraft gradually shook to lower altitude, people woke up one by one. Now the city outside the window was close enough to identify even the shapes of large buildings. Among various areas, there was one particularly bright place that at a glance looked like the entire area was on fire. People thought it might be a battlefield where fighting with madmen was in full swing. But as the plane descended closer to land, they realized it wasn't a fire, but rather the city of pleasure that never stopped for 24 hours—「Golden Tower」—where every area, every building was brightly lit like broad daylight.
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In the hotel lobby ceiling, chandeliers extended in a long line from end to end, reminiscent of aurora. O'Brien was so mesmerized by the hotel interior's gorgeous decorations that his head and legs moved separately, causing him to bump into passing travelers several times, but he didn't care at all. Complaints were raised that it would be dangerous if deployed to the battlefield without properly recovering from travel fatigue, and headquarters accepted this and requested the city to allow a one-day stay in Golden Tower on the day of arrival. Unexpectedly, the mayor readily cleared out luxury hotels and showed consideration for hunters to rest comfortably.
"Obie. You'll break your neck like that."
Supremer said while looking at O'Brien, who was leaning his neck back to tour the building interior, as if pathetic. Unlike O'Brien in rough combat attire, he wore a short-sleeved shirt with palm trees, as if planning to play hard for a day.
"Aren't you cold?"
"First time here? Follow me, kid. This big brother will show you paradise."
"What about April?"
"Says she's tired."
"Such a tired woman~"
O'Brien shook his head and followed Supremer who was leading the way. Where they were headed was the hottest place in Golden Tower—the 'Grand Casino'—which had many travelers despite the madman incident. The hotel lobby was connected to the casino, and an information desk could be seen in the distance, with four men in black suits blocking the entrance to the casino floor next to it.
When Supremer presented his room number at the information desk, along with an 'Approved' notification, a necklace-type pass was issued. The two passed the men in black suits and entered a dark corridor, where—whether real or replica was unknown—a full-length statue of Louis XIV hung in the very center, and in a square glass box right in front, a blue diamond necklace shone brightly, receiving light from each corner. On both sides were long corridors with paintings displayed along the walls with orange lighting. Walking all the way down the right corridor, a beautiful woman appeared with an elevator, greeting the two with an enchanting smile and pressing the elevator button for them.
Inside the elevator was spacious and the lighting slightly dim, but strangely there were no buttons inside. After ascending for a while to what felt like about the 5th floor, the speed gradually decreased and stopped with an arrival sound. When the door opened, another dark corridor appeared, and at the end of the corridor, two women greeted them warmly—also beautiful. When the women opened the entrance door, dazzlingly bright light poured out. The light was so bright that both frowned, but as their eyes gradually adapted to the light, what appeared before them was an enormously large indoor casino floor the size of a large soccer field.
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The 120-story hotel had a cafe on each floor where guests could enter for free. There were non-alcoholic beverages like water, coffee, and carbonated water, as well as alcoholic drinks like beer, wine, whiskey, and brandy by type. There were also refreshments like baguettes, sandwiches, and cheese cookies, and people freely walked around eating and drinking while carrying food.
When he arrived at the cafe, it was 8 PM—a perfect time to play—and most guests had already rushed to the casino floor. The cafe was quiet and gentle classical music flowed. The man in a long coat put his hands in his pockets and strolled around the cafe. Finding a snack bar, he picked up a piece of white sandwich containing strawberry jam and cheese with his hand and tasted it. After chewing a few times, his mouth stopped—perhaps the taste was good—and he picked up a few more pieces and placed them on a plate with cookies. Then he pondered for a while at where the liquor was, shook his head, and headed to the coffee machine. When he pressed the button, coffee poured out from the machine making a loud mechanical sound.
While blankly watching the coffee come out, he felt someone approaching from behind. When the coffee half-filled the cup, the machine signaled completion, and the man picked up the cup and turned around. Behind him, a tan-haired bobbed woman was looking at him from very close distance. He knew the woman. He had run into her several times at headquarters, but had never exchanged words. He greeted her with his eyes and tried to move slightly aside. But she quickly moved her body to block his path. He tilted his head as if flustered and smiled at her with a curious expression about what was happening, and she kept looking at him without saying anything. As the brief silence continued, the man thought the woman's prank didn't stem from any friendliness. The man withdrew his smile, took a sip of coffee from the cup he was holding, and looked at her with the same expression. The woman, knowing the man was enjoying her unexpected behavior, said "move" as if uninterested and pushed the man aside. The man was flustered by the sudden push but soon smiled silently and walked out of the snack bar, leaving the woman behind. The woman stared at the man's retreating back.
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People coming out from the entrance of the 5-story casino floor rode escalators down while admiring the panoramic view of the casino floor, becoming entranced by that huge, gorgeous space. Green tables presumed to be gaming areas were spread widely throughout the casino floor, with people gathered densely around the tables. Between people, bunny girls in black stockings walked around holding silver trays with champagne glasses. In the center of the casino floor was a large fountain, with huge water streams pouring out from the ceiling every hour with music. From somewhere came rhythm-heavy club music that pounded hearts—there was an indoor swimming pool at about the 3rd floor height, and next to it a DJ moved his body while touching equipment. At the end of the casino floor were slot machines for the marginalized, though there weren't many people.
When Supremer and O'Brien arrived on the 1st floor, a blonde bunny girl in checkered stockings warmly greeted them. Both were flustered but felt good, and she introduced herself as their assigned guide, saying she would stay with them until they left the casino floor if they wanted. They hesitated clumsily, then shyly said they 'wanted it,' and the woman laughed delightfully—quite lovely. She took them around the casino floor explaining games, but they were distracted by her smile and didn't listen properly.
When they entered baccarat, she recommended they try betting lightly, and they went to the exchange to convert their betting amount into chips. Seeing chips piled like mountains in the bins each brought, the woman giggled as if these two naive men were very funny. From the start, both tried to compete in placing large bets to show alpha male betting, and when the amounts were too excessive, the guide was restless trying to stop them. O'Brien particularly liked the word 'baccarat' so much that he chanted 'baccarat' like a spell every time he bet—the problem was he did this even when playing other games like blackjack or roulette. Supremer didn't ignorantly chant baccarat like his friend, but whenever he occasionally won at games, he kissed a $100 chip saying he dedicated it to the goddess of victory and gave it to the guide. She was very burdened receiving those chips because he had already lost more than three times the stakes in the previous round and had become numb to losses.
As time passed, they began to treat their chips like cyber money and started losing recklessly. The guide beside them, surprised by the speed, began to get scared, and when they lost their reason and advanced toward the next game shouting encouragement like Spartan warriors, she said she'd go to headquarters for a moment and ran away. They wandered around the casino floor for over three hours participating in most games, and when they had almost made a full circle, their chip bins were completely empty and the beautiful bunny girl had disappeared somewhere.
When they realized they could no longer participate in table games because their remaining chips didn't even meet the minimum bet, they finally realized they had lost a lot of money. Falling into despair, they sat at slot machines, inserted electronic cards, and pressed buttons, but even that showed expressions of being out of it—different from when they first entered—as the balance approached zero.
At 10 PM, they left the casino floor as defeated soldiers, feeling somehow like sheep whose wool had been closely sheared, leaving them gaunt.