GAMBLE: Rule of Cards

ODD INVITATION

After that talk with Sandra and Paul, Denton left the house using his own car and drove to the place the game head told him to go to. Since the place was really unknown and unfamiliar to everybody who reads the address, even Denton who has the address went to some hide-and-seek scenario while looking for the place. The address was there but when you go looking for it, you would surely be confused like how Denton was while looking for the place. “That place is confusing me,” he said to himself as he looked at the maps on his phone. “Why would they choose such an unfamiliar place to meet?”

He stopped at the toll gate where there is a guard. He was really confused and asked himself while stopped at the toll gate. There is only a guard there and there were no other travelers there. “Hi, sir,” the guard mumbled. It awakened his mind, trying to reminisce the tone of the guards inside the game that he won. “By any chance, are you Mr. Denton Mayfly?”

Denton nodded. “I was actually looking for this place here on my phone and I saw you, so I decided to ask you and… you seem to know about it, I guess,” Denton replied as he nervously laughed. The guard did not give a damn and just continuously looked at Denton with a serious gaze. “Uhm, I just want to ask where this place is? And, yes, I am Denton Mayfly.”

The guard nodded. “Please follow me, sir,” the guard told Denton. The guard told Denton to park the car in the allotted parking lot there. From there, the guard walked towards the place where they will meet. The guard was just walking to where the place will be. Denton continued the walk, following the guard who was firmly standing and walking. Denton looked at the whole place and it was not that eerie but the feeling was odd. There were a lot of buildings but some of them looked lifeless. Denton continued to trust the guard since he has nothing to lean on right now. “Please enter this and find the only table that has a customer.” Then, the guard left.

He continued the walk inside the building as he was looking for the only table that had a customer. When he turned left, he saw the only table that was vacated. “Here, Mr. Mayfly,” an odd-looking guy called Denton and invited him to their table. His voice was familiar and at that exact moment, Denton knew that, that guy was familiar to him. Denton sat on the chair and faced two guys, both eerily familiar to him. “I am the spokesperson who called you, Mr. Mayfly. Inside the game, I am also the speaker who gives the mechanics of the game.” The odd-looking man looked at the man beside him. The man was just giving him the best poker face he could ever receive from a guy. “And this is the game head, the brain of the game.”

“You…” the game head mumbled and paused for a moment. “You, for sure, are cunning.”

Denton pointed his index finger to himself. “Me? Are you talking to me, sir?”

The game head silenced for a minute. “You showed a great sense of leadership two years ago while in the game. You showed great sense of teamwork, together with your teammates back then… but you surely proved to everyone that you can also excel on the individual games,” the game head replied. “You are really an excellent player. Almost everyone who comes here does not find their way out and you found your way here. The only problem you have is to find the way out.”

“The game head is just implying that finding the way towards here is such a challenge for everyone and you are here, you found the place with just the help of the guard outside. He is just saying that you deserve your win and that you are really cunning, on a positive note,” the spokesperson muttered, on behalf of the game head who gives a really vague, unclear statement. “Anyway, what would you like to eat? Let us order you one thing.”

“Just steak, sir,” Denton replied, which the waiter immediately took notes of. After the waiter took notes of his order and left the table, the silence was so deafening that no one of all three of them on the table talked. Maybe, they feel awkward to each other or… only Denton feels that way. “The drive towards here really was a challenge and it took me, I think, half an hour to figure out where this certain place is lying. Are you waiting for me for such a time already, sir?”

The spokesperson talked. The game head looks like he has no intention of talking. “We have been waiting here for you for just an hour ago, so no worries about that, Mr. Mayfly,” the spokesperson mumbled, which Denton immediately nodded to. After that, the silence covered them as whole again. While both the spokesperson and Denton were being awkward, the game head was just sipping the hot cup of his tea. “You should not worry about us, Mr. Mayfly. I guess it was really a big bother, this meeting, for you who is a really busy businessman now. We are thankful to you for accepting our invitation.”

“It’s nothing,” Denton replied, while waving his own hands as a sign of humility. He even covered his own mouth like he was shy to hear that from the spokesperson. The game head just looked at Denton who was really acting like a humble person now. “Since I won that game, I decided to use the prize money to make my own business and it surprisingly succeeded. If it was not because of the game, I wouldn’t be here, to be honest. The reason for my success today is because of the game.”

“Of course, if not because of the game, you would not be here. You should be dead.”

“The game head is saying that you strived hard on winning the prize and you surely deserve that,” the spokesperson muttered. He is looking like a translator in this conversation. Denton was surprised to hear that statement from the game head’s mouth. “You know, this game head here was really short-mouthed but… his statements are so vague that only few people understand his jargons and metaphors. I will be the one to ask for my advance apology if ever one statement of my boss offends you.” The spokesperson who talked on behalf of the boss. “Anyway, aren’t you curious why we called and invited you for a talk?”

“I’m glad we are already going directly to the purpose,” Denton replied and smiled. “I am thinking you called me here because you have a proposal, if I am remembering it right. I do not know if it is a business proposal or another type of proposal but I am ready to hear it from you both. I am not really a picky businessman but if I think that I am not capable of doing, I would not really accept the proposal. Should you start assessing me on what type of proposal it is?”

“Uhm, I cannot call it entirely a business proposal but I can call it a culture that we are trying to bring in the business area,” the spokesperson muttered. Denton raised his eyebrows like he was trying to tell the spokesperson to clear the statement for him. He deemed that the statement was vague and that he could not comprehend. “Uhm, let me try to tell the whole story to you from the start and so, you could follow. I do not know if I should call it a tradition or a culture but it is something that must be done continuously. It is done in this business.” The spokesperson said. “This game head is just the head of the game for this country. There are several other countries who have this game too. Some winners are presented as a candidate for the whole world’s game but some are elected as the new game head, Mr. Mayfly. The world’s championship happens every three years only.”

Denton knotted his brows. “So, what are you implying?”

“You are the winner of the last last year’s game, right? Just so you know, we also introduced the game last year and we also acknowledge the hardships of last year’s game champion,” he continued. “He was really a strategic person and an intelligent one, so we decided to send him to the world’s game championship. We really haven’t talked with him about this, but we know that he would want this to happen, since he really likes to play deadly games.” The spokesperson expounded. Denton was just looking at them like a kid who cannot really follow the instructions. “Just so you know, this guy right here is also a winner of the game. He won five years ago and since he won, he started heading the game. What I am implying is that, since we already have a candidate for the world’s championship, we are now trying to ask you to accept our invitation to be the game head, since this guy right here will be resigning already. Mr. Mayfly, please be the next game head. We are asking you with all our might… please.”