A lot of people said that Kamei Kyusuke has his life handed to him on a silver platter. Kyusuke always scoffed at the accusations whenever he heard it.

   So what if he was?

   Luck plays a great part in a person’s life, and Kyusuke has hit the jackpot the moment he was born. His father is the CEO of one of the most prominent real estate agencies in Japan. His mother, on the other hand, works as a managing director of one of the biggest banks in the country. With the resources, money and influence at his fingertips, Kyusuke was able to get literally anything that his heart desired. His parents were always doting on him, and never said no to him. The best part is, he has no siblings. Meaning, no one would be there to compete with him for his parents’ love and money (especially money).

   No matter where Kyusuke goes, there’s no end of people who want to approach him. They would greet him after appearing out of nowhere and then start talking away while putting on a fake smile. Kyusuke is not stupid. He knows that they have their eyes on either the money he got from his parents, or the chance to talk to and become closer to his parents, or both. That said, he does enjoy the attention he’s getting, so he has hardly rejected the approaches. His parents, on the other hand, think that he should stay away from them completely.

   “You should make friends instead. You know, those that would stand by you no matter the circumstance.” his father told him one day.

   Bah, who needs friends? Friends don’t always do what you say, and they have their own opinions on things. Kyusuke much prefers mindless zombies who exist only to make him laugh and compliment everything that he does.

   Still, Kyusuke is pretty intrigued by the idea that there are people who wouldn’t approach him even with the money and power that his parents have. Even when Kyusuke is the one who’s doing the approaching, they would leave with disgust when he offered them his friendship.

   “Say mom, how do you make friends?” he asked his mother after being rejected for the sixth time in a row.

   His mother was absolutely delighted when he asked that.

   “Have you finally decided to stop being a loner, Kyuu-chan?” she asked with sparkling eyes.

   “Well, sort of.”

   The truth is, Kyusuke was in need of human meat shields as more and more people wanted a piece of him. Since fake friends would disappear at the first sight of trouble, Kyusuke figured that he needed to make some real friends before he got erased. But his mother doesn’t need to know that.

   “I’m so glad to hear that! To think that Kyuu-chan is this grown up now, mommy is so proud~!” his mother bawls.

   “You’re exaggerating, mom. And I’ve told you a million times to stop calling me that lame nickname.”

   “It’s not lame! It’s cute! I-”

   “Anyway, how about an advice or two?” Kyusuke interrupts.

   “How about you invite some of them over to play video games?” his mother suggests. “You have lots of different consoles and games, so I’m sure all of you will have a great time.”

   Kyusuke is definitely not on board for that. His game consoles are his and his alone. Just the thought of someone else touching them makes him irritated. Still, his mother’s suggestion gave him an idea.

   “Will board games do?” he asks.

   “Well, sure. In fact, I’d prefer it if you play with those instead.”

   “Great. I’ll go buy some at once.”

   After long hours of observation, Kyusuke noticed that nerds are a lot easier to manipulate than regular people since they’re not used to human interactions. Furthermore, they rarely have the courage to speak out if something went wrong since little to no one will give them the time of their day. All you have to do is pretend that you care about their hobbies, and they’ll treat you like their best friends. All in all, nerds are the perfect targets. And nerds can’t get enough of board games. Hence board games.

   That said, Kyusuke was discouraged at first. He never knew that board games can be so expensive. Are all the nerds these days so rich that they could afford dozens of these? It’s definitely not that he can’t afford it, but he sure wouldn’t want to waste unnecessary money on human fodders, of all people. Just as he was planning to give up, he saw some books on a shelf.

   …What on earth are books doing inside a board games shop?

   Kyusuke took one out at random and looked through a few pages. None of the things written and drawn in it made sense to him, so he asked one of the staff who works there.

   “Those are tabletop games.”

   “Tabletop games?”

   “That’s right. They’re quite the trend these days. Haven’t you heard of them?”

   “Nope. I’m a beginner in all these.”

   “Ah, that explains a lot. Do you want me to tell you more about them?”

   For the first time ever in his life, Kyusuke pretended to be interested in something when he wasn’t one bit. All in all, he concluded that the only thing that you need in this kind of game is your imagination. He wished he figured that part out sooner so that he didn’t have to listen to that staff’s ranting, which lasted for two whole hours. He was even conned to buy one of those books. That’s it. Only online for him next time.

   Since Kyusuke has bought the book, he figured that he might as well read through it. Out of everything that’s written and shown in there, there’s something that interested him to no end. Dungeons.

   The thought of having an underground base excited Kyusuke to no end. For one thing, it’s a lot harder to gain access. Everyone can find a castle easily enough, but a dungeon is hidden well beneath the soil. Even the entrance to a dungeon can be extremely unsuspecting, such as a tiny hole. If he’s being careful, he can have complete privacy for the rest of his life. Of course, there’s no way he can have a real dungeon-

   Kyusuke shook his head several times so that he could snap out of it. Something isn’t right with him. Why is he fixated with a kid’s game? Ultimately, this is but a step to make friends (written as getting meat shields). That said, he still took it seriously enough so that he can at least pretend that he cares. He definitely didn’t spend one whole week coming up with all sorts of scenarios and dungeons.

   Once Kyusuke deems that he’s ready, he heads to one of the board game cafes in the city he found on the internet.

   “What? Did you seriously roll another six? How are you so lucky?”

   “Ha ha! The goddess of fortune is totally on my side today!”

   “Great, just great. To think that the Great Dragon of Demise that I painstakingly came up with is killed. With a toothpick.”

   “Come on, man! You have to think of something or he’ll end up winning!”

   There they are, Kyuusuke’s future meat shield-he means friends. Yup, delightful friends whom he’s going to spend time with. And they’re playing a tabletop game too, how convenient for Kyusuke. He approached the quartet of boys.

   “Hello hello, good day to all of you.” Kyusuke greets as nonchalantly as he could.

   The boys stopped their activities at once.

   “Um, can we help you?” one of them asks him a bit uncomfortably.

   “My name is Kamei Kyusuke. I would like to join you for a game or two.”

   Kyusuke has no idea why he’s speaking all formal. It’s not that he’s nervous or anything. If he had to guess, it’s that he hasn’t spoken to someone other than his parents for so long he has forgotten how to talk normally.

   The four boys looked at each other, then back at Kyusuke.

   “Um, welcome aboard I guess.” the first boy who spoke continues to say while looking a bit reluctant. “We’re still in the middle of a game, so can you wait for a bit?”

   Kyusuke holds back his strong urge to curse out loud. They’re actually making him wait? The nerve of these pea-brained-

   “Of course. Please take your time.”

   Don’t you actually dare.

   Perhaps threatened by Kyusuke’s presence, the four boys finished their session within two minutes. Wise choice.

   “Oh, done already?” Kyusuke asks while feigning innocence.

   “Well, yeah. We were about to before you showed up. Might as well wrap it up.” the Mame Master replied slightly nervously. “More importantly, do you want to try and be the Game Master this time?”

   Kyusuke’s face lit up at once.

   “I thought you would never ask! Be prepared to be blown away by my spectacular scenario and dungeons!”

   “Um, we’ll look forward to it, I guess?”

   Kyusuke begins with explaining about the world he came up with. It’s a futuristic desolate wasteland with zombie androids and other mechanical horrors. After he was done explaining, he was secretly delighted to find that two of the four boys looked kind of impressed. The other two, on the other hand, have skeptical looks on their faces. Bah, they’ll change their opinion soon enough. Or so Kyusuke thought.

   “All right! I got three sixes and one five! The Zombie Mecha Dragon is down!”

   “Not yet it’s not! It has the Resurrection ability, remember?”

   “Again? But it’s the third time in a row!”

   “I don’t care! By the way, if the rolls on the revive failed, it’s going to blow up and kill all of you!”

   “What? How is that fair?”

   “I don’t care! This is MY game, so you should-”

   “Hey, hold on a second.”

   The boy who was the Game Master in the previous game interrupted Kyusuke.

   “What the hell do you want?” Kyusuke demands rudely.

   “This is probably your first time becoming a Game Master, so let me give you advice on how to be a decent one. You can’t just keep on making things difficult for the Players just because things didn’t go your way.” the boy said patiently.

   “I’m the Game Master! Of course I can make whatever rules I want! If you guys can’t keep up, it’s on you!” Kyusuke screeched.

   The boy shook his head. He looked kind of disappointed.

   “In that case, I’m afraid we have to ask you to leave.”

   Kyusuke couldn’t believe his ears.

   “A-Are you saying that I’m not welcomed anymore?”

   “I’m afraid so.”

   “You can’t do that to me! You just can’t!”

   “We can and we will. Look, just leave quietly before we call the staff, okay?”

   There are three employees who’re working in this cafe, and all of them are looking over here right now.

   Kyusuke decided to leg it. There is no one else here, but he would rather die than be humiliated by being forcefully removed from an establishment.

   “Mark my words, you’ll regret for chasing me out of your pathetic little group!” he says to the group while gritting his teeth.

   The four boys ignored him. All of them avert their eyes and refuse to look at him. After firing another threat, Kyusuke left the cafe.

   Kyusuke isn’t someone to give up easily. He promised his mother that he’s going to make some friends (whom he’s definitely not going to use as meat shields), so he’s not going to let some minor setback discourage him. That said, this is a lot harder than he thought. He has been to four other places, and all of the groups he joined refused to play along with his genius scenarios. They’re nothing but a bunch of commoners’ with terrible eyes who can’t recognize a work of art when they see one. Eventually, he was even blacklisted as an “insufferable and arrogant person who should not be allowed to play” and got chased out almost instantly. The terrible insults aside, maybe introducing himself and saying his name was a terrible idea.

   And so, Kyusuke had to make do with walking around without having useful idiots who can double as his meat shield in case things go wrong. As a result, he had to be extremely careful whenever he was walking around the street. His usually-kind mother has been charging insane interest on loans she gives out, and some debtors suffered so much they had to declare bankruptcy. If Kyusuke was recognized, he might be used to taking out anger. He was living a life of constant anxiety until the incident happened.

   “Awaken, Kamei Kyusuke.”

   “Huh? Whoa, where am I?”

   Kyusuke was supposed to be sleeping on his huge and fluffy bed. When he wakes up, he somehow finds himself standing inside a clock tower of sorts with lots of spinning gears.

   “You have been chosen to save the different worlds found in all sorts of literature. As such, you are to travel to different worlds and conquer a member of the fair sex of your choice-”

   Kyusuke looks around but can’t find the person who spoke. Whoever he is, he sure sounds arrogant and self-important.

   “I don’t know what your deal is, but I’m not going to do as you say. Period.” he told the unseen person bluntly. “The nerve of you to think that-”

   “You have no choice in this matter. You WILL go, and that is final.”

   Kyusuke gasped angrily.

   “How DARE you! I-”

   Before Kyusuke could protest further, he was interrupted by a flash of bright light. When Kyusuke could see again, he realized that he’s inside some sort of hotel room. Not only that, he’s wearing a tuxedo. He doesn’t even remember changing out of his favorite pajamas made out of expensive silk.

   “Where the hell am I?”

   Desperate for answers, Kyusuke begins looking around for clues. It didn’t take him long to find a key card on a dressing table. On top of the key card is the name “Hotel Grand Elysium” with a number “601” written right below the hotel’s name.

   “Hotel Grand Elysium…? That name sounds kind of familiar…”

   Kyusuke racked his brain hard in order to recall where he last heard that name. It took him a while, but he eventually remembered. It was in an anime called Aces and Spades: A Gambler’s Life. He only watched a single episode of it since whoever made this anime cared more about showing off girls’ bodies than actual gambling. And there were a LOT of girls in the show.

   Well, he’s already here whether he likes it or not. Might as well enjoy his stay. If he’s really lucky, he can get rich in just a single game, and everyone would swoon over him.

XXX

   Note to self: never go all in at the very first time you gamble. Kyusuke learned that the hard way when the measly 1,000 credits he owned was taken away in a game of Roulette. Another thing that he learned is that never borrow money that you couldn’t return. He borrowed 100,000 credits on a whim, and after losing those money too he owes his creditor 500,000. According to the loan shark, Kyusuke has one week to return that money. If he fails, the amount will be doubled. Alternatively, Kyusuke can return the money by working inside a mine. The loan shark said that he doesn’t really care which option Kyusuke chose, or whether he’s alive before the money is fully collected.

   Yup, Kyusuke is doomed. Or so he thought until Leader appeared. He just appeared out of thin air while Kyusuke was agonizing over the debt inside his room.

   “You have two choices right now. Either you stay here, or you come with me.” the hooded boy(?) told Kyusuke.

   “Why the hell should I go with you?” Kyusuke demanded.

   “Would you rather spend the rest of your life being a miner?”

   Kyusuke grimaced. The answer is definitely a big fat “No”.

   “Why do you even want me?” he asks the hooded person.

   “Anyone would have been fine, really. Then again, you were sent here by that Voice, right? That makes you our comrade, in a sense.”

   ““Our”. Does that mean that there are more of you? More of us?”

   “That’s right. I’m gathering up comrades so that we can crush that Voice once and for all one day.”

   “Crushing that thing that made me suffer, huh? That has a nice ring to it. Alright, I’m in.”

   And that’s how Kyusuke ended up joining the Godless Organization. As part of being one of them, Kyusuke even received an awesome ability from Leader, the ability to create dungeons. He vaguely remembered Leader warning him about its side effects, but he was too excited about his new ability to pay much attention. Ah well, it’s probably nothing to be worried about. Sure, he passed out once or twice after using his ability too much, but again, nothing to worry about. After all, Kyusuke is the chosen one, the main character, and the main character is always being protected by the plot armor.

   With his awesome ability, Kyusuke managed to kill three of the Voice’s lapdogs, making him the member with the fourth highest kill count. And then, he was given another target. A shrub called Fudo Kotaro. According to Leader, this Fudo character has managed to clear two worlds and has three strong girls at his side. As such, Kyusuke is to proceed with caution. He was even partnered up with another fellow member just in case, a shortie called Tenha Kai.

   Bah, Kyusuke isn’t worried one bit. Whoever that Fudo guy is, he’s going down just like the rest of Kyusuke’s past targets. He’s also going to mess with Tenha a bit since it’s going to be hilarious.