One of the Twelve New Moon, Silver.

He had the ability to view the past, present, and future simultaneously. To rewind or fast forward time, or even to stop it. It could truly be considered unique among the other New Moons.

“What’s your favorite poker game?”

With a long white beard which made him appear like an immortal, New Moon Silver asked Baek Yu-Seol.

As if he had prepared in advance, Baek Yu-Seol answered without hesitation.

“Seven Card Stud.”

“Seven Card Stud, huh.”

It was one of the most famous poker games, and at one time, it was synonymous with poker itself in Korea, where Baek Yu-Seol once lived.

There was no special reason why he chose this game.

Was it because it would be easy to win against New Moon Silver, who manipulated time?

No way. It was simply because it was the only poker game he could play.

He didn’t know how to play poker well. He was such a novice that he had to check the hand rankings through his smart glasses.

Here’s an important point.

In Seven Card Stud, you start betting after receiving one card at a time, but the player hardly touches the cards.

In other words, it was impossible to cheat by switching cards.

Even if he briefly turned over a card to show it, it would be immediately caught by the mana sensors and the Garam Tribe guards waiting all around.

“Shall we start the game right away?”

The dealer approached and asked cautiously as he watched his surroundings.

He wasn’t watching Baek Yu-Seol; he was watching New Moon Silver, the tyrant of the Lotus Guesthouse.

“Well, sure. What’s the stake?”

“One million.”

“Haha. You’re going to have quite the experience at a young age.”

Following Baek Yu-Seol, New Moon Silver also placed the stake on the table.

“Deal the cards.”

The game started.

With a long table between them, the dealer carefully dealt three cards each to Baek Yu-Seol and New Moon Silver.

After checking their hands, they both placed all three cards face down.

From this point on, the outcome of the game was half decided.

Sometimes, a good hand is dealt from the start, while other times, no matter how many more cards you receive, you end up with a bad hand that can’t form a ranking.

‘Poker face.’

It refers to a facial expression that hides one’s emotions to avoid revealing their hand.

For Baek Yu-Seol, who was blessed by the Yeonhong Chunsamweol, it was very easy, so he maintained a stoic expression throughout.

However, New Moon Silver was different.

“Haha...”

He continued to chuckle, then flipped over one card, and Baek Yu-Seol followed by flipping over one of his cards as well.

"I will distribute the cards."

As they revealed each card one by one, the dealer distributed another card.

After revealing the newly received card, betting began.

Baek Yu-Seol inspected his cards and declared a half bet, wagering half of the pot.

New Moon Silver scrutinized his expression but couldn't find any clues. Since there was nothing he could do at that moment, he called the bet.

"Call."

The game progressed quickly.

Neither Baek Yu-Seol nor New Moon Silver hesitated to bet large amounts of money, and the dealer sweated profusely while dealing with the cards rapidly.

"Call and raise to four million."

"Call and raise to eight million."

The dealer prided himself on having seen many high-stakes games, but this was a first.

'What kind of nerve does that student have?'

Seeing him nonchalantly wager such a staggering amount of money, it was clear he must be from a famous noble family.

But even so, wasn't it too much money to risk just for a life lesson?

Even New Moon Silver, who was usually cautious, was recklessly betting large sums of money while barely glancing at his cards.

Thus, all seven cards were dealt, bringing the game to its final stage.

When all the bets were placed and the pot had reached an astronomical amount, the cards were revealed.

Baek Yu-Seol hand: a straight flush.

Silver December's hand: two pair.

'Baek Yu-Seol wins.'

Silver December stroked his beard.

'I lost.'

In a situation where he had no choice but to forfeit all the money he had bet so far, New Moon Silver closed his eyes and then opened them again.

"... Half.”

Five minutes earlier.

Focusing back on the moment when Baek Yu-Seol made his first bet, which is the 'present.'

In the future, he had lost. So, he acted a bit differently this time.

"Fold."

Why bet on a game he had already lost?

Although it seemed like he had a pretty good hand, New Moon Silver folded, leaving Baek Yu-Seol powerless.

The same thing happened in the next round.

"Double!"

"... Fold."

"Raise!"

"... Fold."

"Hehehe. Good. Good."

New Moon Silver’s strategy was simple.

By simultaneously observing the present and the future, he confirmed the outcome that had already occurred in the future and acted differently in the present.

The New Moon, who had peeked into the future, declared a fold whenever Baek Yu-Seol had an advantage and bet big whenever he had the upper hand, thus taking Baek Yu-Seol’s money.

‘Indeed. It’s no use playing this game.’

‘Even though he’s a Stella student, a child cannot beat the best gambler.’

New Moon Silver was known as a tyrant at the Lotus Guesthouse.

No one could defeat him in a card game, and his magical prowess was so immense that it was impossible to expel him by force.

Whenever he showed up, he forced people to play card games, siphoning off the guesthouse’s money before escaping.

He was not just a tyrant but a bully. For a young student to challenge such a figure without knowing any better, he must be shedding tears of blood by now…

‘Hmm?’

‘What is this?’

Therefore, everyone present felt the same doubt simultaneously.

“Call.”

Even though he had already lost nearly half of his money, Baek Yu-Seol continued the game with a calm expression.

‘Does that amount of money mean nothing to him?’

It could be explained if he were incredibly wealthy, but even the richest people start to show their emotions when a game turns against them. However, Baek Yu-Seol maintained a relaxed demeanor throughout.

Was he really unaffected by losing money, or was it...

“Raise!”

When New Moon Silver shoved in his coins and made a strong bet, the spectating Garam Tribe guards broke out in a cold sweat and shook their heads.

‘He’s doing it again.’

Doing this with only two cards dealt meant he was undoubtedly confident of his victory.

New Moon Silver always won when he made such bets, so this time would be no different.

But then.

Baek Yu-Seol rested his chin on his hand and didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he turned to the dealer and said.

“Dealer, before dealing the next card, could you shuffle the deck?”

“What? What?”

“There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”

“Well, um...”

“Wait! What is the meaning of this?” New Moon Silver finally spoke up, flustered.

“Is there a need to shuffle the cards? We can proceed as is.”

“I’m not the one shuffling; the dealer is. Is there a problem with that?”

“Well, that’s true, but...”

New Moon Silver, who had never encountered such a situation, was greatly shocked.

This game was supposed to end with him getting a full house and Baek Yu-Seol getting a straight.

However, in the future he had observed, there had been no instance where the dealer shuffled the deck.

Having already bet a large sum, if the cards were shuffled now…

Even New Moon Silver couldn’t predict the outcome.

It was too late to peek into the future again. Even New Moon Silver couldn’t reverse events that had already happened…

Time regression was impossible.

“I will reveal my cards.”

Baek Yu-Seol: straight.

Silver December: three of a kind.

‘... I lost.’

Baek Yu-Seol’s hand rank had risen by one level, while New Moon Silver’s hand rank had plummeted to the bottom.

“Haha. Well, this is something.”

New Moon Silver chuckled dryly since this had never happened before.

A variable had intervened during the game, altering the future.

As Baek Yu-Seol scooped up New Moon Silver’s money, he said, “It seems you originally had a good hand.”

“Huh? Yes, that was the plan.”

“But I shuffled the cards, and your hand rank was broken.”

“Well... That’s true, but...”

However, that event had only occurred in the future. There was no way Baek Yu-Seol could have noticed it, yet his words made it seem like he had witnessed the exact same scene.

“Let’s resume the game.”

The same pattern repeated thereafter.

Whenever Baek Yu-Seol had a good hand, New Moon Silver would fold, and conversely, whenever New Moon Silver had a good hand, Baek Yu-Seol would request a card shuffle.

However, there was no guarantee that Baek Yu-Seol would win just because he introduced the variable 'card shuffle.'

Even in the unforeseen futures caused by the variable, there were plenty of cases where Baek Yu-Seol lost.

Conversely, there were plenty of cases where New Moon Silver lost too.

Neither had particularly outstanding poker skills. In terms of psychological warfare or technical aspects, they were no different from ordinary people.

In other words, they were purely playing Seven Card Stud.

‘This is...’

New Moon Silver clicked his tongue. The future was shifting moment by moment.

Do you know the term butterfly effect? It’s so famous that it needs no explanation, but to get straight to the point, each of Baek Yu-Seol’s trivial actions triggered a butterfly effect.

The future is not predetermined.

Depending on the events occurring in the present, countless possibilities and probabilities arise, and the future unfolds following those.

However, the moment 'chance' intervenes, even New Moon Silver couldn’t predict the future.

For example, let’s say you put three dice in a cup and shake them to guess the 'odds and evens.'

In the cup, the dice hit the walls, collide with each other, and roll around, creating infinitely many possible outcomes.

Countless events are created by layering chance upon chance upon chance.

3, 4, 1.

2, 6, 6.

1, 3, 2.

Even looking at the same future, thousands and thousands of futures arise, making it impossible for New Moon Silver to predict the numbers that would be shown by the dice five minutes later in the odds and evens game.

The ability to simultaneously observe the present and the future.

It sounded like a wonderful ability, but it was simply an ability to 'calculate probabilities'... Nothing more, nothing less.

Time is far too vast and grand to be dominated by a single being.

When thinking of the Twelve New Moons, one might imagine them as 'beings that dominate specific attributes.'

New Moon Bronze dominated ice.

Scarlet Summer dominated fire.

Yeonhong Chunsamweol dominated the mind.

But...

That was a misconception.

They did not dominate attributes.

They simply understood the flow of those attributes better than anyone else.

“Call and double.”

“Ugh...!”

No one could match New Moon Silver’s understanding of time.

… Unless the opponent was someone who had completely grasped the concept of a time traveler.

Baek Yu-Seol caused numerous coincidences even during a single game.

He would bet without looking at his cards, request the cards to be shuffled, or ask the Garam Tribe watching the game to mix up the cards.

The future had become unknown.

The predetermined future kept changing.

For New Moon Silver, this was terror and despair. It felt like being thrown into the vast ocean with his limbs bound and his vision blocked.

But at the same time... A thrilling excitement surged through him.

“Haha, I’ve won!”

It was a game he was supposed to lose.

But every time he bet, Baek Yu-Seol kept introducing ‘coincidences,’ which was used to his advantage by New Moon Silver, who placed large bets and won.

This too was a coincidence. He could have lost, but he also could have won.

He bet on an uncertain future, and in the end, he won.

“… I lost.”

When Baek Yu-Seol laid down his cards, New Moon Silver chuckled and swept the mountain of coins toward himself.

“Isn’t it enjoyable?”

“Yes, it’s enjoyable! With this money, I can drink a thousand years old rice wine!”

“Is that really why you’re happy?”

“What?”

At that moment, New Moon Silver looked up and met Baek Yu-Seol’s eyes. In his eyes... something profound flickered.

New Moon Silver thought it seemed ‘familiar.’

“There’s something I’ve always wanted to ask you.”

New Moon Silver, who had been foolishly gathering coins, put them down and slumped into his chair. Folding his arms, he nodded.

“Ask away.”

“Is the future of this world predetermined?”

“… Well, it sounds like you know who I am.”

New Moon Silver frowned as if he was having a headache, then sighed deeply. The opponent’s behavior made it obvious.

That arrogant human child knew his identity and had come to see him.

Thus... He answered calmly.

“The future is predetermined.”

New Moon Silver could observe countless futures, and they branched off into numerous timelines.

However.

No matter how many futures there were.

The ending... was always the same.

This world would be destroyed in ten years.

All the countless branching futures were racing toward exactly the same single endpoint.

Heading toward the destruction. The predetermined future couldn’t be stopped or reversed.

New Moon Silver was just someone who could swim a little better in the waterfall called ‘time.’

While others were helplessly swept down by the waterfall, he, with great effort and struggle, possessed a very slight special ability to go against the current.

Changing the fact that the waterfall itself fell from top to bottom... was absolutely impossible.

So.

Baek Yu-Seol asked again, “Is the future... really predetermined?”

“What?”

“Did you just foresee that you would win?”

No, he didn’t.

He played poker and felt the deserted island while swimming in the vast, uncharted sea of an undetermined future.

“… That’s a difficult question.”

New Moon Silver.

In exchange for his ability to reverse the flow of time, he had come to understand the truth that 'a predetermined future cannot be changed.'

From the moment he realized that truth, it became his shackle and curse, one he couldn't escape for over a thousand years.

But.

What if, like causing ripples in a calm lake, someone could create variables, even just a little... to steer the predetermined future in a different direction?

Even in something as trivial as a simple poker game...

What if there was someone who could change the future?

“The future is not predetermined.”

At first glance, it might seem like an arrogant statement. To dare to discuss time with New Moon Silver. But the old man nodded calmly at the boy’s words.

“I see...”

Unable to predict even this simple poker game properly, how could he call himself the New Moon Silver?

“I came here to gamble with you.”

It was the first time.

There was an opponent he couldn’t predict.

A bet with him would inevitably result in a loss for New Moon Silver.

Because even the already determined future had been altered, making the outcome unknown.

“The content of the gamble is simple.”

Now, he proposed another gamble.

“Whether the world will be destroyed in ten years or not.”

Ting! The boy flicked his last remaining coin toward the old man.

“I will go all-in... on 'the world will not be destroyed.'”