What is luck?

Some people dismiss luck as mere superstition. Others, however, place blind faith in it, letting it dictate their lives.

Like how one person can win the lottery with a single ticket, while another buys a hundred million tickets and wins nothing, luck is something that mocks probability itself.

Having conquered their home planet and ventured into the vast ocean of stars, humanity was bound to try manipulating probability.

One of humanity's top research priorities was to control luck—in essence, to govern probability.

‘And they failed.’

Well, partially. While they couldn’t completely control probability as they wished, they did manage to interfere with it. And that was enough.

I confirmed that probability manipulation was spreading through Evilus Corporation. Sure enough, just as I suspected, someone was tampering with probabilities directed at Evilus.

“So, they’re really doing it…”

I hadn’t expected such advanced technology to emerge in this world, so I had let my guard down. The measurement device I hastily cobbled together wasn’t useless after all.

Was this part of a psychic ability? Or was it the power of some supernatural being, like a demon or a fairy queen? Either way, it was clear that supernatural powers were easily mocking the millennia of knowledge and wisdom humanity had accumulated.

Frankly, it was remarkable that science had managed to develop to this point at all. If those with supernatural abilities had interfered more actively, humanity might never have progressed this far.

‘All those years of research and development, yet a single psychic ability could produce better results…’

But regardless.

Now that I knew the cause, it was time to resolve it. I analyzed the waves of manipulation, adjusting probabilities in real-time to make things worse, and traced the source.

I identified who was behind it and where they were. The result made me let out a dry laugh.

“…No way, it really was them?”

The manipulative waves were originating from S City. Trap or not, this made it clear that S City was the culprit. I couldn’t help but wonder why my instincts had been screaming warnings this entire time.

‘No, even now my instincts are racing…’

I frowned, dismissing the warning signals from my gut. The culprit was now 140% confirmed, and the fact that my instincts were still flaring meant the warnings weren’t my intuition but someone’s deliberate interference.

Humans, after all, are defined by their ability to ignore instincts and make rational choices.

And so am I.

“—Well, let’s see how you like it.”

I intercepted the waves emanating from far beyond, across several cities. They were completely unprotected, as if the sender never anticipated the possibility of retaliation. There wasn’t even a basic firewall.

I redirected the stolen waves back at them. Realizing their signal had been hijacked, the culprit began flailing, unleashing even stronger waves in a desperate frenzy.

‘Foolish.’

Even then, they had no defenses. I intercepted all of their subsequent waves, reversing the flow and sending it hurtling back toward S City. After a few such exchanges, they seemed to realize there was no point in continuing and ceased their attacks.

But it didn’t matter.

‘We have it too.’

Probability had been in humanity’s grasp for a long time.

Now, let them see it for themselves.

The power of humanity’s thousands of years of scientific history.

+++

“Damn it, damn it—!”

Riu Spirit trembled with fury, yet she immediately began devising a plan to deal with the dire situation at hand. If she did nothing, she wouldn’t be able to gather the 100 sacrifices, and failing to do so would mean incurring the wrath of the spirit she served.

Some might underestimate the spirit’s curse, dismissing it as minor inconveniences like slipping on a banana peel and breaking one’s nose. However, the spirit had the power to unleash such misfortune on hundreds of thousands of people simultaneously.

If that same curse, spread across so many, were concentrated on a single individual? It would be all too easy to kill someone outright. There was a reason why Riu, a CEO of a major corporation, believed in and relied on such a supernatural being.

‘First, I’ll round up some people from the slums…’

As she hastily formed a plan to procure 100 sacrifices, one of her subordinates came rushing toward her, visibly alarmed.

“Ma’am! Ma’am!”
“…What is it? What’s going on?”
“It’s a disaster! A huge disaster!”

The thought that she was the one dealing with a disaster crossed Riu’s mind, but seeing the subordinate’s grave expression, she motioned for him to speak.

Still catching his breath, the subordinate pulled out his smartphone and showed her something on the screen. The moment Riu saw it, her expression darkened, and she alternated between glaring at her subordinate and the phone.

“What is this…?”
“It seems someone leaked the information!”
“That’s impossible. Security should have been airtight—”

Displayed on the smartphone was a news article: “Evidence of Unethical Cloning Experiments Discovered in S City”. While she suspected it might have been fabricated by an AI, the accompanying photos showed workers transporting tanks containing cloned humans.

She had no idea who had taken those pictures or how such scenes had been exposed. But the damage was done. Riu felt her heart drop, her body temperature seemingly plummeting by three degrees.

“Quickly, release a counter-article! Say it’s all AI-generated nonsense!”
“Do you think people will believe that…?”
“Whether they believe it or not, just start a debate!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“Damn it, who the hell did this…?”

As she cursed her wretched luck, Riu turned back to her work, only to accidentally knock over her water bottle. To her dismay, the bottle toppled forward, spilling water all over her laptop.

What’s worse, the laptop—despite being waterproof—shorted out entirely after just a few drops of water.

“What the hell?! Why is this happening!? Bad luck really does come all at once…”

It felt as if she’d been cursed by someone.
Or perhaps the very curse she had unleashed upon Evilus was now…

‘No way—’

Believing she was still under the spirit’s protection, Riu shook off the unsettling thought and got up to fetch a backup laptop from storage.

As she stood, the heel of her shoe broke, causing her to stumble forward and lightly injure her nose. The psychological pain of ruining a pair of shoes she’d bought less than a month ago was an added insult.

“Damn it, damn it…! What the hell is going on!?”

Left with no choice, Riu used her telepathy to contact her secretaries, instructing them to bring her a backup laptop from storage. When the secretaries entered her office and saw her with a nosebleed, they gasped in horror.

“Ma’am!? Are you okay? Should we call 119?”
“I’m fine! Just bring me the laptop!”
“But your nose is bleeding so much…”
“I said I’m fine! Where’s the laptop!?”

Even after being shouted at, the secretaries hesitated, shifting awkwardly instead of obeying her orders. Riu was about to explode with anger when one of them finally spoke up.

“T-the laptop is missing…”
“What—?! What do you mean it’s missing? I always told you to keep one in stock!”
“Well, apparently one of the staff took it home…”
“What kind of nonsense is that!?”
“They… embezzled it…”

This was a nightmare.

No laptop, a broken shoe, a slightly injured nose… Holding her throbbing nose, Riu let out a deep sigh and dismissed her secretaries with a wave of her hand.

She returned to her seat cautiously. Her mind was a mess. A part of her just wanted to drop everything and run far, far away.

—You! Are you there?!
“Yes, yes, I’m here!”

Hearing the spirit’s summons, Riu hurriedly rushed to the altar. This was more urgent than anything else. As she reached the altar, the spirit, visibly agitated, barked at her.

—The sacrifices! Are they ready yet?!
“T-they’re being prepared as we speak!”
—Hurry! Bring them at once, unless you wish to die!
“I’ll do my best…!”
—How dare you mock me… you insolent human!

Believing the spirit’s ire was directed at her, Riu tightly shut her eyes, bracing for its impending wrath. However, to her surprise, nothing happened. The spirit merely stared at her in silence.

Peeking through one eye, Riu saw the spirit scowling, as if annoyed. Its expression even carried a faint trace of unease.

Surely, a being that transcended humanity wouldn’t feel such emotions. Convinced it was just her imagination, Riu dismissed the thought and refocused on the spirit’s demands.

—Bring the sacrifices, now!
“Yes, yes!”

Still, the brief glimpse of irritation and anxiety on the spirit’s face lingered in her mind, though she chose to ignore it. For now.