5 of hearts.
The card that Brian pulled out was a 5 of hearts.
Considering that Donald had a total of 20, while Jack had a total of 16 before this, it was just the right card to give him a 21, allowing him to secure the game. Seeing this, Donald immediately slammed both hands on the table.
"This is ridiculous! You definitely did something to give him that five!"
In response, Brian simply raised an eyebrow and shrugged his shoulders.
"Is that so? It sounds more like that someone is just being a sore loser since lady luck didn't favor them."
Donald clenched his fist and glared at him.
"There's no way! The two times you encourage him to hit a card just so happen to be the perfect number he needed for a 21?"
Brian chuckled and opened his eyes ever so slightly.
"Yeah. So what about it? I'm just goading the kid to do some things and he happens to do them which just so happen to go well. I'm sure you were very aware of the chances of things going well, as it wasn't exactly good advice. Or would you like to get advice from me too?"
Donald looked like he was about to throw hands. Though eventually, he did contain his anger and sat back down.
"...Just give me the damn fingernail remover."
Brian smiled and did just that, sliding it over.
"You know the drill, five minutes."
Donald took a deep breath, this time putting his pinky in, and resolutely broke it off a few minutes later. The pain was clearly getting to him as sweat had formed on his forehead, but he was otherwise fine.
After completing the process, Brian handed the printed card to Jack with a smile.
"It looks like you are the winner, now having five wins! You can choose whether or not the two of you continue, but if you don't then only you will be the winner."
Donald waved his hand with a glum expression.
"Just get me out of here. I don't have any cards to bet in the first place. Since the wins only count if you have cards to bet with, it doesn't really matter."
Jack tilted his head to the side while putting a finger on his chin.
"Aw... that's sad! It would be better if both of us could win!"
Brian let out a small chuckle.
"Well, if you lose some bets, then he will have some cards to play with. Then the both of you could win."
Donald clicked his tongue.
"There's no need for that. This is my loss, and that's it."
Jack let out a giggle.
"What do you mean? Both of us can win! Let's just keep going until that happens!"
With that, he set down a two down as his bet, prompting Brian to deal the initial cards to both of them. Although Donald looked a tad bit frustrated, he decided he might as well go along with it if the both of them could actually pass the test.
When the both both of them were dealt cards, Jack immediately called out that he wanted to stand. However, Brian smiled awkwardly in response.
"Ah, this wasn't something I mentioned, but as a rule, I must force a player to hit if their total is 11 or under for the sake of guiding newbies."
Jack scratched the side of his head awkwardly.
"Oh... ok."
He was dealt a 6, a 4, and an 8 making his total 18.
As for Donald, he was dealt a Queen of clubs and a 6, which made his total 16.
Now the deck was gone, prompting Brian to shuffle the discard pile and begin dealing cards again. Then, out of what was pretty much forced, Donald asked for another card.
Which was a King, meaning he went bust.
And once again, Donald lost a fingernail. He cursed after this.
"Just end it already, I want to go back now!"
Brian raised an eyebrow and looked at Jack.
"So, would you like to continue?"
Jack puffed up his cheeks and nodded.
"If both people can win then it's better that they both win!"
And he placed another 2 down.
Then after a few cards were dealt, he won again, prompting Donald to remove another fingernail.
"Stop! Stop continuing! I'm already the loser, so stop this already!"
Donald was quite desperate at this point. As for Brian he frowned and looked at Jack.
"Um, would you like to continue? Although he says that, eventually he should be able to win too, right?"
Jack thought for a while before nodding once more.
"Yeah!"
And with that same pattern, they played another six games. All six of which Jack won.
For some reason, despite the fact he would stand on values like 13, Donald would somehow go bust. And when Jack decided to hit on values like 18, 19, and even 20, he got the perfect card to bring his total to 21. After that, he was forced to stand, meaning he won once more.
And at this point, Donald had lost all of his fingernails, just to make up for the compensation. His eyes were fully bloodshot at this point as stress-induced tears were falling from his face. While he resolutely removed every single fingernail, his hands now had a violent tremor to them, clearly showing how much pain they were in.
"Stop! Stop already! This entire thing has to be rigged to make me lose! Just stop, I've already lost and don't even have any fingernails left to pay for compensation!"
Brian shot a smile towards Jack.
"It appears our friend here has lost hope due to his unfortunate luck. Although he can't properly pay for the punishment for two, he still has all ten fingers, meaning a three could work. Why don't we play until he wins so that he gets some confidence back?"
Jack smiled and gave him a thumbs up.
"That sounds great!"
Donald slammed his hands on the table once more, which was quite painful without fingernails. However, his rage seemed to be greater than the pain he was feeling.
"Just stop! Stop! I said stop! The game is rigged so that only one person can win! Can't you see that already? Let me go! Let me go now!"
Jack pouted and put down a three.
"Aw... don't worry, Donald! You'll win soon, you have to!"
And then Donald lost once more.
This time, Brian tossed him a bloody and rusted knife.
"You have ten minutes to provide a finger as compensation."
While breathing like a horse that just ran a marathon, Donald resolutely chopped off a pinky within just thirty seconds. Immediately after, he got bandages to wrap the wound and stop the bleeding.
"Fuck... just stop this game already..."
Yet, just like a curse Jack continued to win unwillingly, despite whatever bad plays he made. Over, and over again. Donald's unbelievably strong willpower to live was shown through him taking off his fingers one by one until one of his hands only had a stump left.
"Don't worry Donald! I'm sure you'll win soon!"
Jack gave words of encouragement, but although they were done with the best of intentions, they only served to aggravate Donald further. All he wanted was to be released of this fate and return back to the first floor, for another chance at promotion later. Unfortunately, it didn't seem that Jack understood this, thinking that Donald was just being humble.
Donald had taken out bandages to stop the bleeding, so that he didn't die of blood loss. Though veins had bulged from his head, showing the immense stress he was under.
Practically the entire time, he was screaming his head off, desperately trying to get Jack to quit. However, just a few words from Brian were enough to dispel all of that, prompting him to continue the game once more. Just so that he would win, despite the fact his wins already reached double digits and Donald still only had two.
And at this point, Donald felt his sanity begin to slip away.
"Please... just stop... just stop..."
He couldn't take the slow and persistent torture.
Once again, Brian handed over the knife still covered in fresh blood with a smile.
"Please provide compensation within-"
"TO HELL WITH YOUR COMPENSATION!"
Donald grabbed the knife and rushed to Jack, in an attempt to stab him. Despite this, Jack only watched on curiously, without a single hint of fear. And right when the knife was just a few centimeters away from his eye, Donald suddenly slammed into the ground like a pancake.
"Now, now... while there are no rules stopping you from attacking anyone here, you should also know there are no rules stopping me from killing you either."
Brian spoke up, but his words came out more slowly than before and were just a tad bit deeper than usual. One of his eyes had opened up all the way, which glowed brightly almost like neon.
There was no sclera, nor was there a pupil. Instead, there seemed to be a vast starry sky within his eye, along with several planets like the Earth and moon that were slowly moving around within.
As for Donald, he was brought up from the ground, but it was as though he was a puppet being brought up by strings. Eventually, he was hoisted and forced back onto his seat like a toy.
With an ever-growing smile, Brian stared at Donald's trembling figure.
"Oh my... I wonder what would happen to you if for whatever reason... you were unable to provide compensation? Perhaps if you were simply unable to pick up the knife to get your finger off in the first place?"