Jack read over everything. Once he was confident that he remembered everything, he raised his hand.
"I'm ready!"
Brian nodded a few times.
"Very well. As for the specifics of tipping, what you are allowed to do is only shown after you receive a tip. Unless you have trustworthy information that originates from other hosts, then there is no way to know prior. In other words, despite my experience, I have no idea what they are either."
Jack giggled, taking a step towards the pedestal.
"Then let's find out!"
Brian let out a chuckle, placing his checkered host pass on top of the pedestal.
"We can only hope that our friends will be generous, even if the trend is silent refusal."
Four finger-like black pieces of marble burst out from the sides of the pedestal and grabbed onto the pass. Then, black chains burst out from under both Brian and Jack, wrapping around their bodies before dragging them into the ground like they were actually standing on water.
And with that, the two of them appeared in a red velvet room with a poker table.
Brian was already seated in the position of the dealer, while Jack was standing on the opposite side. He looked around for a while before attempting to walk forward, but there was an invisible restriction that prevented him from getting within a meter of the poker table.
While Jack was pondering over that, he saw flashes of light appear in all of the eight empty seats, now no longer empty.
The eight people who appeared at least slightly wary, with most of them looking left and right, almost making them look paranoid. Jack clapped a few times quite happily.
"Hello, everyone! Why don't we all start by introducing ourselves? My name is Jack!"
Brian let out a chuckle. After pushing back his long blonde hair behind his ear, he grabbed the cards and began shuffling them.
"And my name is Brian. I will explain the rules shortly after introductions."
He then gestured towards the man on his left, prompting that man to respond with a smile that was a borderline smirk.
"Alright then. My name is Maverick Malone, heh."
The way Maverick said that made it seem like that wasn't truly his name, but rather some sort of stage name. Despite his childish behavior, he was a middle-aged man with stubble on his chin. He had a black brim hat on, and paired with his sharp jawline he would be considered handsome.
The woman next to him let out a sigh.
"If it is necessary... my name is Samantha."
Samantha had long and wavy black hair along with piercing green eyes, almost making her seem like a witch. She had black robes on that had a few frills, but an overall muted design. She crossed her legs and had an annoyed look.
"Oh, it's been a while since I've done this. My name is Leo. I'm not too familiar with these kinds of games, so please teach me!"
A young man with a bright look spoke up. While he didn't exactly look clueless, he also didn't seem to be one who overthought things. Along with messy blonde hair, he had several pieces of cheap jewelry on him such as necklaces and rings. They were far from gaudy though, and instead gave off the feel of a trinket collector.
"My name is Nina."
Nina had short and tidy brown hair, along with a tightly fitting suit. She sat with a back straight like a board. There was a neutral frown that rested on her face, one that clearly didn't care for the round of introductions but went along with it, if only to make it go by faster.
"I'm Ava. Hopefully, we can have a fun game. I don't want to deal with more softies if I'm being honest."
The girl who had spoken up had black hair, though a small lock of hair was dyed blonde at her front. She had a confident smile on her face, one that would only be worn by those who thought they were superior to everyone else. Her body, while not at the level of professional bodybuilders, was also not far off. Simply the shape of her arm was enough to tell she worked out.
"Hahaha, I like the way you talk. And you got the looks to match those words. Oh yeah, my name's Victor. Definitely not a softie."
Victor was relatively fit, though still not to Ava's standard, the kind that was built up by a casual athlete. He had longer than usual brown hair and was notably looking at Ava, clearly quite interested in her.
"U-Um... I think I'm supposed to go now? I'm Max."
A kid no older than fifteen with red hair was sitting with both hands on his thighs. He had freckles along with a somewhat confused look on his face. Even considering the place he was in, his clothes were noticeably ragged. They were marks of wear and stains that showed years of use. Disregarding Jack, he was an oddly young person within the crowd of others.
"...Emily."
The last person was a young woman. She wore a green hoodie and had long hazel hair along with bright emerald eyes. However, her countenance was quite gloomy, with her eyes naturally narrowed, making her look like she was constantly glaring. There appeared to be something bothering her.
Brian clapped twice.
"Alright. Now that we all know each other, let's go over the rules."
He proceeded to go over the rules, not word-for-word as it was described in the system's given explanation, but close enough. After explaining how playing cards could be used as stake or changing out a card in your hand, he talked about tips.
"Along with that, you can give tips to either me or my assistant with your cards. They are very much appreciated."
Jack tilted his head to the side and pointed at his own face with a smile.
"You can give it to either of us if you want to! We are friends, so we don't mind if only one of us gets it."
Samantha raised her eyebrow with disdain after hearing that. She was clearly not someone that tipped if possible.
"Yeah... alright."
Nina hadn't reacted at all, seemingly filtering that information out of her mind. Max sheepishly raised one hand.
"C-Can we tip using cards that aren't in the playing deck? I mean, if we need 50 coins to win, using the playing cards helps a lot."
Brian flashed a gentle smile with his closed eyes.
"No, you must use your playing cards. Also, they are chips, not coins."
Max nodded sheepishly, putting one hand on the back of his head.
"O-Oh... ok. Sorry, I um... if I didn't have to use my playing cards, I would definitely give a tip."
Maverick held out one hand to the side.
"Look, just because you're blind and need an assistant even to be a dealer doesn't mean we have any obligation to support you. Pitiful don't mean it's our responsibility."
Ava crossed her arms and let out a laugh.
"Hah, well said."
Victor hurriedly spoke up.
"Ah, I also think that as well..."
Brian cast a look over at Jack, one that seemed to give the impression of shrugging his shoulders despite not actually doing so. Jack himself was still smiling brightly, not minding it all too much.
"That's ok! I guess all of you think it isn't right to give things away for free. Hehe, one of my friends taught me that too!"
Brian laughed gently as he began dealing the cards, chips appearing out of thin air next to the respective player as he did so.
"Very well, let us start with the game then."
After he finished, he paused for a moment.
"Say, Jack. Do you have the big blind and small blind tokens? I don't seem to have them here. Unless the two to my left already have it, then it's fine."
Jack blinked a few times before reaching into his pocket, and pulling out two tokens, one dark blue and another yellow that definitely weren't there before.
"Ah, I do."
Brian gestured towards Maverick.
"Good, good. Please put the small blind to him and the big blind to the person on his right."
After those words were said, Jack found the barrier around Maverick and Samantha had disappeared. He happily bounced up before placing those tokens down. The moment he did, one of Maverick's chips suddenly went forward while two of Samantha's had as well.
The entire time the table was being set up, Emily was mumbling to herself. Jack could only make it out after being allowed to step up closer to the table.
"Mimi... oh, Mimi, you must still be alive, right? You have to be... don't worry, I'll find you. I swear I will."
Jack lost his smile for a moment, looking over at Emily curiously.
"Mimi? I have a friend whose name is just like that!"
Emily abruptly stopped and turned to him.
"You know Mimi?"