Max followed Nina's example and took out a full set of 2's, turning all of them into chips. With an influx of 8 chips, he now had 9 total. Still, things were looking quite grim for him.
Upon hearing Brian's reminder, Maverick, Samatha, and Ava were all also given a heads-up. Although their situation wasn't so drastic that they only had one chip, the three of them only had 5. If they ever wanted to make a bet over 5 chips, then they would have to risk losing the game right then and there.
Obviously, that would put them in a rather vulnerable position.
Although Maverick was a bit slow, still recovering from his injuries, all three of them did the same thing as the other, bringing out all of their 2's to convert into chips. Their total went from 5 chips to 13 each.
Max slowly came to terms with things and wiped his tears away. All things considered, he moved on quite quickly. However, right after recovering, he furrowed his brows for a little while. First, he looked at Emily but after a while, his gaze shifted to Leo.
"You still have all your playing cards, don't you? You could just use them to increase your chips and leave! Why haven't you done it already?"
He recognized that Emily had given most of her cards to tip, so she obviously didn't have much remaining. However, Leo hadn't used a single one of his. Of course, there was always the possibility that he simply didn't have any, but it was an unlikely one given he had reached the borders.
The smile on Leo's face had changed by an almost unnoticeable degree. Despite being practically the same, there was a strange feeling of hostility behind it. He stiffly pointed at a clipping of a bunny on his ear.
"Why would I do that? It's not as though I'm the only one with a considerable amount of cards. My bunny is telling me that I shouldn't quit now. Besides, there's still so much fun to be had!"
Max pouted, quite upset with what he was hearing.
"She can't because she already gave them away! But you can. You can just choose to win, right now, I know you can! That makes things better for everybody if you do, that's why you should do it!"
Leo let out a harsh laugh, before losing his smile. He dropped all pretenses.
"Correction. If I choose to use all I have to win right now, that makes it better for everybody else here, not me. After all, I've already won once. What's to say that I won't win again? And again? Every chip I get gives me more cards, so if I keep winning, then the value of the cards I get might be enough to set me up for the entirety of the second floor!"
His smile returned along with his naive look.
"Of course, I'm not going to push my luck that far. If I can get enough to win, then I might stay for one or two more games before getting out. And if that ends up making someone else lose, then too bad. I know that every single one of you would do the same if not worse if you could."
With the exception of Jack and Seedy, everyone else was silent. A strange heavy feeling permeated the air that was somehow magnified by how careless Jack and Seedy were taking the situation.
Almost like his laughs were at them.
Brian's expression didn't change the entire time, as though that whole conversation was just a gentle breeze passing by. He simply began dealing the cards as that silence lingered, which automatically made Leo put 1 chip down and Nina 2, for their blinds.
Jack turned his attention over to the new match, wanting to take a peek at what would happen next. Once again, Brian switched out one of the cards in order to benefit Emily. This time, it was the card that would be revealed on the Turn, or the fourth card out of five. Emily had a King and a 7 in her hand. Someone else also had a King and a 5.
With that in mind, he switched out a 5 and replaced it with a King.
Something different Jack noticed this time though, was that instead of being able to see every single card, there was one card he couldn't see. Specifically, the card that was supposed to appear in the River, or in other words the last card of five.
Now that he thought about it, other than the cards in the player's hands, he wasn't able to preemptively see any of the cards dealt from the house on the first round. It seemed that the ability of foresight was something that Brian controlled, presumably from Emily tipping him.
Maverick was staring at Brian rather intently. He seemed to have realized that something fishy was going on but didn't comment on it. The part of his face he covered served as a grim reminder of pushing his beliefs, and he had no intentions of even trying anymore.
Maverick, Victor, and Max all folded. Their cards were all 10 or lower. Max notably had a two pair though, which would've let him win. However, he simply didn't have enough faith in his cards.
Leo thought for a little while but folded as well despite the small blind forcing him to put one chip in the middle.
The remaining four all put two chips in and waited to see the flop.
It was a 4 of spades, 8 of spades, and a 9 of hearts.
Ava was the first person to go. She had an Ace of Spades and a Jack of hearts, meaning there were no matches. After thinking for a little while, she looked at her 11 remaining chips and checked.
Next was Emily. She looked at her cards, a King of diamonds and 7 of spades. Like with Ava, she only had a high card of King. After deliberating for a little while, she simply checked.
Samatha had a King of clubs and a 5 of clubs. With also a high card King, she ended up checking as well.
Nina briefly glanced at everyone else. With a Jack of spades and an 8 of diamonds, she saw that there was a pair. It wasn't a particularly high one, but considering everyone else had checked, it was unlikely they had anything meaningful.
That in turn, gave her card more value.
With that in mind, she put down 4 chips.
As it would turn out, her idea worked quite well as Ava folded without a second thought, not willing to take on that level of risk. With the turn so suddenly shifted onto her, Emily furrowed her brows, clearly not too keen on continuing further on this.
Though before she made her decision, Jack had come over and whispered in her ear once more.
"King of hearts."
This time, it was far more blatant. Instead of only Maverick, everyone else had noticed as well. Even if only Emily heard it, the gist of what was said wouldn't be that hard to guess. For a while, everyone just stared at Jack, both baffled and hesitant. Eventually, Max spoke up.
"You..."
However, he couldn't even make it to the second word. Although a bit slow, he was still able to recall what happened to Maverick like the others. In the end, not wanting to bring anything onto himself, he shut up.
Emily naturally noticed this attention and felt a little bit awkward. Considering Jack had once more given her a hint, it seemed that she would probably win this one as well even though her current position wasn't the most favorable.
Now that everyone had at least a strong suspicion of what was going on, it felt rather shameless to take advantage of the situation. However, Emily only hesitated for a brief moment.
Like Leo had said before, each person here was looking out for themselves first and foremost. If they were going to sacrifice something, it wasn't going to be for someone else's sake.
She placed down 4 chips, matching Nina's bet. Although she could've put more, there was still plenty of time before the last round of betting.
Samatha immediately folded with a sigh. Although it was a decision she was very likely going to make anyway, it still felt bad when it was forced upon her. However, the person in a far worse mood was Nina.
Doubts crept into her mind. She began wondering if she was just overthinking things. Perhaps it was just a passing comment that was completely unrelated. But what exactly were the chances of that?
While she was in turmoil, Brian dealt the next card, and as it would turn out it was that King of hearts.
And it was once again Nina's turn. But she found herself paralyzed, unable to make a decision.