도박사 잭 II/11권

제11회 전반전

제1레이스가 시작되기 직전, 잭과 레너드가 서로의 티켓을 보여준다.

할에게도 의견을 들은 후에 번호를 고른 잭. 내용은『5 - 1 - 3 트리플에 1만 미라』── 지금까지의 승률이 가장 높은 톱 2에 최근 기세가 오르고 있는 3번을 넣은 어느 정도 안정감에 도박성을 가미한 티켓이다.

옛날과 같은 잭의 거는 방법에 「여전하군」이라며 웃는 레너드. 그의 티켓은『1 - 3 듀오에 2만 미라』── 잭은 의외라고 생각했다. 예전의 레너드였다면 여기에선 안정감 있게 「1 - 5 듀오」, 또는 조금 더 나아가서「5 - 1 더블」을 선택했을 것이다. 하지만 레너드가 선택한 것은 두 번째로 인기있는 「1」과 컨디션이 좋은 「３」의 조합. ……이것은 마치 왕년의 킹을 연상시키는 방법이었다.

「후후, 나도 정치계에서 여러 가지 일을 배워왔지.」 동요를 숨길 수 없는 잭에게 레너드가 말을 건다.

그리고 15분 후, 제1레이스의 결과가 나왔다.

1～3위는「３－１－５」── 3번이 기세를 타고 훌륭하게 1위를 차지했다.

그 결과 레너드는 적중하고, 잭은 꽝이었다. 잭의 소지금은 9만으로 줄고 레너드는 한번에 15만 가까이 늘었다.

「후후, 갑자기 맞추게 되다니 굉장하네」

그렇게 말하는 니케에게「이것도 네 덕분이야」라며 어깨를 끌어안은 레너드. 그런 두 사람의 포옹에 시선을 돌리는 잭.

「집중해, 승부는 지금부터야」라며 할이 격려한다. 하지만 6만의 차이는 결코 적은 금액이 아니었다.

제2레이스──

잭은 또 트리플에 1만 미라, 레너드는 이번에는 가볍게 멀티에 걸었다. 단, 아까 딴 5만미라를 전부 걸었다.

결과, 잭은 꽝, 레너드는 다시 적중했다. 잭의 소지금은 8만으로 줄고 레너드는 17만으로 늘었다. 이 시점으로 격차는 배 이상으로 늘었다.

제3레이스──

잭은 또다시 트리플에 1만 미라, 레너드는 조금 강하게 더블에 2만 미라. 하지만 결과는 양쪽 다 꽝.

그리고 전반을 마무리하는 제4레이스──

잭은 질리지도 않고 트리플에 1만 미라. 양보하지 않는 자세에 니케와 레너드는 쓴 웃음을 지었지만 잭은 흔들리지 않는다. 레너드는 다시 더블에──이번에는 3만.

결과는 레너드가 또다시 적중. 전반전이 끝나고 잭에게 남은 돈은 6만. 레너드는……24만, 이제 격차가 4배로 늘어났다.

「후후, 오늘은 정말로 잘되는 날이군. 그렇지, 잭？」

레너드의 도발에 대답하지 않는 잭.

후반 레이스가 시작되기 전까지 약 1시간의 휴식이 있다. 잭은 할을 재촉해 빠른 걸음으로 대기실로 향했다.

「잭, 어떻게 할 거야？ 이대로라면……」

「후반에는 조금 더 확률이 높은 티켓을……」

「아니, 그걸로는 된다고 해도 역전은 어려워.」

「나약해지면 그 시점에서 패배다. 그러니까 물러설 수는 없어.」

「그건 그럴지도 모르겠지만……」

잭도 그렇게 이야기는 했지만 구체적인 생각을 하다가 지친 상태였다. 그저 직감만을 믿고 이긴다. 라는 상태가 될 수 없다는 것은 확실하다.

「그러고 보니, 데이터를 보고나니 신경 쓰이는 점이 있는데……」라고 말하는 할. 숫자의 배열을 보고 무언가 눈치챈 모양이다.

배당률은 기본적으로 승률과 인기가 있는 팀은 낮게, 반대로 승률과 인기가 낮으면 높게──이것이 기본이다. 그러나 여기에서 행해지는 레이싱 갬블은 단순히 그것들에 의해서만 배당률이 정해지는 것이 아니다.

예를 들어 오늘 같은 빅 레이스에서는 평상시보다 할증된 배당률이 설정되어 있어 그만큼 거는 사람들이 받는 금액이 커진다. 또 계속해서 지는 팀은 승률이 낮기 때문에 높은 배당을 받고 그래서 역으로 인기를 끄는 경우도 있다. 그러는 경우, 당연히 배당률이 내려가지만 너무 떨어지지 않게 계산적으로 설정된다.

배당률에는 드라마를 연출하는 장치── 말하자면 드라마틱한 설정이 시행되고 있는 것이다. 하지만 그것을 근거로 해도 배당률에 위화감이 느껴지는 팀이 있을 거라고 말하는 할.

확인을 해보니 확실히…… 라고는 해도 오차 범위 내의 차이이므로 보통 사람에게는 눈치를 챌 수 없을 정도의 차이지만……

그 팀의 드라이버를 맡고 있는 사람은 아직 깨지지 않은 공식 레이스 연승 기록을 보유하고 지금도 현역인 최고령의 베테랑 선수── 통칭《레전드》라 불리는 카를로스였다. 하지만 최근에는 승리와 멀어져 “만년 2위의 레전드”라며 조롱받고 있다. 그는 킹의 친구이자 잭과도 과거에 면식이 있었다.

「고맙다, 할.」

「나는 잠시 나갔다 올게── 휴식이 끝나면 먼저 VIP룸에 가 있어.」

「자, 잠깐……！」

할의 대답도 듣지 않고 잭은 어디론가 사라졌다.

Chapter 11 - The First Half

Before the beginning of the first race, Jack and Leonard showed one another what betting tickets they had purchased.

Jack, after asking Halle for her opinion, eventually settled on placing ten thousand mira on a trifecta of cars 5, 1, and 3. His reasoning was that cars 5 and 1 had the highest total number of races won, while 3 had shown a lot of potential in recent races. His bet was relatively safe and grounded in logic, but with just enough of an element of unpredictability to keep things interesting.

Seeing his choice, Leonard laughed, remarking,

'Someone hasn't changed.'

His ticket, meanwhile, was an exacta box on cars 1 and 3, on which he had placed a 20,000 mira bet.

Jack was surprised. The Leonard he knew would have gone for an exacta box on cars 1 and 5, or perhaps pushed his luck slightly and gone for an exacta on cars 5 and 1. Leonard, however, had defied expectation by going for 1, the second most popular car, and the recently successful car 3. If anything, Jack thought, that was the kind of bet King would have made.

Realizing what was on Jack's mind, Leonard's smile widened. 'My time in politics has taught me a lot of things, Jack.'

Fifteen minutes later, the result of the first race came in. Car 3 had come in first place, followed by 1, then car 5 in third. Car 3 had, it seemed, shown its potential yet again.

As a result of the outcome, Leonard won his bet while Jack lost. Jack's total mira decreas while Leonard's increased to almost 150,000.

Nike giggled. 'Seems we're off to a good start.'

Leonard drew her in close and whispered in her ear, 'All thanks to you.'

Jack averted his eyes.

Halle tugged on his sleeve to get his attention.

'Don't worry, Jack, we're only just getting started!' No matter what she said, though, there was a 60,000 mira difference in their totals right off the bat, and that was a significant difference.

The second race began.

Jack once again placed 10,000 mira on a trifecta, while Leonard went with a much more certain show bet. This time, however, he placed all of the 50,000 mira he had won from the first race on it.

Once more, Jack's bet fell short and his pool of mira dropped to 80,000. Leonard, meanwhile, was successful a second time and boosted his earnings to over 170,000 mira. Leonard now had twice the amount that Jack did.

The third race began.

For a third time, Jack placed 10,000 mira on a trifecta. Leonard went for a slightly more risky bet than usual and wagered 20,000 mira on an exacta. This time, both men lost their bets.

Finally, it was time for the last race in the first half to begin. Jack, seemingly undeterred by his continual losses, once again staked 10,000 mira on a trifecta. Leonard could only sigh at Jack's refusal to learn from his mistakes, but Jack paid him no mind. For his part, Leonard went for another exacta, but this time he placed 30,000 mira on it.

Leonard won his bet, and Jack lost his.

The race over, the first half came to an end. Jack was left with only 60,000 mira, while Leonard had increased his winnings to over 240,000 mira, roughly four times the amount Jack had left.

'Haha. Luck sure seems to be on my side today, huh, Jack?' Leonard taunted. Jack said nothing.

There was a roughly hour long break between the first and second halves. After beckoning Halle to follow him, Jack walked quickly out of the room and over to their waiting area.

Barely through the doorway, Halle threw up her hands and cried, 'What're we gonna do, Jack? If we don't turn things around fast, we're screwed! We need to start making safer bets next time and--'

Jack cut her off. 'Nah. Even if we were to win bets like that, they're not gonna be enough to close the gap between us. As soon as we start thinking like that, this gamble's as good as lost.'

'Well, sure, but still...'

Contrary to Jack's seeming casualness, however, he didn't really have any better ideas than Halle did. He was racking his brain for one just as much as she was. What he DID know was that the gap between he and Leonard was too great for them to be able to win based on instinct alone.

Halle suddenly brightened. 'Oh, yeah! I did notice something that stood out in the race data...'

As a general rule of thumb, betting on popular and proven teams tended to lead to relatively low payouts if they won, while unpopular and generally unsuccessful teams gave much greater payouts.

Races held at this track were somewhat different, though. In particular, major events like the one currently underway had higher than normal payout rates, meaning that bettors received much more than they otherwise would.

As one example of this, generally, teams that consistently lost accordingly paid the highest dividends dividends on the off-chance that they won, and far from deterring bettors, this often attracted lots of people who wanted to bet on underdogs and win big. In theory, large numbers of people betting on such underdogs would make the potential payouts decrease, but the payout rates were adjusted to make sure they didn't fall too much in order to keep things exciting for the gamblers who were betting.

Even factoring in all of that, Halle went on, there was one team whose potential payout seemed odd. Jack had a look, and sure enough, he found himself agreeing. It wasn't odd to the extent that the average person would notice, but she wasn't wrong.

The driver for that team was a man named Carlos, a real veteran racer who held the current official record for the most consecutive victories. It was an achievement that had earned him the nickname 'Legend.'

In recent years, however, he'd stopped winning at all, a fact that had led to more and more people calling him 'Legendary Loser' instead. He was also an old friend of King's. Jack himself had met the man, too.

Jack chewed over her finding for a minute then said,

'Thanks for the tip, Halle. I'm just gonna step out for a bit, okay? Soon as our break's over, head back on over to the VIP room without me.'

'W-Wait a second!' she shouted after him, but he paid her no mind and strolled nonchalantly out of the room.