Usogui - Vol. 41 Ch. 450 - The Wedge Driven In

[MangaDex]

 

[rennov]

Having seen the proud leader get treated like this is... getting me mixed feelings

 

[Poooqwww]

Shits getting serious

 

[Ebnu]

Thanks for the update!

Both story and art for this chapter are insane
I wonder what is it that Shion notice as Usogui mistake

 

[xkcdhawk]

Seeing them getting that sort of treatment in the past 3 rounds, I'm more surprised that neither one seemed to have a miss so far.

 

[idle_af]

I really hope their play isn't dictated solely by "having the capability to go through the torture but still create the strongest hand!!"

 

[Petrichormus]

Damn Sako Toshio sure know how to instill 'pain' in his drawing. I thought it was just going to be some pain but the imagery sure sold me good about how serious this pain is.

Edit: I have a theory about what mistake Usogui made: letting Leader undergo punishment. How dare he make me (Shion) deliver a punishment to my dear leader?

Spoiler

In the first round when Usogui lose, Shion stated that Usogui make a mistake and then follow up by apologizing to leader. He presses the button after hesitating for a few second.

In the second round, Lalo lose, so Shion who don't give a shit about Lalo immediately announce the result and press the button.

In the third round, Usogui lose. Shion once again hesitated, and causes an inconsistent timing when announcing the result.

Let's remember Usogui's question. "Who makes the poker hand? Ref or machine?".

If a ref makes it, then there should be no room for error and inconsistent announcement timing shouldn't have happened. If a machine makes it, then the same could be said as previous case. Kakerou is peerless in terms of technical issues.

So the answer is a Human, but who? Why would Kakerou ref trust someone else to do it?

If we link this question with the inconsistent announcement timing, Usogui can assume that Something is making even a Kakerou referee hesitate and is related to someone who is making the poker hands and guess what can make the infamously impartial referee drop a sweat and hesitate? Leader.

We will see Usogui's train of thought like this:

"Why would leader make an impact to this game?" Because he's participating in this game.

"He's in the ban as my ally, so he can only participate as a player." Putting two and two together Usogui can assume Hal is the one making poker hands and is a player as his ally!

Kakerou is pictured as flawless but time and time again we see that they are humans who has some attachment to ofhers too. This fact was sidelined by the fact that Shion and Takumi were seen to not have a problem bringing such a dangerous game for Leader to participate, that is until Shion finally show his weakness in the game. Takumi has just recently joined so he has no attachment to Leader, but Shion is definitely different.

 

[idle_af]

@Petrichormus
I also enjoyed Fukurou's remark (and sweat) at the end just to further highlight the fact. It's really all fucked up

 

[Naiyro]

I am really glad that we can see the whole game again from their point of view

 

[RapidLord]

I wonder by what Nowa Jr said at the end, if Hal memory loss have something to do with pain? Maybe pain will somehow stimulate his memory.

 

[belkrax]

I don't feel weird over seeing Hal treated like this, because to some degree I diferentiate between Hal and the leader Kiruma Souichi.
Anyways this is fucked up. Honestly there is also no need for this, isnt it? Whats the point on them suffering? Is just a sadistic additive to the game.

It is required that either Usogui or Lalo die, but neither Fukurou nor Hal need to die nor suffer.

 

[Veshv]

@Petrichormus
Nice theory, but it's already established as not the reason.

Spoiler

The variance in time spent announcing the results is because the decision making process is fixed at 100 seconds. As such, if the betting does not take 100 seconds, there will be a gap between the end of betting and the announcement of results. This is why there was a gap in the first and third rounds, because betting finished very fast. Whereas in the second round, Lalo actively stalled to the max time limit allowed.

In my opinion, Baku's mistake was playing 36 before 45. It could not be helped because he did not understand the Law at the start, but nonetheless, it is a mistake that cost him his singular strongest hand.

 

[Rooster]

If this if a punishment for a regular lost, then what the hell does calamity do?

 

[BossCrab]

Hal/Hachina/Souichi is a really compelling character. I'm really interested in if certain feelings or philosophies of knowledge carry over in his mind between memory loss / Kakerou imprinting, and I find it interesting that he generally speaks of himself as almost completely different people. "I was planning on continuing being the Hachina you know a while longer", "Tell me while I am Hal right now". It's almost as if he expects to become someone completely different in mind and body once he becomes "Souichi". Which, considering how he behaved in the Hangman gamble all the way up through his memory loss, seems like an accurate assessment. Souichi behaved completely differently from the Hachina and Hal we know from the Boat gamble and Portoporos. Maybe Hal already knows in his psyche that he will have to give way to Souichi again.

 

[Lithe]

Can't wait to see Fukurou suffer, mostly to see how the most uniquely drawn character in the series is depicted.

I hope he doesn't skimp out on it as there should be many more thoughts to be had.

 

[silentshot]

This is some next level horror show... My god

 

[TannHaals]

I'd thought it only triggered on a calamity, but it's actually virtual pain and for every round. Damn.
And Hal's already taken two rounds of it, he won't emerge the same after the game.