Manual for Capturing Little Spiders

Ever since accepting the challenge, Jos had been racking his brains, pondering how he could possibly defeat the Card Emperor—the true god of gambling. After all, in most games, a small card meant inevitable defeat, and his “Childhood Sweethearts” ability was of no use here.

He spent a long time idly chatting with the Card Emperor, using the respite to come up with a surefire—if not victorious, at least undefeatable—strategy.

And that was the very game they were playing now.

In a deck, there were four aces. If Jos set himself and the Card Emperor as the targets for his “Childhood Sweethearts” ability, the cards they drew would be randomly selected only from those four aces.

He might not be able to win, but neither could his opponent.

To the Card Emperor and Grey, however, Jos’s maneuvers seemed unfathomably profound. Jos appeared to do nothing at all, yet he controlled the game so completely that the aces stuck to their hands like shadows to bone.

It was, in truth, a simple trick—but just as spectators at a magic show are lost in wonder, the Card Emperor and Grey found themselves utterly baffled.

As the saying goes, “Outsmarted by one’s own intelligence.” Having witnessed countless gambling tricks and sleights of hand, the more they tried to reason it out, the further they strayed from the truth.

After all, who would ever imagine that someone in this world possessed a power over causality, and would use it simply to win a few thousand dollars?

It was like using a stellar annihilation cannon to swat a mosquito.

“I… concede…” After yet another draw, the Card Emperor finally managed to force out the words.

If it had only been a defeat or two, he might not have felt so crushed. But after being thoroughly trounced by Jos’s inscrutable methods for hundreds of rounds, the god of gambling’s confidence was utterly destroyed.

“Huh? Oh, you’re done? I still have plenty of stamina left, you know. Your perseverance is really lacking, mate.” Hearing the Card Emperor’s words, Jos looked up belatedly, then, somewhat disgruntled, put away his phone.

The Card Emperor nearly spat blood at Jos’s remark.

By now, he realized that Jos’s earlier persuasive words probably stemmed from foreknowledge of this outcome—he’d been lured into making that vow from the start.

Yet among gamblers, especially those of his stature, winning and losing were everything.

He’d insisted on the match for the sake of victory, and he would accept defeat just as fully.

“I lost… Now I’ll do whatever you ask—anything at all.” With a long sigh, the Card Emperor nodded solemnly to Jos.

“No problem, no problem…” Jos, who had been waiting for this, flashed a foxlike grin, pulled out a flyer, and placed it on the table. “Now, sign up for a membership—wait, wrong one, hang on… Ah, here it is. You’ve heard of the Avengers, right?”

…

The negotiation after the match didn’t last long. The Card Emperor, true to his word, joined the Avengers without hesitation.

In the Marvel universe, organizations were rather informal; many people belonged to several at once.

Most of these groups had little in the way of mandatory obligations, meeting only when absolutely necessary, so the Card Emperor had little reason to refuse.

Having recruited someone on his very first outing, Jos was in high spirits as he headed home, pondering his next target.

But since using the Hero Locator cost a thousand points each time, he decided not to use it again for now. After all, that was the price of a ten-pull in a gacha—no matter how stingy the system, he didn’t want to waste points. Besides, pulling cards, useful or not, was just so satisfying!

“There are plenty of superheroes in New York, anyway. Speaking of which, Nick mentioned Spider-Man’s been acting strange lately, didn’t he?”

This world was even more dangerous than the original, gathering all manner of villains and lunatics.

Yet, paradoxically, it was also safer, because the superheroes had gathered as well.

Take Spider-Man’s uncle, for example—he was still alive and well. The reason? When he encountered that mugger, Ghost Rider and Daredevil happened to be having coffee nearby.

As for the outcome… Suffice it to say, that mugger would need help getting to the bathroom for the rest of his life.

But because of this, Peter Parker never truly understood the relationship between power and responsibility. Instead, he came to believe that overwhelming strength was the only real authority.

It wasn’t exactly wrong, but for a superhero, his outlook was now rather skewed.

“Hmm, this works out. Since he’s already an Avenger by rights, recruiting him comes with a bonus. That settles it!”

After a few minutes of consideration, Jos settled on his next target.

Recalling the neighborhoods Spider-Man frequented, Jos teleported to a nearby location to begin his search.

Finding Spider-Man was a minor task—after all, he swung through the city every day. It was just a matter of time.

The real challenge was persuading a Peter Parker who, not yet transformed by hardship, had already gone astray.

“Going up to persuade him directly won’t work. I don’t have the persuasive powers of the 'King of Mouths.' If I tried to talk things out with Peter Parker face to face, we’d just part on bad terms.”

Jos frowned in deep thought, knowing that if he confronted Peter now, it would end with him pinning the kid to the ground.

Well, Peter couldn’t beat him anyway, so even if he said the wrong thing—come on, take a shot at me if you dare!

Comforted by this thought, Jos felt confident. But on reflection, even if he tricked Spider-Man into joining the Avengers, the boy’s worldview would shift drastically.

In that case, if they ever faced Thanos or the Kree or some higher threat, this straight-laced hero would probably betray them on the spot.

“Troublesome… If I can’t convince him with brute force, this won’t be easy. Hm?!”

Just as Jos was pondering, something suddenly collided with his chest, stopping him in his tracks.

The person who’d run into him was sent flying backward.

His body was simply too strong. As sorry as Jos felt, there was nothing he could do about it.