Chapter Three: This Guy Wants to Go to Your Side

The reason Hayato gave the Man-Eater Bug to Yugi was, of course, not the one he had told Yugi. That was merely a pretext to ensure Yugi would accept it. This story must begin with the Custom Booster Pack that Hayato bought, a purchase he still regrets to this day.

The description for that booster pack explicitly stated that all cards contained within were supplementary cards that could be added to Hayato’s existing card pool. It also guaranteed at least one UR-level rare card and three SR-level rare cards, with every 100-pack bundle also guaranteeing R-level cards. In other words, no matter how poor Hayato’s luck was, he would at least walk away with 100 R cards, three SRs, and one UR, all of which would be compatible with his card pool—preventing a situation where he would pull a mountain of Chaos Soldier support cards while trying to play a Harpie deck.

Hayato had originally thought so as well, but to his dismay, the very thing he valued most—the "supplementary cards based on the current card pool"—turned out to be the biggest trap. This was because the pack’s logic was based on his "card pool," not his "deck." At the time of purchase, the most common components in Hayato’s deck were Warrior-type monsters, followed by four Dragon-type monsters and the Ojamas, while the most common attribute was Earth.

Thus, the first pack Hayato opened contained an incredibly powerful SR card: Grandsoil the Elemental Lord.

[Grandsoil the Elemental Lord] [8★/Earth] [Beast-Warrior/Effect] [2800/2200]

Although this monster had a formidable body, it came with the restriction that it could not be Normal Summoned and could only be Special Summoned when he had exactly five Earth-attribute monsters in his Graveyard. It also carried a negative effect: skipping his next Battle Phase after it left the field. However, its primary effect was potent enough: it could revive one monster from his or his opponent’s Graveyard to his own field—essentially a monster-effect version of Monster Reborn.

Drawing such a card, and as his very first pull, naturally delighted Hayato. But his smile vanished starting with the second pack. He opened thirty packs in a single sitting, and without exception, every guaranteed R-card was a vanilla Earth-attribute monster—ranging from Insects and Warriors to Machines, Rocks, and even a few Dragons.

The only thing that brought Hayato any solace was that, in the thirty-first pack, he finally pulled a card he had been eyeing: Gaia the Dragon Champion. Although it was just a vanilla Fusion Monster, it was the first Fusion card Hayato had ever obtained. Since it was a Dragon-type, the Dragon's Mirror that had been gathering dust in his inventory finally had a purpose.

The subsequent packs followed a pattern of one good and one bad. In the end, Hayato recycled about fifty of the cards he had pulled, netting a mere 500 DP. However, not all the remaining cards were useless; the Giant Trunade he had used before and the Man-Eater Bug he had given to Yugi were two of the UR cards he had pulled.

While he had pulled two UR cards despite the guarantee of only one, the number of SR cards was exactly ten—not one more. Aside from Gaia the Dragon Champion and Grandsoil the Elemental Lord, he had pulled a few generic Warrior-type support cards and Ojamagic, which was useful for his Ojama deck. It is worth noting that the system classified the Polymerization Spell card as an SR, and Hayato had pulled one of those as well.

When Hayato opened the fortieth pack, he remembered he had a mission to "collect cards of R-rarity or higher." After claiming the 1,000 DP reward, the mission refreshed, adding a new one:

[This Guy Wants to Go to You]
Gift someone a card of UR rarity or higher.
Reward: 1,000 DP, one random Kuriboh-series card.

After claiming the reward for completing this mission, Hayato did not check which Kuriboh card he had received. Confirming that his DP had returned to 4,500, he looked at the figure on the television screen.

"So, shall we continue the topic we were interrupted on, Mr. Pegasus? What do you think of my previous suggestion?" He swirled his glass of soda as if it were a glass of red wine, but realizing this only accelerated the escape of the carbonation, he immediately set the glass back down.

"Oh, Hayato-boy~, I must say, I am truly astonished by the novel ideas in your head." Even though the television was merely playing a pre-recorded tape, Pegasus in the video spoke to Hayato as if they were on a video call. "Continuous Spell cards, Equipment and Field spells, and those Quick-Play Spell cards that reflect Spell Speed."

"What amazes me most is the 'Trap Card' you conceived. I have always felt that Duel Monsters was missing something—the existence of traps! Interference against the opponent and counters to that interference; the appearance of traps will make Duel Monsters much more tactical. It is truly subarashii!"

"However, realizing an idea requires more than just the thought itself. On one hand, I am thrilled by your novel concepts, Hayato-boy, but on the other, I am suffering a headache trying to find the inspiration to design these trap cards. It is quite the dilemma~."

As he spoke, Pegasus in the video feigned a headache, clutching his head in a dramatic display of distress.

"Although the initial work is grueling, just imagining Duel Monsters becoming more interesting must make you look forward to what the future holds, don't you think, Mr. Pegasus?" Hayato said with a smile. "As for designing the cards? I have absolutely no doubt in your title as the 'Father of Duel Monsters'."

"Talking to you is truly an interesting affair, Hayato-boy~." Pegasus in the video smiled elegantly. "I originally sent this gift out of mere curiosity, but I never expected to encounter such a grand surprise. Would you be interested in joining Industrial Illusions? I can offer you a very high salary~."

"As much as I would like to accept, my interest lies more in using the cards than in designing them. Besides, it took me a long time studying Duel Monsters to come up with these few ideas. Even if you tempted me with a high salary, there is no more juice left to be squeezed out of me, Mr. Pegasus."

"Providing such exquisite ideas to me without compensation—it is clear that you are also a person who truly loves the game, Hayato-boy~." Pegasus looked at Hayato and nodded with satisfaction. "Is there any wish you would like to have fulfilled? My Industrial Illusions does have some financial resources, you know?"

Hayato smiled. "Mr. Pegasus, you really are incredible. It’s almost as if you have the ability to read minds. I actually do have one thing I would like to ask your help with."

"I heard from someone I know: do you have a project called 'Duelist Kingdom'?"