The Irony of Bingo and My Luck of Attraction

It was the first December I experienced after becoming a working professional.

I attended a large-scale Christmas party hosted by the local chamber of commerce.

The venue was a grand banquet hall in a luxury hotel.

In a space filled with the heat of at least 200 people, I was standing around a buffet plate with a friend who worked at another company, rather than with my own colleagues.

Back then, it was an era where everyone competed to be the most 'flashy' when it came to Christmas parties.

I, too, was dressed in an off-the-shoulder tight dress or an enamel suit that makes me feel a bit embarrassed when I think about it now.
(by PINKY&DIANNE)

I think it was because of my youth that I had a slightly edgy self-consciousness, wanting to be 'cool on the inside even if I was dressed flashily.'

After enjoying the delicious food and having a great time with a matching game where we had to find people with the same number tags, the climax of the party finally arrived.
It was the 'Bingo Tournament' where everyone participated.

I was handed a card and thought to myself.

'In a setting like this, the one thing I don't want to be is the first person to get Bingo...' Given this attire, I just wanted to be cool.

It seems that such a strong feeling of rejection gives me a strange kind of power for some reason.

'R-reach?!'

I unexpectedly got a reach, and then went on to win first prize with a 'Bingo'.

The prize was a bottle of premium 'Rémy Martin' brandy.

For someone like me who couldn't drink alcohol, it was something I wasn't the least bit happy about.

Moreover, I wanted to go out to an after-party, but I was stuck with a heavy, cumbersome bottle.

To make matters worse, the first-place winner is made to go up on stage.

I accepted the prize with an attitude so cold it made the organizers recoil, as if to say, "Seriously, I don't need this kind of thing," and quickly stepped down from the stage.

The worst of the miracles didn't end there.

The following year's Christmas party.

I strongly prayed in my heart, "I absolutely do not want to win two years in a row!"

However, my negative attraction power was still going strong.

"Bingo!" Once again, I was the first-place winner...

The second year's prize was a "translator" about the size of a paperback book that could speak five languages, which was quite expensive at the time.

Normally, I would have been overjoyed, but because of the misfortune of "why me again," I had to go up on stage with a cold, straight face once more.

The more strongly I wished against it, the more the miracle would happen.

Fearing this intense power of attraction, I began to make a conscious effort not to think about things too strongly after that.

By the third year, I didn't even attend the party anymore.

Eventually, along with the economic downturn of the era, such flashy gatherings themselves disappeared before I knew it.

By the way, this strange power of attraction was also demonstrated at the company Christmas party.

Similarly, what I won at the bingo tournament was a bottle of Yamazaki whisky.

As it was alcohol I couldn't drink, it turned out to be an ironic result, becoming a heavy burden as if to say, "Go home early."

"Why is it that people who have no desire for material things end up winning?" This might be a universal "common occurrence" at bingo tournaments.

However, the power of attraction I had while holding a bottle of Rémy Martin and a translator with a cold expression on my face is something that feels strange and a little nostalgic even now when I think back on it.

And then, it suddenly occurred to me.

"That's it! I don't need money, I don't need money," I decided to try thinking that strongly.

But I wonder, is that only for bingo?