𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐒

𝐊𝐘𝐔-𝐑𝐈 𝐖𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐔𝐏 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐀 𝐉𝐎𝐋𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐂 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆. It was classical, sounded like something a high school orchestra could play.

𝐒𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 up awkwardly, Kyu-ri processed her current situation. There seemed to be hundreds of people in the room, all waking up, but Kyu-ri didn't know for sure.

𝐒𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐲, hesitantly, she climbed out of her bed, glancing around.

“𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 number eight.” A soft voice said from behind her. “Huh?”

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 immediately turned around, only to be met with the face that looked like a highschooler. The girl just blinked at Kyu-ri for a few seconds.

“𝐎𝐧 your jacket.” She then said, pointing at at a spot on the left side of Kyu-ri's jacket.

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 looked down, noticing the number. It was 008.

“𝐀𝐧𝐝 it's on your back, too.”

“𝐎𝐡, that makes sense I guess.”

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 paused, looking at the younger girl's jacket. Her number was 237.

“𝟐𝟑𝟕,” Kyu-ri began, “Like the Arsonson sequence number.” running her finger through her hair as she spoke.

“𝐀 what sequence?” “Oh, nothing.”

“𝐈𝐟 I'm 008 and you're 237, how many people are here?”

“𝟒𝟓𝟔.”

“𝐍𝐨𝐰 how did you come with that num—” “Look. It says 456 up there.” The younger girl cut Kyu-ri off, pointing somewhere.

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 turned to see where she was pointing.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 girl as right.

𝐈𝐭 said 456 people were there.

“𝐇𝐮𝐡...” “I guess a lot of people need money, huh?”

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 the younger girl asked Kyu-ri that, she about made a remark on how she looked to young to be desperate for money, but a commotion stopped her.

“𝐘𝐨𝐮 little shit!”

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 turned to the voice to see a circle of people. It looked like a cult, everyone was circled up around something.

“𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 them!”

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 was the sound of laughter, not funny giggling, no. The laugher belonged to someone who was cruel.

𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲, Kyu-ri ran over to see.

“𝐈𝐭 really is a small word, huh? Look at those eyes. You still have the same temper. Huh.”

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 pushed past the crowd of people, trying to see what was happening.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 was when she saw it. There was a girl, a few years older than Kyu-ri herself standing in the center. Then there was a man. The laughter had belonged to him and he seemed angry. Livid, even.

“𝐁𝐮𝐭, the again... nobody broke your spirit. You could always take a hit. I took care of you, I fed you, I taught you when you had nowhere else.”

𝐁𝐮𝐭 while Kyu-ri watched this interaction, she couldn't help but feel like she saw that girl before. She couldn't help something screaming in the back of her mind that she recognized her, that she was a familiar face.

“𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 is what I get?”

“𝐘𝐨𝐮 took more from me than whatever I might possibly owe.”

“𝐈𝐟 all of that's true, how come you ran then?”

“𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, I didn't. I went independent.”

𝐓𝐡𝐞 man, the one with 101 on his back began to laugh at her, but he clearly was trying to hold it back.

“𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭?” He repeated it as a question.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 man took in a sharp breath before swinging. The punch was just thrown, uncoordinated, all force, easy to dodge.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 girl did dodge the punch, to which Kyu-ri would've actually cried from secondhand embarrassment if she hadn't.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 people who had formed the circle to watch began to gasp, to step back, to get away from the whole situation.

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 stayed where she was standing.

𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 even more upset from his failed attempt to pound her face in, the man ran up to the girl, grabbed her by he jacket and kicked her into the ground.

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 the girl tried to stand up, she was grabbed once again and pushed back into the ground.

𝟏𝟎𝟏 walked up to her, slowly, casually, as if he wasn't beating the shit out of her and kicked her in the stomach.

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 could hear the little noises of pain escape her lips. She recognized them from her mother. She remembered them when her grandfather would abuse her, thinking that nobody else would ever notice.

𝐁𝐮𝐭 Kyu-ri always noticed.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 girl panted, desperate for air to find its way to her lungs.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 man leaned over, grabbing a handful of her hair. The shock only spread more among the people in the room.

“𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭, huh? Are you some kind of activist? Come on then, go wave a flag. Oh, that's right, you're from North Korea, huh? Then wave theirs. Hmm?”

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 furrowed her brows at this comment. So, the girl was a defector, then. But why did that make her any less? Clearly everyone else in the room was desperate for money that they signed up to be kidnapped, even if they didn't know that the last part would happen.

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 still called the number on the shady business card.

“𝐃𝐚𝐦𝐧 you!” The man held onto her jacket again, getting ready to attack.

𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 another man kicked him out of the way, grabbing the girl for himself.

“𝐇𝐞𝐲, you, come here. Hold still.”

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 watched carefully as he practically manhandled her. It came soon as a realization that she was standing closest to the fight now, but she didn't care.

“𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 scar on your neck. You're the damn pickpocket! You loser!”

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 comment made Kyu-ri remember.

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 had seen that girl when she was running with In-su. She had tripped over a man, who was the one with 456 on his back, the one who was currently holding onto the girl.

𝐁𝐮𝐭 Kyu-ri then pickpocketed the pickpocket. She took the money that the girl took from 456.

“𝐌𝐲 money, give it back. Where is it?”

𝐓𝐡𝐞 whereabouts of the money actually lied with Ji-hyo. But the man would probably never know that. And thankfully.

“𝐘𝐨𝐮 took it, I need it— Ah!” 101 punched 456, knocking him over and off the girl.

“𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 the hell?”

“𝐖𝐡𝐨 are you?” “Uh...” “What do you think you're doing?”

“Me? Uh, well... look,” 456 began, swiping the hair that fallen in his face to the side. “The name's Seong Gi-hun. I live in Ssangmun-dong.”

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 couldn't help but since at this exchange. He asked who you were, not your life story... Dumbass.

“𝐇𝐞𝐲, Ssangmun-dong shit.” “Yeah?”

“𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 little bitch and I weren't done talking.”

“𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐡, I understand that. It's just that there's something that me and this... woman should talk about urgently.”

“𝐘𝐨𝐮 bastard! What scheme are you two running?”

𝐆𝐢-𝐡𝐮𝐧 laughed, slightly awkwardly at this question. “You're asking me? What's your problem with this girl, 101? Yeah, I'll be that, uh, that you're a thug who prays on girls and takes advantage of them. Did you tell her to rob me like that?”

“𝐘𝐨𝐮 son of a bitch!”

“𝐆𝐞𝐭 away! Hey!”

𝐆𝐢-𝐡𝐮𝐧 walked backward, away from 101.

“𝐇𝐞𝐲, wants to hit me! This thug is trying to hit me, huh! Hey, somebody get over here! We need help!”

𝐈𝐧 a quick motion, Kyu-ri grabbed the girl, 067, and dragged her away from the two men.

“𝐇𝐞𝐲, are you okay?”

𝐓𝐡𝐞 girl pushed away from Kyu-ri, standing up right by herself.

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧, a buzzer went off.

“𝐎𝐡! Oh there they are! Over here. She'll pick all our pockets, sir.”

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 scoffed at this.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 can't pick an empty pocket.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 with the new outfits everyone was given, they didn't have any of their belongings.

“𝐇𝐢𝐦 too. They both... They'll pick...”

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 got a nice look at the people who had walked in. They were wearing pink jumpsuits and each had mask. Right with a circle, one with a square.

“𝐈 would like to extend a heartfelt welcome to you all. Everyone here will participate in six different games in the next six days. Those who win all six games will receive a handsome cash prize.”

“𝐀𝐧𝐝 why would we believe that?” A voice suddenly called out. “Y— You took all our stuff and put us to sleep coming here, and then you brought us to this strange warehouse. Now you're saying you'll pay us if we go and play a few games? You really expect us to buy that?”

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 glanced over at the guy who the voice belonged to, crossing her arms over her chest. I mean, I almost bought it for second.

𝐁𝐮𝐭 Kyu-ri couldn't help but wonder how much money there was. And what the catch was. Because nobody just gives out money for playing a few games.

“𝐖𝐞 reluctantly took all of those measures to maintain confidently as we brought you here. We'll return everything once the games are over. ”

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞. Kind of, at least.

𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲... no. Not reasonable at all.

“𝐘𝐨𝐮 all... you all have masks. Why are you wearing those things?”

“𝐖𝐞 do not disclose the faces and personal information of our staff to any of the participants. It's a measure we take to ensure fair games and confidentiality. Please understand.”

“𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, I don't believe you one bit. You got that? You tricked us. We were kidnapped. You can make as many excuses as you want to make sure nobody knows you broke the law in here. If you're going to make up for that, then we're gonna need something more.”

“𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 218. Cho Sang-woo. Age, 46 years. Former team leader of Team Two at Joy Investments. Siphoned money off from his clientd' balances, then invested it in derivatives and futures options and failed. Current loss, 650 million won.”

“𝐇𝐞𝐲, dipshits, did you strip me when you put me into this?” Kyu-ri yelled out, pushing her towards the front of the room, through the other 455 people.

𝐇𝐞𝐫 question was then not only ignored, but Kyu-ri was then shown on the screen next.

“𝟎𝟎𝟖, Yoon Kyu-ri, 121 million in debt. 107, Kim Mi-ok, 540 million in debt. 118, Oh Yeong-uk, 1.02 billion in debt. 332, Jung Min-tae, 880 million in debt. 119, No Sang-hun, 1.39 billion in debt. 369, Park Ju-hun, 900 million in debt.”

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 were being singled out, one by one.

“𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 person here in this room is living on the brink of financial ruin. You all have debts you can't pay off. When we first went to see you, not a single one of you trust us. But as you all know, we played a game, and as we promised, gave you money when you won. And suddenly, everyone here trusted us.”

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 everyone here was desperate for money. When they're promised money, people who need money trust them.

𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 it was greedy, but it was needed.

“𝐘𝐨𝐮 called and volunteered to participate in this game of your own free will. So this is it. I'll give you one last chance to choose. Will you go back to living your old and depressing lives, getting chased by your creditors? Or will you act and seize this last opportunity we're offering here?”

“𝐇𝐞𝐲! Which games are we playing here? In order to play fair, we cannot disclose any information about the games ahead of time.”

“𝐎𝐧𝐞 question.”

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 turned towards Gi-hun, the one asking. He looked like he was in school again, raising his hand.

“𝐈𝐟 we win, just how much do we get?”

𝐓𝐡𝐞 square mask guard raised his hand, which was holding a remote and clicked a button.

𝐒𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐲, a light began to shine, hovering above the center of the room and slowly spreading out. Seo-byeol looked up at the source. A piggy bank. A piggy bank that was slowly lowering into the room.

𝐓his was accompanied by some music that sounded like it would play after you completed a level on a video game.

“𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 prize money will accumulated in there after every game. We will disclose the amount to everyone after the first game us over. If you do not wish to participate, then please let us know at this time.”

𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 like that, there were lines. People were lining up to sign papers.

𝐎𝐟 course everyone wanted to participate. What had they told them to make them not want to? Nothing.

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 wait in her line for a bit, behind about ten people. It took about three minutes for all ten people to sign their paper and move.

𝐇𝐞𝐫 eyes skimmed over the clauses, reading them carefully.

“𝐒𝐨 this is—”

𝐓𝐡𝐞 pen slipped out of Kyu-ri's hands.

“𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐭.”

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 leaned down, eyes flickering over the floor. Her hands scrambled to grab the pen, but she couldn't find it.

“𝐈'𝐦 sorry, do you have another pen? I... I can't find it.”

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢'𝐬 question was met with complete silence.

“𝐔𝐦...”

𝐒𝐡𝐞 looked down at the paper, then back up. When Kyu-ri looked up, the circle masked person was holding a pen in front of her face.

“𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬...”

“𝐇𝐞𝐲, hurry up, would you?” A man from behind her suddenly said.

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 turned around, facing the man. It was the same man from the betting station. When she noticed this, Kyu-ri scoffed, a sharp huff coming out of her mouth.

“𝐒𝐡𝐮𝐭 the fuck up.”

𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 back around, Kyu-ri quickly signed her name, placing the pen down with the rest of the unsigned contracts.

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 Kyu-ri went to step out of line, she was pushed forward into the ground.

“𝐘𝐨𝐮 know, that's the problem with bitches these days. You think you're so tough, you think you owe us men nothing.”

𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 a sharp grunt, Kyu-ri tried to stand up, only to be pushed right back down. Her cheek pressed up against the cold ground, a harsh sting throbbing in her lungs as her throat began to dry up.

“𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 down.” The man ordered, kicking her back when she tried to crawl up to her feet for a third time.

“𝐎𝐰...”

“𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 right, feel the pain.”

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 the man turned back around, Kyu-ri's body stuttered to its feet. A few sharp coughs escaped her mouth as she scrambled to the back of the room.

“Attention, all players.
The first game is about to begin.”

𝐊𝐲𝐮-𝐫𝐢 reached into her pocket, feeling a smile sneak onto her face.

“𝐆𝐨𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐚, little pen...” She whispered to herself.