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tw: mention of drug use

I hide under a random bed, slightly peering out to see Su-bong search for me as the names and debts are called out, but he eventually gives up and goes back to the crowd, but I refuse to risk it and still stay hidden under the bed.

He's gonna fuck up my plan, what the hell is he doing here? I figured out a fake name and identity and everything, I haven't seen him in years, why now?

Out of the years I prayed to see him again, out of all the moments I cried hoping he'd come back, why this year? Why now?

"Player 100, Im Jeong-dae, ten billion won in debt." What the fuck? He better hope he wins this, he sure needs it.

"Who is it?" The players whisper out of curiosity.

"What are you looking at? Do you think it's easy to get a ten-billion-won loan? They don't lend that kind of money to just anyone. Only to those who are capable of paying it back."

"Yet, you still haven't paid it back. There's a reason you're here, fucking idiot." I mumble, but unfortunately for me, the whole room is silent after him yelling, so the whole room hears my mumble and bursts into eruptions of laughter, I notice that Su-bong looks around immediately, instantly recognising my voice, but he can't identify where the familiar voice is coming from.

"All of you in this room have crippling debts and are now on a cliff-edge. When we first came to you, you did not trust us either. But as you know, we played a game and gave you money as promised. And so you trusted us and volunteered to participate according to your own free will. You have one last chance to decide. Do you want to live like a piece of trash, running from creditors? Or will you seize the last opportunity we are offering?"

The ceiling then violently rumbles, and some sort of weird arcade music begins to play and a gold piggy bank is slowly being lowered to which everyone gazes up in awe.

"What you see now is the piggy bank where your valuable prize money will be stored. After each of the six games you will play, the prize money will accumulate in this piggy bank." The guard explains as the music begins to intensify but suddenly stops.

"How much is the prize money?" A man inquires.

"The prize money for the games is 45.6 billion won in total."

Players begin to gasp and murmur again out of shock, excitement and denial.

"45.6 billion won? And one of us will get it?"

"We will give you the details about the distribution of the prize money after the first game. For these games, you will be given a special new advantage."

"What is it?" Pipe down, grandpa. I hope you die in the first game.

I then peer out of the bed I'm hiding in and go to a corner and sit, I stare at him. He looks different from the last time I saw him, back when he had a face of adolescence and had brown hair, now his jawline's sharper and his face is more mature with black roots and purple hair. How time changes. I watch his rap videos every single day consistently, but I never would've expected to see him again. It's just like seeing him for the first time and last time.

I remember the last time I saw him, he was acting a bit off but I never thought anything of it, I thought perhaps he was in a bad mood or something had happened that he didn't want to talk about, but little did I know.

We were sitting on a park bench, in the dark night sky, where the moon was absent with crickets obnoxiously chirping, where he offered me MDMA to which I accepted. He pulled out his cross necklace and opened it, revealing a few pills. I popped one into my mouth and so did he. He was wearing a woolly hat along with a black jacket, he stared at me lovingly with a massive grin, not taking his eyes off me.

"You know, I'll always love you, right?" He blurted.

I thought he was just saying that because he was high, but I should've known he was about to disappear off into the night and we wouldn't see each other for the next 14 years.

"I'll always love you too." I smiled; to which he beamed and kissed multiple parts of my face simultaneously, causing me to giggle.

Now 14 ripe years have passed, and we don't even know the first thing about each other, if you had asked me then to tell me about Su-bong, I would have been talking for days maybe even weeks on end, if you asked me now, I'd only be able to tell you my feelings of resentment towards him for leaving me and breaking my heart, I thought I was going to marry him, but my love towards him never left.

I then snap back into reality when the masked manager utters, "If you wish to participate in the games, please sign the player consent form. Those who do not wish to participate, please speak up now. We will always give you a chance to leave the games."

I then push past the queues of people to get to the front and sign my paper as quickly as possible to avoid Su-bong, the reception of this causes a few groans and mumbling swears, but I just need to sign this paper, avenge Dae and avoid him.

The consent form reads:

CONSENT FORM

CLAUSE 1, A PLAYER IS NOT ALLOWED TO STOP PLAYING.

CLAUSE 2, A PLAYER WHO REFUSES TO PLAY WILL BE ELIMINATED.

CLAUSE 3, GAMES MAY BE TERMINATED IF THE MAJORITY AGREE.

PLEASE SIGN BELOW.

_______________

I then take the pen to hurriedly sign the paper, I then speed walk back to a random bed and sit there for the remainder of the time.