Chapter Text
The large green doors that opened in front of her were metal, and you could tell from the screeching sound of the un-oiled hinges that they were heavy.
Bong-cha was met with a large scape of what seemed to be a mock display of outside in one way or another. They were in a huge room lacking a roof revealing the evident blue sky that birds carelessly flew over, and a long sandy path beginning with a red line stretching across horizontally. When she looked infront of her, an unusually large doll stood with its head cranked eerily the opposite way of its front to face them.
Clearly these people were rich to be able to afford something this unnecessary, so the prize money could vary. It was still disturbing to her that they hadn’t told them the sum of their prize money, and the thought filled her with a small idea of reluctance. What if she was putting in all of this effort for nothing?
Money was still money, and anything could help her. Well——at least that what kept her from opting out, as well as the fact she told her mother she was going to work. If Bong-cha came home a day after with no money, of course her mother would be suspicious.
Players flooded in, and she noticed one character strutting towards her. The familiar purple hair filled her with a sense of bitterness that wasn’t the same she gave to others. She was astonished, and maybe a hint jealous of the fact he got away with the so much, did worse things than her (that was his own fault) and the stares he got were one of fans, joy.
“Yo Señorita!” The rapper smirked when he approached her. A smirk that wasn’t one of knowing hierarchy. “Why reject me earlier? Thanos doesn’t like that?”
Bong-cha raised an eyebrow to him, her arms already crossed infront of her chest loosely. “Why the hell are you talking in third person?”, her tone was disinterested, indifferent. She noticed how different the man was to everyone here. He was abrasive——he had bright coloured hair, a large cross hanging from his neck, and finally a set of colourful painted nails he held infront of his face.
“You know I like that, you’re spicy.” He annunciated the last word, and interpreted a rap she couldn’t even bother to listen to. “You don’t rule the world, so quit acting like you’re above me.” she spoke, and instead she walked away to the barrier that was the red line stopping her from continuing further.
When she stopped there, she crossed her arms. She followed with a hum in her exhale, tilting her head ever so slightly to make out little details of the arena. The fake clouds on the walls with little black rectangles poking out of them. She couldn’t get too far in her search before being interrupted.
“I rule my own world. I’m a legend!” He shot out loud enough for to hear, though she could tell he had that stupid expression. One of false superiority. A true legend wouldn’t call themselves one.
Abruptly, a man ran past that faulty barrier. He started screaming “You need to listen to the rules! You’ll die!” and Bong-cha felt a hint of hesitance inside of her overcome with annoyance from the man. He most likely wanted to inflict fear on them, to win the prize money. A typical junkie. He was probably on something.
Finally, shutting him up, a female announcer spoke. “The game you will be playing is Red Light, Green Light. When the light turns green, you will proceed, and when it turns red, stop. You have three minutes.”
Bong-cha noticed a large timer on the far right corner of the large arena. This was child’s play, literaly. The woman felt as if maybe they were trying to mock the players, but as well taking it personally. What if they were mocking her? She lost her sense of trust in people a long while ago, to the point the idea that everything could be a personal attack always lingered in her mind.
She dug her foot into the sand, and when the light said green the dolls head cranked to face the tree, and she ran. She ran like a woman in almost 20billion won in debt. The duration of the time the light was green the landscape was filled with music coming from speakers she was unable to scope out.
Red light.
Bong-Cha froze. She wasn’t stiff, nor not paying attention. It was child’s play, so she wasn’t taking the actual game too seriously, she was taking the fact she would win cash seriously.
The man who was previously shouting began yelling: “Everybody freeze!”,——and Bong-Cha looked back——only as far as her eyes would let her. She wasn’t gonna risk losing by movement.
Green light.
She ran quick, not too far last. She was a decently paced runner, and was around the front area of the large group. She had lots of practice from running due to loan sharks, cops, gangs, anything you could think of.
When the light turned green, the man yet again continued to yell.
A pair who was on the far too right that was pretty discernable was Thanos and that perkier woman from before. Before she knew it, the woman started freaking out, waving her hands and screaming “get it off!” Before realizing her sudden. “Oh shit, I guess I lost.”.
Then she was quiet.
Blood splattered on the purple haired rappers face and Bong-Cha’s usually half lidded eyes widened, but she didn’t dare move. The woman was shot not so clean through her forehead, and the crowd erupted in chaos. Some fell backwards, taking others with them, and some tried to run (which didn’t work). Numerous gunshots filled the arena and all Bong-cha could do was bite the now raw inside of her cheek.
She wasn’t scared of gunshots, it was the suddenness of it that surprised her. She lived in a sketchier area, so that sound could be common, but where she lived she at-least grew used to it——though she never saw it happen. When she was faced with a gun it was always a threat, never an open fire. It was a familiar feeling or sound of being home, which as dark is it sounded, was true. If this was what she had to go through to win, she would follow through.
The announcer proceeds to list a reminder over the hidden intercom. “The rules of the game are to move when the light says green, and freeze at the red. Please proceed.”.
About two minutes remained on the clock, and the light turned green followed by the eerie music she was starting to get real sick of.
So Bong-cha ran. She ran until she realized she was doing so alone. She turned her head at everyone who had stopped moving, frozen. Did they not want to win? They would surely all die if the time ran out?
Besides the music, it was practically silent. The occasional whimpers, cries, in the small amount of time caught Bong-Chas ear. Maybe it was the desensitization of violence she grew up to, but she couldn’t fathom why they were choosing to die over running to the finish line.
“Everybody needs to go or they’ll die!” The man shouted. She finally got a good view of his player number: 456.
Then all the uneasy stares of players looking at her and the man, since they were the only moving bodies in the room, set in. Why did she always end up being looked at? Maybe she just payed too much attention to it. She wasn’t some monster.
The light flicked to red, and she joined the remaining players in their non faltering frozen stances.
She eventually blocked out the man’s yelling, half convinced he’s on something (which seemed to be a reoccurring thought) even if he was right about what would happen. Though it’s not like she would know, she’s never gotten high. She was curious, but it would break her mother’s heart if Bong-Cha succumbed to it, so she never had, even if refusing it stung her lack of remaining pride.
The light turned green, so she ran again. She was so close.
Until people began moving.
Around 1 minute remained, and people were now panicking. The man instructed them to form lines but as soon as Thanos began pushing people from behind, players quickly fell out of order.
That’s how Bong-Cha found herself being shoved by a man right by the finish line. In the midst of the chaos she got pushed flat onto her chest as the light turned red. By a miracle (or maybe a curse) she was alive. She accepted her now postponed death maybe a little too quick for the comfortability of some, like her mother, but she wasn’t exactly scared of death, she found it reasonable. The best of the best died someday, and that’s what she shared with them.
“The dolls eyes are motion sensors. When the light turns green, get up and run.”
The man spoke behind his teeth. It made a whole lot more sense now——motion sensors. Those black rectangles in the walls were snipers, and she found that out by their movement lining up with the shot players.
She looked up again, digging her now dirty, scraped palms into the ground, ready to run. The man who stood infront of her was player 333, Lee Myung-gi. She took the bitter route, and remarked. “Yeah you got up and ran. Great advice.”
When the light turned green she picked her self up and ran, crossing the finish line before him.
She wasn’t thankful for the man saving her. How could she thank someone who made people suffer from debt, then have the audacity to show up here because he did it to himself. He had people get their money ripped out of their hands. Something so valuable, life changing——simply gone to the holds of whatever corporation he invested in. Then the man simply ran after that?
Despite all her disdain, the man intrigued her. Bong-cha didn’t reserve a space for people in her mind who weren’t consisting of her mother intentionally, but this game has caused her to ponder.
To pull off something that shitty, must mean he’s a smart man, right?
All the remaining players——including herself, made it back to dormitory (that now lacked at least 50 beds). Most flooded to the centre of the room, but Bong-Cha found her bunk on the top of the third row again so she could get a decent view of all the scattered participants.
Her gaze continued to stay focused on player 333. She wasn’t grateful he saved her, far from it——But she was intrigued on how he dealt with given stares or snide comments. The two were pretty similar in that aspect, no?
Multitudes of the familiar red guards flooded in with perfect precision when they lined up, and this time they had rifles causing lots of people to step back. Bong-Chas hands fiddled with her locket that was now dusty due to falling on the sand. She was at-least happy that it didn’t break.
Players began to yell at the guards with mixed emotions until one shot at the roof causing the participants to stop talking. “We appreciate your concern, but everyone here came here through their own free will.” The guards continued with no pause. “A man came up to you, played a game with you and earned your trust. He offered you to call a number and come here, which you all did. Then you all signed the consent forms which was according to you.” They paused. “You all came here by your own choice.”
Everyone was silent, a shape contrast to the lives they took before. Well it was silence, until Bong-Cha spoke carelessly from her bunk. “How much are we winning for this?”.
Of course she was still thinking of money. That was the sole reason she came here, and she wanted to win it.
At her question the lights dimmed, and a large transparent piggy bank lowered from the ceiling. Music similar to ones you would hear in a casino began to play, and every greedy player looked up as it filled with stacks of cash.
“91 players were eliminated, meaning the total prize money is 9.1 billion won.” Bong-Chas eyes widened at the glass pig now holding the large sum of money. She was more bewildered by this than the woman getting shot.
“Every player eliminated adds to the total cash prize. The remaining players at the end of the game will split the cash equally amongst themselves.”
Bong-Cha quickly did the math in her head and came to the result of every player being worth 100 million won. That’s another thing she shared with everyone. They were all equal when it came to brutality.
“What about our voting? You said we could vote to leave.” The man from before called out, and the guards simply agreed. “Very well then.”. That filled Bong-Cha with a “no wait” feeling, and her gaze darted around the large room. She didn’t want this to end yet, because if they split that amount equally Bong-Cha would leave with hardly anything.
A small voting system arose from the floor, and it made her wonder what else they hid here. She pushed down her slight disappointment of the chance to leave so she didn’t get rid of her reasonability. Though, she wanted to stay because she didn’t have any gnawing attachment waiting for her. Her brothers don’t talk to her enough to realize she’s here, and her dying or getting billions of won could both be rewarding for her mother.
“Players will vote X to leave, and O to leave. If majority votes X, the games will be terminated and the prize money will be splits amongst every remaining individual. The voting process will occur in descending order. Player 456, please cast your vote.”
The room split into two halves, and Bong-Cha could see from her bunk that the man stood there as he got bombarded with questions such as “How did you people would die?” Or “Do you work for them?”. Bong-cha didn’t care much until he snapped, and spoke the words. “I’ve played these games before!” And continuing with “I said I’ve played these games before.”.
Then Bong-Cha was invested. So maybe she was wrong about him being a greedy junkie, and instead actually cared? Why though? Why would he come back if he clearly won money, unless it was pure greed.
“Player 456, please cast your vote.” The gaurd repeated, so the man moved forward. To Bong-Chas surprise he voted X. Why the hell would he come back and then vote to leave? He got handed a red rectangle to put on the Velcro on the other side of his tracksuit that lines up with his player number.
Multiple numbers and clicks of the buttons happened before Bong-Chas number was finally called.
She arose from her bed, every player watching her maybe because she seemed greedy, She was a Hwang, continued to move during the game. There was a vast variety of reasons.
Without hesitation she walked own the aisle. She looked disheveled——evident bag under eyes that made a permanent yield there, an unchanging and naturally cold expression, and an aura that made people simply seem not to want to be near her in any way. She knew she looked bitchy, but getting to know people in this seemed to be a liability.
She pressed O. The blue light illuminated the features of her face as the red guard handed Bong-Cha her the blue circle patch, that she placed on her tracksuit. The stood there, looking at the gaurd for an extra second before standing on the side of the O voters have taken.
The numbers counted down and the vote was tied at 182–182. One player has yet to vote. Player 001.
The player was obviously a man, and Bong-Cha could only see him from behind. He walked with confidence, the power shift that should even be there was evident. It was enough to make Thanos, who stood beside her scoff.
The luminescent from the blue and the buzzer went. The man voted blue and worried murmurs form the other crowd occurred. The side Bong-cha was on were cheering, and she was internally relieved she still had a chance to get this money. Either way it was a win, if she lived or died.
Then the man turned around.
Bong-Chas heart felt as if it stopped when he turned. She held her locket with her hand, holding it tight in her palm as the man walked by. She had a subtle scowl——surprise on her features, and the two made eye contact for a few seconds. He didn’t seem surprised, and had an unchanged expression, which mare her brows furrow as he walks behind the rest of the O group.
Her eldest brother was here——Hwang In-ho
After the voting it was pretty lowkey, except for the fact she knew her brother, whom she thought was successful was here, and he didn’t even pay a second glance of surprise to her. That dick. Bong-cha felt angry, sad, happy, a huge mix of emotions internally, but she locked them away inside that locket hanging around her neck. It was all in the past with her family, she didn’t need them.
She gets off from her bed, to possibly go somewhere, anywhere, but the only available location was the washrooms. She was glad they were continuing the games. She was going to win atleast 20 billion.
On her way to the washrooms, she heard laughing and the familiar voice of Thanos. She turned around and saw the rapper and his bitch boy 124 harassing the cryptofluencer Lee Myung-Gi, notably shoving him. 333 stood up and the three made their way to the centre of the room, a fight breaking out.
Bong-Cha made the stupid decision of walking over. She couldn’t let someone so interesting die yet, no. she wanted to kill scum like him herself. Just when he had a sliver of hope at the end of the games, then she wanted to take it away from him so easily like he did to others.
“Hey!” Bong-cha called out, approaching the two. Her expression remained unwavered as she stood infront of Thanos. “Beating people lesser than you isn’t legendary.” She subtly scoffed to finish off her sentence. She thought of Myung-gi as lesser, maybe even lesser than herself, but that was a stretch.
“So now you talk to me? I thought you were a creep ass robot.” Thanos jeered with that same lazy smirk on his face. 124 Held the man’s shoulders, glancing at Myung-gi who stood up from the ground with a similar smirk to the rapper. “Hey! We didn’t say you could get back up!” 124 sneered back at 333, going to approach, but Bong-cha grabbed his wrist. The lack of gleam in her eyes and the furrow of her eyebrows when she locked eyes with the man was the prime example of emotional detachment.
“Get off me bitch.” His smirk dissolved when he couldn’t get his wrist loose, and Thanos jumped in to save him. The rapper grabbed Bong-Chas hair by the side, his fingers tangling in the already wavy mess. The force caused her locket to fly out of her shirt, visibly hanging from her neck now. “Matching necklaces, huh?”The rapper sneered with loose amusement, referencing his own necklace. A “tch” escapes her lips as she grabbed Thanos shoulders whilst he shouts, a laugh following his words “Grab her Nam-gyu!”——Bong- Cha kicks him, only to be pulled back from behind by Nam-gyu——slipping to the floor, on her side. Bong-Cha went to get up, only to suffer a blow from Thanos white loafs, and her head whips to the side.
Before anything else could happen, Player 001 stepped in. “There’s no reason to fight right now.” He confined. I squint my eyes slightly, the red liquid tricking down onto my left eyebrow and cheek.
“Go scold your own kids old man!” Thanos jeered with a “tsk”. In-ho kept his gaze fixated on the man who was much older than the purple haired man——who seemed maybe in his 20’s like Bong-Cha. When the rapper tried to fight him, 001 had surprised expertise defending himself. Thanos was on the floor in seconds and his teammate simply backed away annoyed with his hands raised, helping his friend up.
“In-ho.” Bong-cha spoke sharply and quietly from her spot on the floor. The only response she got was the same unchanging gaze as he walked away.
She picked herself up off the floor and winced at the touch of her head.
It wasn’t even her bleeding head that was bothering her, it was the fact her brother who she thought had everything——apparently didn’t, and she never heard anything about him. The only thing she was good at, fighting, he could suddenly do. It made her feel worthless. She disliked everyone, and wanted them all to rot in hell for treating her like shit her whole life. Everyone except her mother, Jun-ho, and In-ho would be determined, but he wasn’t helping his current case.
She picked herself up off the floor, only to get grabbed by her arm, which she quickly moved back in one swift turn, and finds herself facing Lee Myung-gi who had a surprised expression. He had a long purple bruise on the side of his face from the beating that occurred from the two players.
“Thank you.” He nodded, his hard swallow evident. That made Bong-Cha realized how dry she felt, how disheveled. “Don’t take it personally.” She responded with her usual bare tone.
333 eventually gave up trying to talk to her and get past her built up walls, sitting at his bunk. Bong-Cha noticed a lady go up to him, and she was heavily pregnant. So these games really didn’t have limits, huh.
She finally got to the bathroom, hearing the announcement of lights out beginning soon.
Bong-Cha stood in front of the taunting mirror, looking at herself, really taking in the joke she’s become. The blood on her forehead was mostly dry, so it was harder to get off with water, but she managed to do so. Using the tap again, she rubs some water on her hair, finger combing it to get rid of poking out strands——but she decided to go fully in and ended up washing her whole face with water soon after. Her mascara from the day before smudged around her eyes, which didn’t help hide her eye bags very well. She stepped into one of the stalls——the door creaking when she did, and the woman dried her face with the cheap toilet paper they provided.
When Bong-Cha exited the bathroom, conveniently lights out began, and everyone was situated in their bunks. A few snores were evident, but she made her way up to her bunk, slipping under the thin blanket. The mattress and pillow were far from comfortable, but she wasn’t going to complain about it. She’s suffered worse.
Her goal was to finish all the games, kill that bastard, and win at least 20 billion won.
The only relation the woman had with her father, was that she stuck to her goals.