Chapter Text
jisung pov
I was walking in the park with a nice breeze hitting my face. I looked around at all the happy people, playing with their kids, dogs, and friends. I wish I was happy like them. A person who’s in tons of debt is never happy. I see an empty bench and decide to take a break from walking and check my bank account. Before I could even take my phone out, a tall man in a tailored black suit walked up to the bench I was sitting at, and sat down on the other side. I gave him a quick, curious look, before looking away. I noticed he was carrying a briefcase with him. Must he have just come from work?
“Hello, my name is- " The man looked over at me and smiled
“Sorry, I’m not interested in whatever you’re selling sir..” I mumbled, trying to be polite.
The man sighed, though the smile on his face never disappeared. “I’m not trying to sell you anything, Han Jisung.” I looked up with confusion written on my face. How did this man know my name? Was he another loan shark? My heart felt like it was in my ass. “H-How do you know my name…?” My voice was a bit shaky. Anyone’s would be when a stranger knows your name without telling them.
“You’re in debt. 3 million won, to be exact.” The man said. He started opening his briefcase. “I’m simply just offering that you play a game with me. You could win some money.” The briefcase had a lot of money in it along with a ddakji set. My eyes lit up seeing the money. I desperately needed that money.
“You want me to play a game with you?” I looked back up at the man.
“Yes. If you win, you get all of this money. If I win you have to pay me money.” The man’s smile was now a smirk. I felt intimidated but I agreed to play. We both got off of the bench and the man offered me the option to pick between blue or red. I sighed and picked up the red square. The amount of stress I was feeling in this moment made the ddakji feel heavier in my hands than it actually was.
“You can go first, Jisung.” The man nodded and put the blue square on the ground. I closed my eyes and muttered something incoherent under my breath. I opened my eyes again and threw the ddakji on the ground. The blue one didn’t flip over. Shit. The man picked the red one up and threw it on the ground. He flipped the blue one over. I looked at him. My eyes were wide with shock. I had no money to pay him. My heart began to race, my breathing unsteady. “I…I… don’t have any money to pay you….” I mumbled, my hands shaking.
“Well… let’s make a deal. You pay me using your body.”
“W-What do you mean by my body…”
“Like this.” Before I could process anything, I felt a stinging sensation on my left cheek. The man had smacked me. I couldn’t do anything but hold my cheek and stumble back. “What the hell!” I looked at the man
“If you lose, that’s what will happen.” The man’s face was serious now.
I nodded. We played round after round after round. My cheek was numb. It was my turn again after about 35 rounds. I had finally flipped the blue square over. I smiled so wide and got my hand ready. Before I could slap him he caught my wrist. I scoffed and looked at him.
“You won.” The man let go of my wrist and took the money that was in his briefcase out. I watched as he did this. My hand was still out and I felt the money being placed in my hand. “If you want, I know more games that could make you a lot more money.”
“Really?” My eyes lit up at his response. I nodded eagerly because of course, I wanted to get more money. When I said that, the man handed me a business card and went on his way.
Later that night, I was on the phone with my friend, Bangchan. We were having a normal conversation until we brought up money. Bangchan had told me about how a random man came up to him and played ddakji with him for money. It couldn't be the same person, right? Maybe it was just a sick prank.
“Yeah, it was so weird.. this man, he came up to me and asked to play ddakji with me.” Bangchan sighed. He was clearly just as confused as I was. I decided not to bring up the fact that I had the same experience as him. “Hyung, that’s really weird. He just came up to you and asked to play ddakji?” I pretended to sound confused.
“Yeah.. it was just a blur.” Bangchan said. He sounded exhausted. “Look, jisung, I need to go.” Bangchan thing up the phone before I could even answer him. I sighed and pulled the business card the man had gave me out of my pocket and looked at the number on the back. I typed the number into my phone and looked at it for a couple of minutes before hitting the call button. My heart was racing a tiny bit when the phone was dialing the number. When the person on the other line picked up, I heard a man’s deep voice.
“Who’s calling?” The man on the other line sounded annoyed. “Uhm you gave me a card earlier… with shapes on it?” I mumbled into my phone speaker. “You want to participate in the games?” The man’s voice went from annoying to amused. “State your name and birthdate.”
“Han Jisung. My birthdate is September 14th, 2000”
The person on the phone gave me some coordinates to go to later that night. I was waiting on the sidewalk when a silver SUV pulled up in front of him. The window came down to reveal a person in a pinkish red jumpsuit with a mask that had a triangle on it spoke up, “Han Jisung?” the persons voice was different than the one on the phone. “Yes, that’s me.” I mumbled. I started rethinking my decision as the door to the car slid open. Other people were inside but… they were asleep. I sat down silently and instantly was put on edge by this whole situation. When the car started moving, something that looked like smoke came down from the top of the car. I passed out.