Chapter 1
"Are you sure you want to join the games?"
"Yes."
"Meet at this location at night."
-
Jihye woke up with a stir from a bed that looked unfamiliar. She looked up at the black bars that made it look like a bunk bed which was soon proved once she looked around.
She looked down at her clothes and realized it wasn't the same hoodie and sweatpants she wore, as well as the shoes too. More so replaced with a green tracksuit that had the number '457' on the jacket (front and back) along with plain white shoes.
She felt incredibly nauseous as she rose to her feet to meet with the hundreds of people she saw questioning where they were.
I really let it get to this point.
Jihye just stayed behind in her bed and turned to see someone calling after her, "Jihye? Jihye, is that you?" A familiar feminine voice called out and the aforementioned woman turned her head to see her best friend, Jun-Hee.
"Junhee? What are you doing in here?" Jihye grabbed her shoulders after giving her a long hug... then feeling her stomach, "You're pregnant?"
"I don't want to talk about it..." She sighed and looked out to the other people down on the floor causing commotion.
"Please don't tell me you went back to that guy." Jihye sighed and Junhee shifted awkwardly on the small bed with Jihye. "Hee... you said you were going to leave him..."
"I know! But then he apologized, then we hooked up, found out I was pregnant, he did the same thing as always and yeah..." Junhee let out a breath as she seemed like she was going to cry— wiping her watery eyes.
"Listen, I don't know much about this place but stick by my side and if something happens stay behind me," Jihye helped wipe a tear that fell down the smaller girls' cheek, "how far along are you?"
"six months, shes been kicking alot recently." Junhee rubbed her stomach while getting her breathing back to normal from the uncontrollable shaking with crying.
"she's a girl? Im gonna have a niece. Hee, when we get out of this place I'll spoil your baby to death." It was now Jihye's turn to rub Junhees' stomach until a voice erupted from ahead.
Both woman looked up and it looked like a guard dressed in pink with a triangle shaped mask. He called everyone to get their attention and started talking about calming everyone down and explaining how the games "work". Some of the players argued but got humbled really quick, the pink guards showing videos of them doing anything for the money the recruiter had in exchange of playing his Ddakji game.
-
The first game was red light green light.
"Stay in front of me, If you lose your footing I'll catch you, I promise." Jihye held out her pinky and Junhee held out hers to shake them. The two women got into position and prepared to play the game.
"Green light!"
The doll turned its back around facing the tree as all of the players moved forward, some running and others walking wanting to play it safe.
"Red light!"
It was quick.
The doll spun back around facing the players and everyone quickly froze while some guy was shouting "hold!" as if that's not what they were all doing.
Jihye found it confusing that he kept saying the obvious.
Until, one girl had screamed and moved over and over again because a bee had landed right on her.
BANG!
Her body quickly fell to the floor from the gunshot. The guy next to her looked a little surprised but held his composure until the next-
"green light!"
He quickly opened his necklace up and took a pill before running across the sand to catch up and not be last.
Meanwhile, Junhee and Jihye were doing good for one of them being pregnant while the other was watching to make sure nothing bad happened. They weren't at the very end but kore so toward the middle.
"red light!"
Everyone froze.
No one had crossed the finish line yet but there were people that were very close. One of the guys that were about to cross looked very familiar, almost like Junhees' [ex] boyfriend.
"green light!"
Jihye pushed the thought aside before grabbing Junhees' hand and going a little more faster than they were going.
"red light!"
The two were about to cross the line with only thirty seconds on the clock.
"green light!"
She let Junhee go by herself at her own pace this time while jogging slowly behind her, Junhee made it across but as the doll turned around Jihye jumped over the line...
"red light!"
And fell face first into a girl.
But nonetheless made it before the buzzer went off.
"God, I'm so sorry!" Jihye brushes herself off and she stood up. She looked at the girls tracksuit number who just walked away, 120.