Welcoming

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It had been hours since she got home. Nabi who was cooking instant ramen, stood silently by the kettle while she took the man's words into consideration

'Maybe it won't be that bad' she thought, hoping that she wouldn't get herself into trouble if she agreed. But into thinking she asked herself if she realy needed the money or that she just wanted the money.

Nabi moved out from her aunt (who didn't really take care of her) when she was sixteen and has been living by herself ever since. Back then, she couldn't find a stable good paying job resulting in her student loans to increase, landing her in huge debt.

Her parents had abandoned her when she was a kid because they couldn't take care of her financially. Nabi often asks about her parents to her aunt but all the answer that she gave her was

"Don't waste your time looking for them they could be dead for all we know." Like that was helpful.

She did have a plan back then, that was to look for her parents once she had the money to. Nabi desperately hoped that they were still alive and that they'll be a family one day.

After letting out a big sigh, she reached out for her bag and took out the card from her wallet. The feeling of the flimsy card like paper in her hand, she looked at it and saw their very creative logo before dialing the number

"Hello, if you wish to participate the game please state your name and birthdate."

After answering the information they needed, the person on the phone told her that they'll pick her up at midnight.

'Welp there's no turning back now' she muttered to herself.

Midnight came by and the girl lazily made her way outside. She kept her eye out, her hand buried in the pockets of her coat from the cold and looked at the road side by side making sure to not miss the person picking her up..'if it was a person' she thought

After quite some time a gray van appeared in her sight and slowly made its way to the girl. The window from the front rolled down showing a person wearing a red jumpsuit with a black mask that had a white circle.

The mysterious man asked for the password that Nabi gave. Not long after saying the password, the door of the van opens showing other people in it. The driver looked at her signaling to get in the vehicle. She followed the instructions and got in even if she was very skeptical. As she sat down, the door closed and smoke started to consume the inside of the van, her eyes started to close and she felt her head falling on someone's shoulder.

That was the last thing that she remembered.

ˋ°•*⁀➷. * ˚ ✦.

Time went by and she opened her eyes she looked around in a daze and wondered where the hell she was. She started noticing a lot of people surrounding her basically at the same state she was in, confused, worried, and all in the same ugly uniform. The girl sighed after she realized that this were other participants of the game.

She looked down from where she was laying down on and carefully climbed down the stairs of her bunk bed. Nabi looked around and passed by an old man and another person having a little talk. Nabi looked down at her clothes seeing the number 380 embroidered to the side.

"You little shit" a man said, following that was gasps of other nosy people.

"Hey! it really is a small world, huh! Look at those eyes. You still have that temper, huh. Then again nobody broke your spirit, you could always take a hit." He continued as Nabi walked closer to see what was going on.

"I fed you, I taught you when you had nowhere else. And this is what i get?"

"You took more from me than what ever i might possibly owe." The girl said to the man with her deep voice and slightly blooded lip. Nabi's eyebrow raised a bit at the girl. she will admit she found it quite attractive.

"If that's true, how come you ran then?"

"Well, i didn't. I went independent" The woman said in a monotone voice as the man laughed and mocked what the girl said "independent?"
He made a lousy attempt at punching the girl again, but she managed to dodge it with ease.

They fight continued until a man who was talking to the old one earlier joined, claiming that the girl had stolen money from him.

'plot twist' Nabi silently thought to herself 'how many disasters could this girl have been in ?'

The fight was soon over after plenty of people who look like robots wearing a red jumpsuit with the black masks enter the room.

Nabi made her way to the girl who was now at the corner of the room away from the man.

"Hey, are you ok?" She asked, as the girl looked up at her.

"I'm fine." She replied with no emotions whatsoever

"You sure? That punch looked like it hurt" The girl went to open her mouth but was cut off by the red looking people who was still in front of the room.

"I would like to extend a heartfelt welcome to you all." The square head said whith his robotic voice "Everyone here will participate in six different games over six days. Those who win all six games will receive a handsome cash prize."

"And why should we belive that?" One of the player said "y-you took all our stuff and put us to sleep coming here, and then you bring 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?"

"We reluctantly took all of thise measures to mentain confidentiality as we brought you here. We'll return everything once the games are over." square head replied

"Well, i don't believe you one bit. You got that?" Heads turned towards the man who confidently said that "You tricked us. We were kidnapped. You can make as many excuse 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." Most people agreed with the man and nodded

"Player 218, Cho Sang-woo." The square head said while pressing a remote which opened the large tv infront showing him getting slapped over and over again just like Nabi "Age, 46 years. Former team leader of team two at joy investments. Then invested it in derivatives and futures options and failed. Current loss, 650 million won."

As the square head named and showed everyone in the tv getting slapped even telling how much debt the person has.

"Every person standing 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 each of you, not a single one of you trusted us. But as you all know, we played a game, and as we promised, gave you the money when you won. And suddenly, everyone here trusted us. You called and volunteered to participate in this game of your own free will. So this is it, ill give you one last chance to choose. Will you go back to living your old depressing lives getting chased by your creditors? Or will you act and seize this last opportunity we're offering here?" The square head finished.

"Hey! Which games are we playing here?" Another man asked

"In order to play fair, we cannot disclose any information about the games ahead of time."

"One question" said the man who joined the fight earlier "if we win, just how much do we get?"

Square head pressed the remote again opening the top door showing a massive piggy bank at the ceiling acting as if it was a chandelier

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

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