THE PLACE

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Are we the hunters?
Or are we the prey?

Areum stood infront of the Busan tower waiting for anyone to pick up. She didn't really get any info before and everytime she tried calling back the line won't pick up. She clutched the card tightly. There was no one nearby at such an early time. It was 5:06 am now.

Soon a van halted infront of her and the door to the passenger seat was opened. Areum took a seat inside. She peeked over to the driver who wore a pink full body suit and a black mask with a circle drawn on it.

 She peeked over to the driver who wore a pink full body suit and a black mask with a circle drawn on it

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She looked around and spotted two more people in the car but they were unconscious. Before she could complain about anything a gush of smoke went into her nose and she collapsed on the seat.

X

Areum woke up from the hustle and bustle around her and spotted many people sitting or moving around in the huge room filled with beds. They were all wearing the same clothes - a pair of green trousers, a white tshirt with a certain number and the same number on the green jacket- her number was 150. The people there either looked worried, shocked, interested or just the mixture of all.

Soon one of the doors in front of the huge room opened and 3 soldiers dressed in the same pink outfits and black masks entered. One of them in the center had a square mask while the others had circle ones.

"We extend a hearty welcome to all the players! Everyone here are to participate in six rounds of game in the span of six days. The winner at the end will receive a handsome sum of money. There are a total of 150 players here." That means Areum is the last person to be brought here.

"Excuse me, Who are you and why are we here? I mean we could've done all this in the streets too, why were we drugged before coming here" one of the players asked as majority of the people nodded their heads. "No such information will be shared to you here." The masked guy answered as everyone sighed. "What is the prize amount?" Player number 134 asked. "That will be revealed after the first game but we can guarantee its a huge amount of money." People looked at each other.

"I don't trust a single word from you guys, you lured us, kidnapped us, brought us to god knows where and all of you are wearing masks and we don't even have our belongings here. Everything you are doing is illegal." Player 047 spoke up and the masked guy replied, "We do not disclose any information about our staffs for the sake of privacy and fairness. Besides, player 047, Ahn Jung sup, you worked in an electronic shop currently in a debt of 2.7 million won." He switched on a tv above him and that showed everyone of them playing ddakji,  even Areum. "You all agreed to come here on your own free will so we won't blame anyone here."

"If you agree to continue this and play the 6 games then please serially form lines and sign our agreement." The last thing that was announced before people scurried to form lines and sign the agreement.

Areum had a lot of things going on in her mind but she was too shy to ask it, thinking she might make a fool out of herself. Besides, no one really objected anything so she thought she can ask question to the people there. She was standing in the line when the person behind her asked, "Why did you come here?" She was a girl with short hair in a ponytail. Areum replied "To earn money ofcourse." The girl scoffed lightly and spoke again, "I meant why did you come here to earn money?" Areum didn't reply and turned to front. The girl whined quietly.

Areum got the paper and read it thoroughly.  "1. A player is not allowed to stop playing. 2. A player who refuses to play will be eliminated. 3. Games may be terminated if the majority of people agree to it." She looked at people beside her who were signing the contract and thought about it a bit and signed it too. She hesitated but soon submitted the consent form. "Can we know which game we will be playing?" She asked the masked guy in front of her. "We cannot disclose about games beforehand." The guy replied plainly as Areum nodded and went away to her bed. She observed as soon people from different lines end up signing the contract.

Soon music started playing from the megaphone as someone announced, "The first game is soon to be started, All players are requested to follow the staffs instructions and proceed to the game hall." Everyone made a single line serially with Areum at last following everyone. They went through a series of colorful rooms and stood infront of a camera booth which recorded their photos and number.

They came into a field, it had a colorful wall and a huge doll far infront of them near a tree. "Welcome players! Your first game is red light green light. You can move only when the 'it' shouts out green light and by the time it says red light, if movement is detected then player will be eliminated." The cheerful female voice from the megaphone announced. " "We'll play kids game?" The girl from before, her number was 149, she asked as Areum rolled her eyes at her and told "I think so."

The doll turned around and started singing "Red light~ green light~" Everyone stopped when the doll turned around. Nothing happened. The doll turned back. "Ha this is boring watch me!" 149 asked and started running forward, Areum observed her. "Red light green light" this time the doll turned around quickly and 149 kept running. The doll looked at her and she paused. A gunshot was heard and she fell to the ground and everyone went silent. Areum walked near 149 when the doll turned back. She shook her but she didn't wake up, so Areum turned her around and to her shocked there was a gunshot in the centre of her forehead. She couldn't show the shock fully because the doll turned around again. When the doll turned back Areum went to the side showing everyone what happened to the girl as people who saw her started running back to the door trying to escape but luck wasn't on their side because the doll turned around again and this time a lot more people got shot in a short span and only a few were safe.

After the game

The safe players were brought back to the huge room. Areum was safe too. She looked back at the TV on top and saw only 78 people were safe. She looked around at the people who were now dispirited.

The pink suit guys came inside again and the square mask one spoke, "Congratulations to the winners! We will be playing 5 more such kinds of games and hope to have great participation. And that is your prize money..." A huge golden transparent ball came into view and slowly money started filling the ball. "The money of debt of the eliminated people will keep adding in this Ball. The current status of the ball is 98.8 million won. The more people eliminated, the more money will be added." Everyone gasped at the new information and looked at each other. "So are the people really dead?" One of the players asked but none of the masked guys replied.

"We should be given another chance to choose whether to play or not, as mentioned in cause 3 if majority agrees then the game will be terminated." One of the people asked. "No no I won't leave this game!"
"Neither do I!" "But I want to leave!" Different people gave different answers but at last it was decided that majority wants to play so the game will continue.

We will Play.

___________________________________

Ok so guys, this isn't the game where gihun was there. This game is a year before it. You will get to know more about how our oc AREUM ended up as a female soldier in this.

Hope you enjoy, stay tuned for more info!

-author 😁

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