painkiller | kang sae-byeok

¹ 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗹

chapter i.

"Little girl, you think you're going to get away with stealing from me," a voice called out, pulling on the brunette's hair from behind her.

She slightly whimpered, coming up with a series of excuses in her head. "Boss, I wasn't.. I didn't steal from you. You've got it all wrong."

He let out a grunt, tugging on her hair yet again. "So you're calling Kimhae here a liar, hm? He just so happened to see you snooping through my things, eh," he pressed, chuckling dryly as his buddy stood leaned against the door frame.

"I-I don't know. I didn't take it," she sobbed as he kneed her back, making her let out a muffled cry as her body jerked forward against the wall. Her nose ran of blood and the metallic taste invaded her mouth.

"Until you repay me, I own you. Everything that you do, will be run past me, understand?" He moved closer to her ear, breath fanning over the flesh and another sob made its way past her trembling lips.

Chae Mi-Kyong shook in anger, fear, and whatever else she managed to store into her body over the years. Every single time that she's gotten herself out of the spiral-debt- she somehow roped herself back in.

"I understand, just please... give me time." She took her time to regain her breath. "I'll get it all back to you. I just need time," here comes the spewed-out, white lies.

She knew that there was absolutely no way that she would get the money, who would? With the amount of money she took, she was just better off telling the thrush and hopefully getting put out of her misery but she dug a hole and she would soon lay in it.

"Get out," he hissed, roughly pushing her head against the brick wall then sitting in the chair at his desk, acting as if her presence meant nothing.

Grabbing at her gushing nose, Mi-Kyong sped out of the room, chest rising and falling rapidly.

She walked down the street to the train station, sitting on the bench while watching as trains came and went. Wiping her nose with the hem of her black fitted tee-shirt, all she could do was smile as a little boy played with a balloon when getting off at his stop with his mother.

"Want to play a game?" A man dressed in a suit and tie with a suitcase weighing down his arm when he walked. It was so out of the blue, catching the girl off guard.

Mi-Kyong kept her focus on the train tracks, feeling his gaze burning on the side of her skull. "Sir, get away from me."

"Aw, come on. Just play a few rounds. It'll be quick," he shot her a sickly sweet smile as she sighed and shifted her body to face his. "I'm sure that you've played ddakji."

"Yeah, I have. What're you getting out of this?" Mi-Kyong sucked her teeth. "There has to be a reason why you randomly asked."

The man smiled once again, fixing his tie a bit so that it laid perfectly on the center of his chest. "Every time that you win, I'll pay you 100,000 won."

The girl let out a laugh and rolled her eyes, not believing a word that he said. "No offense but no one just gives out easy money like that. There has to be something else," she side-eyed.

"But if I win, you will pay me the respective amount."

"Ha, sorry to disappoint. I don't have any money-to put it even simpler, I'm freaking broke," she deadpanned, watching him amusingly chuckle to himself.

"You can use your body to pay. I'll take off one hundred grand per slap," he said as if it were the most normal thing to say to a person.

She found it weird but she was desperate. With the money she owed to her boss and other priorities that she had as a person, she needed the money and it seemed quite easy. Maybe the odds will be in her favor at a time like this?

"All I have to do is flip your ddakji over by using mine and I'll win?" She questioned, repeating in her head words of encouragement. Picking at her nails, she bit her bottom lip in thought as he pulled out two pieces-one blue and one red.

"As easy as that. You can even make the first play." he held the two up beside his face.

At this point, Mi-Kyong thought it would all be easy, that this would be a fast and easy way to get money. What's the harm in giving it a try?

• • •

"What, this is like the fiftieth time?" Mi-Kyong whined, feeling the stinging slap on her skin once again. Her even skin tone was tainted with irritated red blotches.

The man just remained silent as she crouched down and successfully flipped over his ddakji piece.

She laughed in astonishment after many rounds of losing, she's finally done it. "Ha, I freaking did it, sir." She pumped her fist on the side of her body, trying her best to hide the small victorious action.

The man opened up his suitcase, showing the lump sum of money that he lugged around with him. This made her internally gawk at the money greedily but she kept her composure.

Pulling out the respective amount of money-as he promised- the man kept it out of her reach. "You know, there's a game where you can get more than this." He held out the money for her to grab, followed by a card with a circle, square, and triangle.

Just so happy with winning the money, Mi-Kyong stuffed the card in her back pocket while sitting back down on the bench, counting the cash that had been given to her.

"Just call this number and they'll guide you through the rest. Think about it." And with that, the man was off onto the train, timidly waving his hand with a smirk plastered on his face as the train doors closed.

Eagerly pulling out her phone, she dialed the number that was written on the back of the card. "Hello?"

A monotonous voice called out from the other end of the call, "Hello, who's calling?"

She swallowed the lump that formed in her throat and continued to speak. "Oh um, you gave me your card. I got quite impatient." She bit her lip, waiting for the person on the other side to respond.

"Do you wish to participate in the game?"

The girl inhaled sharply, "Mhm, yes." She sat nervously, getting worried glances as her breathing sped up.

"Please state your name and birthdate."