Dead End | Jun-ho

2 | Cease the Opportunity

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An hour had passed and she was still staring at the card in her hands. Aera was almost certain she'd memorised every line and dot, the number on the back reciting in her brain. She noticed how the shapes were slightly smudged, almost as if the card had been kept in the rain and then had air dried.

She wanted to call the number, badly. It just seemed strange, a random man, who looked somewhat professional, coming up to her and then giving her money for winning a game. The more she thought about it, the more intrigued yet suspicious she became.

Something didn't feel right.

She looked down at her phone beside her, lightly tapping it with her finger. 10%... 10% until the opportunity to for once actually earn some money, would no longer be available. She had a charger but electricity or even a plug wouldn't be accessible for probably a really long time.

Biting the inside of her cheek, the girl thought over it more. She began to realise she had nowhere to go, nobody to turn to and nothing behind her anymore. What was she to lose by playing some stupid, easy games and earning some well-needed money?

Aera closed her eyes and deeply inhaled, trying to reassure herself, "It'll be fine." Reluctantly, she picked up her phone. Aera shook her head and then carefully dialled the numbers in. The other line immediately picked up and asked her to give her name along with her date of birth.

The person on the phone was blunt, too blunt. They said they'd be there to pick her up soon, along with a password, which confused her. How did they know where she was going to be? Aera was about to ask a handful of questions about these games but before she could, the phone hung up. She clicked the button on the side of her phone, over and over again trying to get it to turn on. But it wasn't any use, it had already died.

Aera brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them close, wanting to feel some sort of solace for herself. The fact she couldn't ask questions made her more nervous. Her heart started to rapidly beat as regret started sinking in.

Exactly 24 minutes later, a grey van pulled up behind her, the light beams making her eyes wince. She stopped counting the minutes (how she had been distracting herself) and turned around to look at the van. Aera looked down at the number plate: 74너 7278

Sometimes she would sit by busy roads and watch the cars go by, memorising the plates. People may think it's strange, but it kept her distracted. An unusual way of settling her brain, you could say. It wasn't just that, however, she used a lot of different things to distract herself. Aera staring at various things happened to be a regular occurrence, it wasn't necessarily people, though. Anything, literally anything to get her mind away from her dejected life.

She picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder, walking to the front of the van. In the drivers seat, there was a person wearing a red jumpsuit which became more noticeable as the window rolled down. They turned around to look at Aera. A black mask with a white circle on it, was secured tightly on their face.

This doesn't feel right.

Her face grew haggard with worry, lines of stress growing on the girls forehead. Why have they got a mask on?

"Password?" A male voice spoke.

"It's okay... It's okay." Aera whispered under her breath, trying to calm herself down. "Uh... red light, green light?" She spoke hesitantly.

The masked man turned their head back to facing forwards and the door in the back of the van opened, the satisfying noise filling her ears. She took a sharp breath in and sat down inside.