Killer Addiction - (Squid Game)

Chapter 4 - First Blood

(The real violence starts here, this is a squid game fanfic, y'know the drill)

"Please follow the staff's instructions and swiftly make your way towards the game hall." The woman over the PA announced.
Dae-eun and her fellow Players were led through a side door and through many colourful hallways before stepping out into an expansive room.
The place looked like an M. C. Escher painting, bright pink, green and blue stairs and walls sticking out and leading all directions, not just up or down.

Doorways to nowhere and windows that lead to wall.
The place was trippy and almost dream-like, designed to trick the mind.
The Players were lead to a set of screens and cameras to take their pictures.

It was a few people before Dae-eun stepped up.
"Please look into the camera." The woman over the PA stated as she stepped into the lens' focus.
Her eyes trailed up and landed on the camera, as if inspecting it.

"Smile!"
Dae-eun did not.
Dae-eun was not a smiler.

Once her picture was registered, she followed the others as they were escorted by guards up the stairs towards the 'game hall'.
The walk seemed like it went on forever, up some stairs, then down some, then up another twenty, turn left, left again...the girl was getting a headache just trying to keep track.
She gave up on doing so, instead walking on until they finally reached their destination.

A green gate.

It swung open to reveal the 'game hall' in all its glory. And boy, was it bright.
Everyone filed out and began twisting and craning their necks to assess the situation.
Dae-eun was doing the same thing, trying to figure out what she was up against.

The room had no ceiling, instead it was the real sky providing light.
Though the walls were realistic, they were fake and solid, perhaps printed wallpaper or professional painting.
The floor felt like sand or gravel, crunching underfoot, though there was what felt like solid sandstone beneath.

Dae-eun raised her thumb in front of her, closing one eye and then switching eyes.
She had learned in college that the space between your eyes is worth one tenth of your arm.
Thus, you can use your thumb to calculate distance.

She used this method to roughly calculate how big the room was.
It wasn't square, more rectangle, the longer side being at least 100 metres long.
She estimated the shorter sides were 60 metres.

"Attention all players."
The PA sounded as she dropped her thumb.
"After you enter the game hall, please stand behind the white line drawn on the field and await further instructions."

She repeated the instruction again just in case players didn't hear it.
Dae-eun found the line to be roughly ten metres away from the exit doors, leaving the rest of the space to be the playing field.
She guessed the playing field must be 100 metres long on its own, if not more.

Designers tended to use round numbers when constructing something.
Dae-eun turned as she heard the creak and slam of the green gates, realising they likely didn't want Players to be able to leave, maybe they counted leaving as cheating.
It might also be a violation of Clause 2, running from play could be considered refusing, thus being grounds for elimination.

There was muttering and quiet confusion among the Players as the gates were closed, though Dae-eun spotted an elderly Player with his eyes instead trained on the sky.
Curious, she followed his gaze to see a few birds flitting overhead, passing over the opening.
The high angle she was looking at also made her notice several flaps ensconced high in the walls, painted to match the walls and obscure their presence.

She had no idea what they were, whether a design feature or perhaps to serve some other purpose.
She figured she would find out momentarily.
Her gaze travelled down to the opposite end of the field, spotting a dead tree erupting out of the sand, two circle-masked guards standing at either side of it.