Chapter Text
You thought you had nothing to lose.
But when it all came crashing down, that was when you realized
It was never about the money.
But about the love you so deeply craved.
⊹₊˚‧︵‿₊୨ᰔ୧₊‿︵‧˚₊⊹
The heavy rainstorm outside your run-down home came like an ambush, the noise of the thunder not so far away jerking you in fear. You gripped tighter onto your thin blanket, telling yourself it was all gonna end soon. The heavy droplets were harsh against your rooftop, almost like hail.
I was cold, and alone just like always. Ever since my husband had left it was as if the world had gotten darker, and turned more meaningless. I tried to love him, I really did try. But it was to no avail, he discarded me like some useless piece of trash in the end. Just like my mother had done growing up, neglected and never properly taken care of me. Throughout my whole life, I’ve always felt so alone.
The only one who I ever felt like I had, was my older sister. With an absent father, and a mother who never really bothered.. she was the only one who I felt close to. We would spend countless nights together, curled up in our blankets on the mattress on the floor and whisper under the moonlight glow. We would tell each other about the boys we secretly liked at school, the teachers that we couldn’t stand, and the fun moments we shared during our recess.
We would play countless fun kid’s games on the schoolyard, laughing and competing when our competitiveness would kick in. Run for our lives during tag, find the best hiding spots while playing hide and seek, play jump rope and so many other kinds of games. It brought me so much joyfulness, being so young and playing with my sister and her friends like that. Sometimes, we would even let the boys teach us how to play Squid game.
She was a year older than me, so we didn’t go to the same class. However, since she was my best friend I would mostly spend time with her throughout the school hours. My own classmates disliked me, they thought I was weird and often gossiped about me. I tried to act like the small giggles and whispers of judgement did not affect me, but oh they sure did.
But that was years ago, I am now in my 30’s and not a little girl anymore. I began to work in customer service not too long after graduation, and that’s where it all started. From there on, I met my first love- broke up, met someone new, got married.. and then divorced. Got new jobs here and there, quit, got fired.. I thought life would get better after school, which it didn’t. And after I had married him he would be the cure for my aching heart, but that was sadly not my happy ending.
I started buying lottery tickets, hoping for whatever small chance of winning would strike me. Newsflash, it was a complete waste of money. I started drinking more, it got to a point where my sister was getting worried I would turn into an alcoholic, which I almost did because it felt like the only comfort to my never ending struggles. Thankfully, my angel of a sister helped me turn sober.
Recently, my boss has fired me as well. He apparently had to shut down the business because he was losing money, which I noticed since a lot of times he didn’t even give out to me nor my co-workers our wages in the past year. I’ve had to go to bed hungry tons of times, surviving off of cheap instant ramen and leftovers from the rare occasions from the times I actually cooked something.
Now, I live alone, in this old house full of many memories. Lots of happy ones, of course.. but also painful to think back on. Laughter and deep talks with my old husband, movie nights together on the couch, I could still hear them in the back of my mind. Almost everyday in this house, I get small reminders of what we used to be. Lovers.
You turned to your side, blinking up at the digital clock on your nightstand. It read 3:46 AM. You sighed, clenching your eyes shut and tried to go back to sleep. It was difficult, with the many things on your mind you found it hard to relax. It was both your mind, and the three cups of coffee you had downed today that kept you awake. But one, harsh, and heartwrenching memory made your tears start to fall.
ִֶָ. ..𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ🪽་༘࿐
6 months ago
“Unnie, are you here yet? You’re already late! You were supposed to be here twenty minutes ago.” You said out of annoyance into the phone. You were waiting inside the coffee shop, looking out the window and feeling the cup of what used to be steaming coffee now turn cool. You had planned to hang out today, spend some time together off of work and help you get over the divorce from your now ex-husband.
“I know I know! I’m sorry, alright?” She told you. “I’m in the car right now, it’s the traffic making me late.” She insisted.
“Unnie, get off the phone if you’re driving.. you could get distracted and lose focus off the road.”
“Tch” she scoffed amusedly. “Don’t you worry, I’ll be there in no time.”
“Then why are you late?” I rolled my eyes as if she could’ve seen me.
“I literally just told you! Gosh, I’ll be there y/n, just hold on for a little longer.” She persisted.
“You swear?” You said.
“I swear, y/n.” She insisted,
“You better do it then, see you later.” You smiled gently,
“Yeah I-”
You heard the brakes screech and her painful scream, glass shattering into thousands of shards scattering across the scene. When her phone flew across the car and landed somewhere else, the motor stopped running and the airbag deployed. Your eyes immediately widened and your throat tightened, your voice only getting louder and louder yelling;
“Are you okay?!”
“Unnie!”
“What happened?!”
You could barely say anything else before tears filled your vision, you ran out of the coffee shop without looking back and your head began to spin. From just a few roads up the street, you could see how two cars had come into an accident. You ran with all the power you had, screaming in agony when you noticed it was indeed your sister’s car. Many bypassers were surrounding the scene, you could hear police sirens and people from all around asking and making sure the victims were okay. When you reached your sister’s car you tried to unlock the door and slammed against it when it wouldn’t unbolt. Your ears were ringing and your words were so slurred due to the crying and because of the pain in your throat.
“Unnie! Please!” You gasped.
Don’t leave me!” You wailed out in pain while banging on what was left of the car door, you could feel the arms of someone pushing you away and telling you to move away from the accident, your legs felt weak and you could barely stand. You tried to leave the person’s grasp that was leading you away from where you knew your sister was lying, but your body felt like a puddle. Your vision afterwards turned foggy and the voices around you were incoherent.. your head spun and all of the noises had blocked out. You were left in a tranquil state, passed out in the arms of some sort of police officer you couldn’t see.
Present day
You blinked awake again, slowly sitting up from your bed and turned your eyes to your alarm clock. 10:07 AM, it read. You had managed to fall asleep, but that dream reminding you of your sister still had you shaken up. You rubbed your eyes, dragging yourself out of the comfortable bed and you felt the cool air hit you once you were on your feet. Your old shorts that you always wore to bed had holes in them, and the camisole top that didn’t bring much warmth caused you to shiver slightly. You quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, then slung a zip-up hoodie over your shoulders.
The icy water from the tap ran, you washed your face and let the freezing water awaken you. The dried tears from earlier now faded, and you could feel your energy rise up somewhat. You fixed up your hair, putting it in a (hairstyle of your choice) and exited the bathroom.
A sting from your shoulder caused you to clench your eyes and grimace, you grunted from it but carried on, ignoring the pain. You knew who the culprit was that gave you that bruise. One of those shady scumbags that you had borrowed money from, he had begun threatening you since you haven’t had the money to pay him back as of lately.
Ugh.. I really need to sort my life out, I thought to myself. I can’t go on like this, I need to do something.. but what can I do? I barely have anything anymore, no family, no money.. Do I even have anything left to lose?
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⋆.˚🦋༘⋆
That was the thought that I deeply couldn't stop to wonder about when that strange and stylish man came up to me that day. With harsh slaps to the face, it made me realize how I really don’t have anything out here. And even if his annoyingly-handsome face made me want to slap the smirk off his face, the thing he said afterwards was what left me in disbelief the most.
“There are more games like these if you call this number, there aren’t many spots left, so please give me a call.”
What did that weird salesman mean by that? Are there many other people he plays ddakji with in the subway and gives out cash to? What other games does he mean? Are they as easy as this one? Without much to consider, one dark and serene night I called the number from the business card he had handed out to me.
“If you want to participate in the games, please state your name and birth”
…
…
…
11:45 PM
Under the light of a streetlamp, you were waiting idly with your hands in your pockets. You could feel how this wouldn’t end well, the whole idea was sketchy and off-putting. You were here, waiting at some random spot when it’s almost midnight? It was as if you were asking to get yourself killed right now.
And you didn’t even bring a damn thing to protect yourself with, it made you want to face palm yourself.
“Oh what the hell..” I mumbled impatiently as I was just about to snatch my phone out of my back pocket, but the flash of headlights from a vehicle made me look up and squint. It drove closer, and slowed down to where I stood. It was a white van..
How stereotypical. Are they gonna tell me there's free candy inside as well? I’m not that dumb. I tried to see the driver, but they beat me to it and pulled down the window.
What.
The.
Fuck.
“Miss l/n f/n?” Someone wearing a pink jumpsuit covering their whole body spoke up. They wore a black mask, with the symbol of a circle on it. The shape made me remember the business card that I was given, other than a number there were also the symbols of a rectangle, triangle, and a circle imprinted on it. I didn’t actually think they would mean anything? To be frank, I kind of expected to see that salesman again.
I gulped. “Yes, that's me.” I managed to admit to the ominous stranger.
“Passcode?” They asked me.
What? Oh right!
“Umm.. Red light Green light?” I said, almost as if I were questioning the same thing. For some reason. Before they hung up on me they told me this “passcode” and location, I was so close to forgetting since they were pretty quick, but I luckily had a pen and paper close to me at the time.
The window rolled upwards, and the van’s doors slid open and I peeked inside. The sight before my eyes revealed how there were a few other people in the car as well, everyone sound asleep. It brought me a tiny sense of comfort that I wasn’t completely alone, but how come every single one of them was asleep? No night owls are awake except for me, it seems.
I reluctantly entered the car like the naive fool that I am, and the door shut behind me. Panic began to stir and I couldn’t help but ask “Soo.. how far away are we from-”
My sentence couldn’t even end before fog coming out from some corner covered my vision and entered my nose. My eyes became blurry, my body felt weak and pliant and I passed out, leaning back against the seat.
So that’s why everyone was asleep..
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⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆
END OF CHAPTER 1