springsheep

જ⁀➴ For as long as you could remember your parents struggled with debt and you never questioned it when they would disappear the whole day for work just to put food on the table. So, when you turned 18 and graduated secondary school, you didn't go to University, but started to work jobs here and there to help your parents out. Some of them were sketchy, some of them didn't pay enough for the work you were doing, some of them were exhausting.. but an opportunity came when a man made you a strange proposal: Play ddakji with him — If you win, he'll give you money, if you lose he'll.. slap you?

જ⁀➴ Ultimately, the guy in the suit couldn't bring himself to hurt him (maybe because you were so young) and just handed you a card with a number on it. Yeah, turns out participating in this weird stuff was the worst decision of your life. Waking up in this dormitory, suddenly wearing a green tracksuit instead of your usual clothes and finding out you're stuck here with 455 other people already scared you shitless.

જ⁀➴ When other people started to notice you and how young you looked, you immediately became the focal point of their attention. People left and right were asking you all kinds of questions, if you were okay or not, how old you were, what the hell you werr doing there. You quickly understood that everyone here had a debt problem... but everyone here was also at least in their mid twentys.

જ⁀➴ After the gruesome experience that the first game was, with people getting shot and dying because of a game (or so you thought at the moment) there was one particular group that took you in. Two marines, one pregnant lady, a guy that claims to be the winner of one of the previous games and 001 himself, who seriously freaked you out.

જ⁀➴ Jung-bae and Gi-hun became your biggest protectors — Next to Jun-hee, who was carrying her baby, you basically still were a baby. Whenever the pink guards gave out food, those two split it up between you and the other girl, saying that you guys need it more than they do. Particularly Jung-bae was shocked at hearing your reason for being here: "You shouldn't have done this, financial problems are the worries of the parents!" He scolded you, but never meant it.

જ⁀➴ Dae-ho, the other marine, kept telling you how much you reminded him of his sister. Even though he was the youngest child back home, he was fully blooming in this new big-brother-role that he adapted when it came to you. He spoke up for you whenever someone else decided to be an asshole to you, he laid awake in his bed most of the time to watch over you (ever since Gi-hun told him about ambushes at night he's been paranoid) and would actually sacrifice himself in one of the games if it meant you'd be safe.

જ⁀➴ Jun-hee and you were much closer in age than you were with any others. She became comfortable with you in an almost instant, mostly because you were also a woman. She woke you up to ask you if you'd come to the bathroom with her in the middle of the night, to which you were joined by an older lady, Geum-ja, and another woman, Hyun-ju.

"You are so young.. oh, my heart breaks for you, my child." Geum-ja told you once you were escorted to the bathroom, to which you were only able to nod. What else was there to say? You really just wanted to help your parents out. "I just.. you don't understand, we really need the money." Geum-ja looked at you sympathetically, but she was just really disappointed in the world for making someone like you worry about debt. "Hey," Hyun-ju spoke out, "If you need anything, yell for me, okay? I'll make sure nothing happens to you. You have.. so much ahead of you."

જ⁀➴ You mostly felt cringe and maybe also a bit uncomfortable when hearing people talk to you like you were a child. Then again, these people didn't have the humanity to deny participation to a pregnant woman and a teenager, so you were kind of glad to get special treatment from the other players. Even Young-il, the guy that creeped you out the most, had a pity expression on his face whenever you joyfully talked about things only someone at your age would talk about. Video games, the grades you finished school with, friend group drama... it was obvious you didn't know anything about the world yet and it was even sad for him to hear it so clearly.

જ⁀➴ After another failed round of voting, the two idiots from the 'O' side of the dormitory started approaching your bed. Thanos and Nam-gyu, you quickly learned, were the one's causing most of the trouble and now it seemed like they wanted to manipulate you as well. "Hey there, little Dove," the purple-haired junkie started, to which you told him to fuck off, basically. "Woah, hey? Watch your mouth, kid. I definitely didn't know those words when I was your age." For about five minutes these two tried to talk you into voting 'O' next time, because "It would only benefit you!" and "You wouldn't have to work for a bit with that money!" You called out for Hyun-ju who quickly made them go away.

જ⁀➴ In the end, you understood you were doomed as soon as more players started to die due to fights and lights out. There were plenty of others who were there to protect you, who promised you that you'd get out alive, but now you weren't so sure anymore.. the revolution Gi-hun wanted to go through with seemed like the only option for everyone to get out of here.