EIGHT                          Ticking Bomb
TICKING AWAY    THE MOMENTS
THAT MAKE UP   THE DULL DAYS
[ LONG CHAPTER ]

THE YEAR IS 2013. Hyeon Minseo is fifteen years old. Her hair had recently been dyed, the ends a vibrant blue, and her face was free of makeup. Her teeth were still slightly crooked and her ears full of piercings, her brother's old t-fit loose on her frame as did the hand-me-down jeans, the tip of her Old Skool battered Vans peeking out beneath the scuff of her damp trousers. Hyeon Minseo is fifteen years old and her brother is still alive, only hours away from turning the scary age of eighteen as he walked beside his sister in silence, navigating the narrow alleys of Ssamun-dong by heart.

They passed the river bank like every other day, the water as cold and still as ever. Overhead lights flickered upon the reflection, matching the hue of the moon that twinkled gracefully up in the night sky. The air was clouded with smoke and smelt of cigarettes, the putrid smell steaming from the cigarette balancing between Taesuk's careful fingers.

"They smell awful," said fifteen year old Minseo in disgust, eyeing the cigarette in her brother's hand. "You smell awful."

They were walking back from their uncle Gi-hun's house after spending dinner with him, his wife and daughter. The company was pleasant but tension lingered high the air as Eun-ji's heated glare pierced through the glassware towards Gi-hun. The Hyeon siblings had left not long after Eun-ji abruptly stood from the table, taking Ga-yeong to bed with no battle from the young girl.

Taesuk scoffed. "Alright," the older brother chuckled, flicking his cigarette to the floor. "Sorry mom."

"Can't act like a mum if I've never had one," Taesuk rolled his eyes at Minseo's dark humour, suppressing his own smile. "But I can act like an annoying little sister━that I'm very good at."

"Too good," Taesuk grumbled. "Just wait, in a few years you'll be doing all the things I've done and do, and you won't even think about stopping."

Minseo raised her eyebrows in question. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means the world is a lot crueler than you think," replied Taesuk truthfully. His tone had shifted, now softer, almost lecturing. "A lot meaner. You'll find ways to cope, and sometimes those things which feel so good do so much bad."

"I thought you said life was a game of survival of the fittest," Minseo countered, her childlike curiosity shining through the innocence of her words. "How're you going to remain fit if your lungs are shrivelling even at the sight of a cigarette?"

"In this case, Mimi, fit doesn't just mean how far you can run and how fast," said Taesuk. "It's about knowing how and when to cut corners to shorten the distance; about who to push off to get that extra boost; and about who to trip over so you can get there first."

Minseo stopped. Taesuk turned to face his younger sister, analysing the deep furrow of her brows. "But that's cheating."

"It's winning," Taesuk corrected. "People will do anything to win. Just because you're kind, doesn't mean they are. They'll take advantage of your kindness, bargain it for a better future, a better life━and trust me, Mimi, that life does not contain you."

"That's harsh," Minseo continued walking, synching her steps with his. "That's really harsh."

Taesuk shrugged, pulling another cigarette from his pocket. "It's the truth."

"But I wouldn't do that to somebody," Minseo argued weakly. "Surely some other people think the same way I do."

"Nobody thinks they would," he paused momentarily, the brief flicker of his lighter illuminating his face behind the palm of his had. He dragged a deep breath through the cigarette, smoke slipping past his lips. "Until you're forced into the situation. That's when it comes out━all your animal instincts, your desire for survival."

The young girl blinked mutely. She sighed, looking down to the floor. "Well, I'll just make sure I'm never in that situation."

Taesuk wrapped his free arm around his sister's shoulder, her shorter frame balancing his arm comfortably. He pulled her in close, and despite the wretched smell of the cigarette, Minseo didn't dare move.

"I hope you never do," Taesuk muttered into the cold air, his eyes avoidant of her own. "I hope you live free from any situation that puts you, and your kindness, at risk."

Taesuk cut himself off, licking his lips as if to savour the taste of the burning cigarette. "But it's inevitable. The pain; the suffering; the hardship; the betrayal. What I'm saying might seem like nonsense to you now, Minseo, but remember one thing: at the end of the day, all you have is yourself. Every man is for themselves, every soul fighting for their own safety. Don't get mixed up trying to save them too, because they won't bother saving you."

Minseo looked up at her brother, face heavy with contorting emotions. Her heart weighed down with his loaded words. "I think you have very little faith in the human race, Taesuk. At the end of the day, we're all human, we all crave connection. We all crave love."

"Some people get full from lust. Some people find love in stacks of cash and fancy dinners. If the world followed your perception of love, I'm sure we'd live in a much better place. But at the end of the day, the people up there━" he pointed towards the top of a company building. If you squinted, you'd see the men running manically with phones to their ears even in the dead of night. "━don't care about us." He pointed to themselves.

          "I'll find a way to win without cheating," Minseo stated confidently. She beamed proudly, her head held high. "I'll show them all. I'll prove it━you can win without fouls, without betrayal. Hatred is where all of this stems from, and love overpowers hate in any situation."

"And greed blinds you to everything else," Taesuk murmured as they turned into the narrow alley leading to their apartment. "You can never underestimate the cruelty of a man driven by money."

They stopped in front of the door, Taesuk slipping the key into the lock with a soft click. Her feet hovered just above the threshold, and for a moment, the weight of the air in their home seemed to press down on them. Before silence fully settled, Minseo spoke, her voice quiet but firm.

"Maybe. But greed doesn't see the things that really matter," now inside the apartment, Minseo's voice leaned into a hushed, timid whisper. "Trust me, Taesuk. I'll win by loving, and even if they push off me to get their extra boost, my heart will carry me to the finish line."

          Years later, Minseo would find herself trapped in a world far darker than anything she had ever imagined. The flashbacks of her younger self, confident in her ideals, would echo through her mind as she stood at the edge of something beyond her control. She'd remember the weight of those words she spoke so innocently, so confident and assure of herself: "I'll win by loving."

          But the games were different. They twisted everything. She had seen it already━how every corner of the world was driven by money, by greed, by betrayal━and those words about love and trust seemed almost naive now. Love wasn't a shield in this place, it was a weakness. And trust? That was the ultimate luxury, reserved only for those who could afford to survive.

          Minseo had heard whispers in the dark corners of the arena━conspiracies of a game where trust would be a currency even more valuable than money. Where alliances would be tested not just by survival, but by the one thing that no one could truly control: the human heart. And it would all come down to one simple truth: love could either be your salvation or your downfall.

          With very passing second that neared the next game, a sickening thought tugged at the back of her mind━could love really carry her through? Or had she, too, fallen victim to the same blindness that had consumed so many others before her?

          In a room where every connection was a gamble, Minseo realized━some things, once lost, couldn't be regained. And in the end, the real game might not be about winning at all, but about holding onto the parts of herself that still believed in people. Her belief in trust, in love, in something beyond the hunger for power. The pieces of her heart that hadn't been shattered by betrayal, that hadn't been crushed by the weight of the games. Those were the things she needed to protect, no matter the cost. Because without them, survival wouldn't mean anything.

          ELEVEN YEARS LATER, Hyeon Minseo would be stood beside a man with many secrets and a caving heart, just the two of them waited for the remaining players to vote. Fifteen year old Minseo never would've thought she'd be living in the great year of 2024 with a dead brother, deadbeat father and immeasurable debt, but in the grand scale of things, twenty-two year old Minseo picture herself anywhere else. Perhaps that was the lack of hope the young woman had, the little expectations she held for her life━or maybe it was the warm eyes of an Ex-Marine who seemed to comfort her from across the room, who's invisible touch carved words of affection and reassurance into her heart from afar.

          Eleven years later and Minseo had never forgotten of that sacred conversation she shared with her brother many moons ago. She hadn't passed that river bank in a long time, each incident of nearly crossing it bringing back unwanted visions of Taesuk stood there, on the edge, his feet balancing between the harsh world and his desired Heaven. It had been eleven months since Minseo had felt bitter betrayal, the sentiment finding itself rooted in the dead body of her brother, seeping through the blood that leaked helplessly from his lifeless soul.

         That had been Minseo's biggest betrayal. Not the time Jim Han-Soo stole her favourite crayon in Primary School, nor the time her chemistry teacher lied to her about the questions on the test, not even when Taesuk had taken the last chocolate crepe for himself. No━none of them came close to the coldness of which Taesuk performed so cruelly when taking his own life, without warning, and leaving his little sister to find him in the memory of their childhood bedroom.

           Minseo was certain that she'd never let anyone double cross her again. She'd ban everyone from existence if they even dared to enter a fragment of her heart, growing too close for comfort and cramming into the tight walls of her heart. She was sure nobody would hurt her in such a way again, because she'd never let anybody get that close again.

         Family didn't count, Minseo would excuse. Because family don't betray one another, not even in the darkest and most dreadful of times. She could find reason for Taesuk's actions, despite not wanting to, and assured that he━like he had always been━would be the only exception.

           However, everything Minseo had once been so sure of began to contradict itself as the scene unfolded before her.

           She stood in line beside Young-Il, who had been casually quiet, observing the young woman. Minseo occasionally made conversation, small and simple, before resting her lips into a thin line and anxiously waiting for her turn. She noticed Young-Il's passing glances, the flickers of curiosity behind his brown eyes and frowns of deflection as he calculated her complexity.

           But the presence of Young-Il, and everybody around him, soon vanished into the thickness of the air. The neon reds and flashes of blue slowed, the atmosphere foreshadowing the turn of events that were to occur. It happened before Minseo could truly process it━the Blue Team erupted into howls, whistles of terror like rabid wolves as their number heightened by one, the increase of the number on the board above blurry in Minseo's vision. Her eyes, unfocused, hesitantly floated down to the culprit.

          With his back turned and trembling, there stood Jung-bae, her honorary uncle in all his damned glory. He didn't spare a single glance as he retreated to the opposing team, ignoring the looks of confusion and hurt from his teammates. But he felt them━he felt Gi-hun's miserable glare, as-well as Dae-ho's saddened eyes, and he most definitely felt Minseo's piercing, almost agonising stare. He didn't have to look to know her face. He knew her since she was a baby with no teeth and kicking legs. He could see the mixture of anger and betrayal on her face every time he blinked, the droop of her eyes in the narrowness of her glare, the tug of her lips as she scowled gruesomely, the betrayal curling her fists and digging her nails into the softness of her flesh.

           He couldn't bare to turn to face his niece. Nor his best friend. Nor his teammates. Even after the voting and Jung-bae was rewarded with the victory of staying another day, he rooted himself on the edge of the bed and facing away from his family. Regret pooled in his watery eyes, swallowing thickly away the feeling of despair.

           Minseo stared at his back from her seat beside Dae-ho. They ate, the bread warm in their mouths and conversation eased into silence. Dae-ho nudged her gently, "You might turn him into ashes if you keep staring at him like that," the black haired man muttered, having caught her obvious glare.

          "Good," Minseo grumbled in response, ripping the bread with her teeth. Dae-ho chuckled beside her, shaking his head.

          "He has his reasons," the young man tried to reason. He shrugged at his weak attempts, knowing Minseo wasn't to budge. "You can't just ignore him, Mimi. He's your uncle, sort of, uncle-ish? We're all on the same team."

          Minseo looked up at Dae-ho, unimpressed. "I don't take things like this lightly, Dae-ho," the man in question frowned deeply at the edge of her voice. He had never heard her, nor anyone, sound so cold when speaking. He certainly didn't expect it from her. "He betrayed us━he chose the enemy team. He chose to keep us locked in here, trapped from our freedom, for the sake of money."

          Taesuk's words came rushing back to Minseo, fast and unforgiving. The somber night at the river bank played back in her head like a cruel video game stuck on loop, flashes of her brothers face followed with the drawl of his depressing words.

           "Never underestimate the cruelty of a man driven by money," is what Minseo said lowly. Dae-ho watched mutely as Minseo looked back at Jung-bae. "If he lets greed overpower him, then there's no chance he's making it out."

          Minseo heard Dae-ho's sharp gasp. He turned her chin, his touch soft yet stern, and forced her to look at him. He stared at her, his face a flicker of many emotions, but there was one in his eyes which was most confusing of all━hurt; intrigue; wonder; pain? Minseo couldn't decipher the dreadful look in his eyes and closed her own to blind him from view.

          "Look at me," Dae-ho mumbled. She refused, her eyes now open but focusing on the floor. His fingers rested on her chin, keeping it afloat. "Minseo. Please, look at me."

           And she gave in. Slowly, her doe-eyes fluttered up to meet his own. "What?"

           Dae-ho swallowed before speaking, clearly hesitant. "That's your family. That's your uncle. You can't just shun him from existence because of his beliefs, because of his needs. He needs this money like everybody else in this room. Like me, like Gi-hun, like you."

            Minseo faltered for a second. "Sure, I need this money. But I also need to live. I want to live. I want to earn fairly, without shedding any more blood, sweat or tears. Without facing betrayal, without losing a love one."

            "You're already comprising yourself if you don't want to lose a love one," responded Dae-ho quietly. "Nobody knows what's next. Don't let what could be your last memory with Jung-bae be one you regret."

            With that, Dae-ho's fingers fell from her skin and ruffled themselves into his shirt. He sighed before standing, pushing himself up confidently to make his way over to Jung-bae.

              Minseo sat still, mulling Dae-ho's morbid words over. It was painfully true, the fact that any second could be their last, that there lives were comprised in the battle of money and freedom, their love and trust tested between the lines of greed and honesty. It pained Minseo most the fact that Jung-bae, a man whom she loved so deeply and knew so well, fell for such an obvious trap. How could he give into greed so easily? Curse him, Minseo wanted to scream, curse him and his money-controlled mind.

           But even then, Minseo found her own eyes wandering to the piggy bank above. The money within was almost sacred, tainted with blood of soldiers who too fell into the trap of greed. Her mind was a swarm of conflicting thoughts, her eyes trained on the glowing bank above she hadn't even noticed Jung-bae's return.

          "I'm sorry," the older man said immediately. "Young-Il, Jun-hee, I'm sorry."

           Dae-ho winced, eyeing Minseo. The young woman scoffed, shaking her head.

            Jung-bae leaned forwards. "Gi-hun, Minseo, I mean it."

               "Like Hell you do," scoffed Minseo quietly. She felt Gi-hun's hand on her shoulder, sparing him a quick look before returning her gaze to the floor.

            Young-Il, however, seemed to agree with Minseo. He, too, scoffed and looked away, unable to face the man.

            "Look I borrowed some emergency money and━and these guys are going after my ex-wife and kid now," Jung-bae hurried to explain, wiping his forehead stressfully. "The thing is, I think I can really pay it all off━"

           "Do you really?" Minseo interrupted coldly, cutting Jung-bae off abruptly. They all turned to the young woman. Her knees were curled up to her chest, her frame small, and despite the delicate nature of her posture, incredible anger radiated off her, an anger too big for her to hold back.

           "Can you pay it off, Jung-bae?" Minseo continued coldly, her icy glare sending shivers over his trembling body. "Can you pay it off when you're dead? Huh? Can you save your ex-wife and kid from the big, bad debt collectors when you're dead?"

          "Mimi━" Gi-hun voiced lowly. His attempts were weak and feeble, easily broken by Minseo's overpowering voice. She now stood on her feet, face to face with the man she called her uncle.

          "Say I'm being pessimistic and morbid, that we won't die in here━but look around, Jung-bae, Death is waiting for us. In this room, in our beds, at every game━and nobody will care when we do inevitably die in here, because that's another jackpot to the piggy bank. But you know who will care? Not the debt collectors━no, they couldn't give a fuck━but your daughter, your five year old daughter who's waiting for daddy at home."

          Jung-bae took a step back, his eyes wide as he stared at Minseo. "Mimi, please. Just listen to me."

          "I'm done listening," the young woman snapped. "I'm done with doing everything everyone tells me to do. Because so far, by doing everything I've been told to do, I've ended up in deeper shit than before. Send your brother off to university; play Ddjaki with me; call this number; play children's games to save your life."

         Minseo suddenly stopped when she felt a hand touch her own, and from following the pulse of the touch, she met the stern stare of Dae-ho. "That's enough," he said firmly. His lips were pursed, his expression unreadable but clearly unhappy.

           Young-Il cleared his throat from behind. "I agree with Minseo," he added strongly, nodding toward the young woman. "What happened to twice as righteous?"

          Jung-bae remained silently, his eyes drifting around them room to avoid the agonising confrontation.

          "You're being a little harsh," came the voice of Dae-ho. "At the end of the day, we all have the right to make our own decisions."

          Minseo looked at him, clear absurdity in her raging eyes. "Is that how I ended up in here? Is that how you ended up in here? Where were your rights when you signed your life away to begin a suicide mission for money?"

         "Why are you being so negative," Dae-ho questioned rhetorically. "We will all make it out alive. All of us."

         "I appreciate the positive outlook you have for such a dark place, Dae-ho, but I'm not feeding into any delusions. I will probably die in here, and I think it's best we accept it before it actually comes true."

         "Mimi," Gi-hun's voice sounded again, but this time much more firm and straightforward than the previous time. It was if his words cut off her oxygen flow, squeezing the last words from her lips. "What's gotten into you?"

        "What's gotten into me?" Mimi repeated weakly, a helpless laugh falling from her lips. "Nothing. I'm the only one being realistic here. We all might die, none of us might leave with that money, and he━" she pointed at Jung-bae. "━wants to risk one more game? That's your team chant, ain't it? One more game. One more risk. No more lives."

         The team fell into an uncomfortable silence. Tensions were high and bonds clearly strained. Jung-bae's nerves were clear on display, as were Jun-hee's as she avoided the conversation completely in silence. Young-Il had sided with Minseo, even rising to stand beside her. Gi-hun and Dae-ho, on the other hand, seemed to oppose her argument.

          "Go cool yourself off," Gi-hun advised gruffly. "Splash some water on your face and come back once you've calmed down."

          Hurt flashed over Minseo's watery eyes, her breaths falling short and her chest caving as Gi-hun refused to meet her eye.

            "Go," repeated Gi-hun without looking at her.

            And 'go,' she did. Minseo didn't waste another second, turning on her heel to make way down the stairs. She was held back, her arm tugged back. She was forcefully turned to face Dae-ho, who grasped onto her hand weakly, staring at her with penitent eyes.

          Minseo ripped her hand from his own, her body going cold at the missing warmth his touch emitted. Without looking back, Minseo made her way to the bathroom. She knocked loudly and ignorantly, waiting for a guard to answer before being led to the stalls.

          Minseo slammed the bathroom stall door shut, the click of the lock echoing like a small surrender. She slid down the cold, tile wall, her knees pulled up to her chest, and finally, for the first time in days, she was alone. The world outside felt distant, muffled, as if she could bury herself in the silence of the tiny stall and block out everything else. But the pressure inside her chest didn't relent. Her hands shook as she wiped her face, but the tears came faster than she could control, hot and relentless. She hadn't realized how badly she needed this space, how desperate she was to be free from the weight of other people's eyes, their expectations, their betrayals.

          She sobbed, hiccuping between breaths, the pain of it all threatening to swallow her whole. Jung-bae's living lie felt like a cruel echo in her mind, but worse━Dae-ho, too. She could barely breathe at the thought of him. How could he side with Jung-bae after only hours prior they were mentioning how badly they wanted to leave? How could he side with Jung-bae after promising to protect her, and then siding with the man who breached that promise directly? Her brother had warned her. He'd warned her about the cruelty of the world, about the greed in people's hearts. She hadn't listened, and now here she was, buried under it all. If only I had listened, she thought bitterly, her chest aching with the weight of her own failure.

          Dae-ho wasn't like Jung-bae, not exactly━but didn't it still hurt just as much? She had excused him, convinced herself it was different. But maybe it wasn't. She could feel her brother's voice in her head again, calm and certain. Stay away from boys, Minseo. They'll hurt you. She hated him for being right, she hated him for being right and the fact he couldn't rub it in her face. Even trapped in this hellish game, a boy had given her more trouble than anything else ever could. And she hated herself for being so weak.

━ author's note

wtf is this let's pretend
this chapter doesn't exist ok thx

ignore ANY typos this is not
edited or proof read and
absolutely freestyled with little
patience

but anyways things are starting to
get trickay😬 angst angst angst

sorry for the very late update i
was supposed to update on sunday
but the wattpad writer curse was casted
upon me and i ended up in hospital and
am currently unable to walk 🙂😍🥰

pls vote and comment <\3 it's all i ask
from you and my numb right leg

curse and am currently unable to walk :)!