"𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲"

The walk back to the room was unnervingly quiet, as if the weight of what had just happened had stolen everyone's voice. Joo Yeon trudged along, her thoughts a chaotic mess. A children's game, something that should have been lighthearted and nostalgic had turned into unimaginable bloodshed.

How did it come to this? she wondered, her mind replaying the gruesome scenes over and over. It was so absurd, it almost felt like a joke, a sick, twisted joke. Yet the fear clawing at her chest reminded her that it was terrifyingly real.

When they finally reached the room, no one spoke. Each player seemed lost in their own torment, the reality of their situation sinking in. Joo Yeon made her way straight to her bunk bed and sank onto the edge, her legs weak and trembling.

Her eyes wandered across the room and found 067 sitting on her own bed, knees pulled to her chest. She stared blankly at the floor, her face pale and expressionless.

Joo Yeon just sat there, gripping the edge of the mattress, replaying every gunshot, every scream, and every lifeless body hitting the ground. The smell of blood lingered in her nose, the memory of its warmth splattered on her face still vivid.

She closed her eyes, but the images didn't leave her. They stayed, sharp and relentless.

In the quiet room, all that could be heard was the faint sound of someone's muffled sobbing. Joo Yeon didn't know who it was, but it perfectly captured the mood—a haunting echo of despair and helplessness.

All of it came to a sudden stop when the alarms buzzed and the door clanked open. She saw all the players going towards the center of the room and she decided to follow them.

After a few seconds the masked manager came in accompanied by a few guards and they stood a few meters away from where the players were before he spoke up.

"You have all made it through the first game. Congratulations. Moving forward I will now announce the results of the first game," he said and then pressed a button on the remote and bundles of money began pouring into the piggy bank. Joo Yeon gasped. She couldn't believe what she was saying. Money.

With a beep the pouring ended and the square-masked guy spoke again. "Out of 457 players, 255 were eliminated and 202 players successfully completed the first game."

Many players gasped and they all started murmuring among themselves. Some couldn't believe what they saw, others were whispering among themselves.

"Look mister. Listen. I'm so sorry. I swear I will pay what I owe. Please let me go," a woman said begging on her knees. Following her suite another woman spoke up.

"Please sir. Let us go. I have a young child. I need to register, and I still need to name my child, sir," she said sobbing as she begged. Haven't named her child? What kind of woman is she? Joo Yeon thought and her thoughts were interrupted when many players started to beg to leave.

The masked manager spoke again, "There seems to be a misunderstanding. We are not trying to hurt you or collect your debts. Let me remind you that we're here to give you a chance."

"A chance? This is what you call a chance? We play some kid game and you shoot us?" a man said.

"Killing everyone out there was a game to you, huh?" Player 456 said and Joo Yeon heard many players agreeing to this.

"They were simply eliminated for breaking the rules of the game. If you just follow the rules, you can leave this place safely with the prize money we promised," the masked manger said again.

"Just keep your damn money. I don't care!" another man said and everyone started to protest saying that they want to go home but Joo Yeon couldn't believe what she was seeing. The money. She has never seen this much in her whole life.

"Consent form clause 1. A player is not allowed to stop playing. Consent form clause 2. A player who refuses to play will be eliminated," the masked manager said but the protest didn't go down, so he pulled down his gun from the back of his tracksuit and shot upwards. The gunshot reverberate, the sound sending echoes around.

"Yes.. but Consent form clause 3. If all the players agreed to stop playing, the games are allowed to end. Or am I wrong?" A man suddenly spoke up and everyone turned towards the source. It was Sang-woo.

"Yes, you're correct. You can vote, and we will do as you wish. If majority wants to leave the game will be terminated," the masked manager said.

"Before we vote, let me announce the prize money for the game as previously promised," he said and the numbers on the ceiling started to change. Upon reaching the final the square-masked guy spoke again.

"A total of 255 players were eliminated during the first game. A hundred million won is at stake per player. Therefore, 25.5 billion won of prize money has been accumulated so far. However if you wish to give up on playing, the 25.5 billion won will be sent to the bereaved families of the late players, 100 million won each, and you will all return home empty-handed," he said.

Joo Yeon couldn't believe what she heard. Return home empty-handed after going through trauma? Its insane. We don't get any money but the bereaved families get? That's a fucked up logic. Joo Yeon could also hear some players mumbling about this and she could feel that many of them are dissatisfied with that.

"Uh, sir... So then, if we can complete all six games, how much do we get?" a player asked slowly.

"Since there were 457 players, the total prize money is 45.7 billion won. with that, we will now begin the voting. As you can see, there are two buttons in front of you. If you wish to continue playing, press the green button with an O. If you wish to stop playing, then please press the red button with the X instead," he said and continued, "After you finish voting, move to the other side of the white line and wait. Voting will be done in reverse order of the numbers on your chests. Player 457, please cast your vote," he said and Joo Yeon sighed deeply before moving forward.

Her eyes darted between the X and the O and then she looked up at the money. 45.7 billion won.

She hovered her hand over the buttons, closed her eyes, took a deep breath in and pressed 'O' and then she heard a beep. With that she moved to the other side of the room. She could feel many pairs of eyes staring at her head.

"Player 456, please cast your vote," the masked manager said and she saw that insane guy moving towards the voting and without a second thought he pressed X and moved to the side of the room. The voting process continued and Joo Yeon kept staring at the voting numbers. Currently the Xs were in lead with just 3 votes.

"Player 240, please cast your vote," the masked manager said and Joo Yeon saw Ji-yeong going to cast her vote. She without a second vote pressed O and moved to the side. After her some players casted there votes until Joo Yeon heard the number 218. It was that genuis's number. He moved forward and pressed O. Joo Yeon looked at 456's face and he was shocked and so was Joo Yeon. Well money changes people.

Some more players casted votes and 067 too votes for O. Right now the O's were leading by 5 votes and only 5 more players were left to cast their votes.

Out of them 3 voted for O and the majority had voted to keep on playing the games.

"The majority of the players have voted to play the game. Therefore, this game is now resumed," the masked manager said and with that protests rose from people who wanted to leave but the guards didn't pay any heed. They just left them.