24067 Sae Byeok x Ji Yeong

I. Player 240

Written by Ava and Paige
Edited and published by byeoks (Summer )
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Player 240

We had been in the games for 3 days. I didn't really know anyone and I kept to myself most of the time. We were beginning the 3rd game. Everyone had found groups and I just sat there on the pitch white staircase. Waiting. For some type of opportunity. No one wanted me, I was a girl, scrawny, weak, they wanted a strong man. A girl probably my age walked up to me. Number 067.  She put out a hand to me. Her lips were pressed firmly together.
    "Come. Join us." She spoke, barely moving her busted lips.
    "But I'm a girl," I say, "Isn't that a liability?"
She remained still, leaving her hand still hanging in the air. I hesitated, then grabbed it and she pulled me up with a surprising amount of strength. I gazed at her in curiosity as she pulled me to a circle of men with only one other woman, who looked around 49. There was an old man there as well with a warm smile plastered on his face, even with this situation. That's when I thought today might be the day that I die. There wasn't any reason in my mind why I should stay anyway. My mother was dead and I killed my father. Number 067 and I sat down in the circle. A man raised an eyebrow at me, and a frown began to grow on his face.
"I said to bring back a man, didn't I?" He asked, rhetorically. Number 067's face continued to stay firm, and her lips never parted.
"I'm sorry," I said smiling, "I will leave if that's what you want." I began to get up, then Number 067 grabbed the blue sleeve of my coat and held me back.
"No. Stay." Number 067 says firmly. My eyes widened, but I sat. We continued to sit in silence until a few more men returned. The silence broke when a man's voice interrupts,
    "We have 9 people. Someone didn't bring back a person."
    I glanced and saw the old man sitting there with no partner by his side. Before someone could say anything, a hysterical woman ran in.
"Hey! You guys should add me to your team! I'm strong, smart and I can do everything except the things I can't!" She hollered out.
My ears were ringing with the annoyance of her voice.
"And why would we do that?" Number 218 said. "You're just here because you got kicked off of your team."
"NO, I WASN'T!" She yelled. "I-I was just too good for them, please!" She stammered. The men looked at each other.
    "We already have two girls," Number 218 said. I rolled my eyes. The clock was ticking and a few seconds remained. All the groups had all 10, and there were 80 people left, so we had no other choice than to take the annoying woman. The clock hit 0. There were 8 groups of 10. We all stood up and walked into the arena behind the men in red suits. They wore masks so no one would know their identity, with different shapes on the front coordinating their positions. We entered a black room, onto a bridge over a steep drop.
    "Tug of War," the automatic woman announced. We all looked at each other, knowing there was no chance if we went against stronger men. I guess Number 218 is regretting letting us join his team now. Anyway, as I said, I don't really have a purpose to live. It would be cool to have all of that money but was there really a purpose for it anyway? I've thought about it, and there's nothing worth spending it on, considering I have no one left. They pulled 2 balls out with numbers carved into the black surface. Team 1 and team 5. We are team 4. It was close, as I looked at the strong men on team 1. A woman shook on team 4, holding her husband's hand and I shuttered. The bridge was divided into two different ways where team 1 walked left and team 5 walked right. They crossed the gray bridges and took sharp turns towards one yellow elevator each. Then, the masked men harshly shoved them in the elevators. Although we were far, I could still see a smirk on a man's face.
    The first round was easy to suspect the outcome. Team 5 was scrawny and looked frightened, already knowing their fate. While Team 1 was preponderance and lean. Their hands were buckled to the Tug of War rope so that there was no way they could let go. The narrating woman counted down the seconds until they would start. The other team looked absolutely frightened as the big bulky men smirked with cockiness. As soon as it started Team 1 got a lead. The round lasted surprisingly long, while I expected it to end right away. That's when a man slipped and fell, then with one more jerk, he was sprawled off with several people falling behind him. They all hung on the rope, their life depending on the cuffs grasping them to the rope. That's when a metal guillotine dropped down and chopped the rope in half. I heard the splat of their bodies on the concrete ground below us. That was what truly made me in full-out shock. I hadn't thought much about dying, but now that the idea was in my mind, it sent chills through my body.
    The men stood still for a minute, and then the red men quickly walked over and sternly pulled them back into the elevator. On the other side, the red men went back down alone. Then there was a rustling noise in front of us when they drew the next two balls. First, was team 8. I sighed in relief that it wasn't ours, but then that's when I saw the number 4. Before I could think anything of it, we were walking to the tower. Number 067 in front of me remained calm with a steady look on her face.
"We're screwed." A man said suddenly. Everyone looked at him, however, the old man stood there smiling.
"No," He said, continuing to smile.
"Yes, we are," Number 456 said, sliding down against the metal walls of the elevator.
"We have women. They are stronger than us." Number 218 said.
"You don't," The old man said slowly, "Need strong people to win. You need a strategy." He said pointing at his head. "I remember playing this game when I was young." Everyone gave their attention to him at that point.
"First, for the first few seconds, you need to lean back with all of your weight. The other team will think they're weak and start panicking. Then when the team leader says so, you need to pull with all of your strength." He explained, gesturing the movements. "Next, have people not all standing on one side, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right." Before he could say anything else, the elevator creaked to a stop. A woman let out a deep breath. The doors opened to the red-suited men holding black rifles. Their fingers were resting on the triggers, ready to pull if necessary. Although they were intimidating, everyones' immediate attention went directly to the other tower. The people on the other side didn't look as dangerous as the other team looked, based on strength. But, I already knew my team was disappointed as they looked at the women on our team. The first man reluctantly walked towards the rope, after that, everyone else followed him. The red men walked up to us and cuffed our hands to the rope one by one. While we followed the old man's idea and stood in the left, right pattern, the other team all stood on one side of the rope. A man loaded his gun and then aimed it upward, and fired.
At the sound of a single gunshot, we began. Right away I could feel the strong pull of the other team, I leaned back right away, alongside my other teammates. We stayed in this position for 10 seconds until our team leader yelled, "PULL!" We all pulled in perfect synchronization and we were winning for a while until we weren't. The other team started pulling back and we were losing our gain on them. Number 218 told us to take three steps forward. I was afraid, but I didn't show my emotions. Number (annoying girls number) sure did.
"NO WAY AM I DOING THAT!" she said in her typical annoying voice.
"Trust me," said number 218.
"ON THREE," the team leader said.
"ONE... TWO... THREE..." we all took three steps forward causing the other team to lose their balance.  We then jerked the rope causing them to stumble forward, off the platform. They hung off by the rope, and I squeezed my eyes shut as the guillotine collapsed on the rope, and I heard them scream and then a splat. We all fell back, after pulling on the empty rope. I could hear the heavy breathing of my teammates. We laid there for a few seconds until the men came and shoved us up. We went back to the elevator and went down, whereas the other elevator remained empty. We walked back to the other groups and sat, now with two lines empty.
A few minutes passed, and I was still in shock, so I didn't pay attention to the other teams playing. Before I knew it, we were walking back to our living area.  Team 1 chuckled until they saw who walked in. They were in pure and utter disbelief. I saw a small smile form in the corner of number 067's lips. After all the teams arrived back there was silence for a bit. Then the doors opened to the red-suited men. They had our dinner carts. But, they didn't call us, they all looked up, and we saw the number go down. To 40. 40 of the 456 who originally came. People then formed lines for dinner. I got an egg. I didn't eat much, I wasn't hungry. However, some people were. I noticed people going in the lines several times. Almost everyone was done eating, but there were still 5 people left in line. The red-suited man stood there, with nothing left to give.
"Where's my food?" A man growled out.
    "There's none left!" Someone shouted out.
    "We only made food for the exact number of people." The man with the cart said.
    "Someone must've taken more!" Another woman in line said. Everyone started speaking at once, when suddenly a woman cried out,
    "It was them." She pointed at the group that was Team 1. A man from line ran over.
    "You took our food!" He yelled.
    "You don't have to be so selfish," The man replied back, smirking.
    He then said, "And look at you; you're scrawny anyway; you don't need food." The man suddenly shoved him.
    "Huh, you want to do that?!" He yelled. He shoved him back, knocking him to the ground.
    This broke out into a fight sooner than you could blink. The smaller man grabbed the bigger man's drink and smashed it on the ground.
"Look what you did! You're selfish!" He yelled.
"That was my drink!" The smaller man screamed back. The bigger one kicked, punched
and fought his little heart out. He fought so much that he killed the man. And then he smirked. Wow, I thought to myself. He really smiled after he killed a man. If I was thinking like a sick person then this would be a good thing for me because you know, one less person. Which I had to do. I had to think like a sick person. Like my father. I finished my egg and wiped off my hands on my blue jacket. Then, there was the warning for one minute until lights out. I smiled, trying to remain optimistic despite the situation. I then went to my bunk, the bottom one. A few seconds later, the lights flickered out. I laid my head down, but I still couldn't sleep. I lay there thinking about what the game was going to be tomorrow. I was scared. I put on a face for everyone. I tried to show people the confident half of me, but I knew on the inside I was still a scared little girl who had nothing.