I LOVE YOU SO
Chapter Three
❛ No escape at all. ❜
"SIR, PLAYER 036 has passed away, we checked their lungs and it seemed that they collapsed due to the smoke we used to put the players to sleep. I found a young woman in the van, they sat awake, number 029 suggested that she should be allowed to join the games," the supervisor informed The Front Man.
Sighing briefly under his thick mask, The Front Man monotonously answered, "let me see this young woman."
When given the order, three masked men in pink suits stood behind The Front Man and two marched beside him. They brought him to the back, their feet stomped on the shiny floor, the heavy sounds resounded around the busy room.
The supervisor gestured towards the young woman. Someone with long tresses that was tied back with effort, semi-petite pink lips, dimples faintly that faintly indented the sides of her cheeks and a strong jaw. The tips of her nails were rough from biting them too much, a tell-tale sign of her stress. Oh, and her unclean shoes threatened to fall off her feet, all because she didn't tie them properly.
The young woman definitely looked like Hwang Aera.
Being cautious not to let his professional façade fall, The Front Man felt his muscles stiffen and his lips pressed together in a thin line. This couldn't be.
"Should we kill them, should we let them play or let them join us?" The supervisor's questions rang through The Front Man's already clouded mind, it prodded at his thoughts.
Those words made Aera's muscles twitch in alarm. She didn't want to die- who would choose to anyways?
The Front Man chose carefully. There were two options. Becoming a supervisor; a player. Both were brutal, mentally scarring and not fit for someone like Aera, or anyone at all. No one should ever participate in such inhumane doings. He thought about this truthfully, even though it was hypocritical.
Being a player seemed like a safe bet, there was an opportunity for her to leave the place, despite the vile conditions. If The Front Man let Aera be a supervisor, there was a higher chance of her finding out who he truly was. He couldn't bear to see the light drain from her eyes if she ever found out. Sure, Aera's life was safer as a supervisor, but she wouldn't have the chance to escape.
She wouldn't be able to see the outside world again.
He didn't know this, but Hwang Aera wanted to play so she could try to find her brother. Jun-ho had a specific plan and Aera was determined to stick to it. Going over the plan in her head, they agreed that Jun-ho would survey the files, whilst Aera would search for In-ho in the games, and if she did, she would find a way to escape with him. At some point all three of them would meet up, they'd find a route to flee and then finally, press charges.
Shaking his head slowly, dread caused The Front Man to exhale shakily, "let her play."
"What?"
The Front Man ignored them, "make sure she gets her photo taken," he wished he could shake Aera awake, to scorn her for making such a foolish choice.
"But she hasn't played the first game," the supervisor reminded him, "red light, green light. How will this be fair for the others-"
"I said, let her play," The Front Man's tone became dangerous, more piercing than before, he watched as the supervisor flinched only slightly from under their pink suit, obviously trying hard to hide their signs of weakness. "She'll miss red light, green light. She would've passed the game anyway," she always did, "go get her changed and get her pictures done."
Without any protests, they inclined their head vigorously, "yes sir," bowing several times, the supervisors crowded around the girl and followed the superior's orders.
Turning around, The Front Man grabbed ahold of the nearest supervisor's collar, "and make sure she lives," The Front Man spat and sent them an icy stare, even thought they couldn't see it.
But The Front Man's tone was enough, for the supervisor wobbled on their feet and rapidly blinked at the wicked man, "yes . . ." the struggled to utter their words, they choked on their fear, "yes, I'll get the word across," they nodded to themselves and clutched their neck when The Front Man forcefully let go.
━━━
IT WAS PAINFULLY obvious that Hwang Aera lacked sleep, she rested on a soft cottony pillow with a rubbery mattress beneath her, flopping to face the other side to feel a bit more comforted, she grabbed the bottom of her pillow and hugged it as if she were at home.
When her mind's locked and floating around in dreamland, it always seemed to forget all about reality.
"Turning around and ignoring me now are you? You bastard I'm talking to you!" A player with a green number: 212 on her t-shirt, a slim woman with high cheek bones and piercing eyes had been screaming into Aera's ear for the past ten minutes. The tips of her ears had started to become red with rage. "If my own kid does this one day . . ." Tutting to herself, she uncrossed her arms and began to shake Aera awake.
Puffing out her cheeks, Aera wrinkled her eyebrows together, they knitted together in irritation. She sincerely did not appreciate the sudden noise, and how it seemed as if her surroundings were rumbling around her as she was being disturbed in her sleep. Grabbing ahold of her pillow, Aera roughly placed it over her head and tried to continue her quiet slumber.
"Give this to me," trying to snatch the pillow away from Aera's hands, player 212 grunted as she pulled and pulled, it was almost as if she were playing tug of war, but with a pillow.
"No Omma. . ." Scowling in protest and gripping the darned pillow tightly, whines escaped from Aera's lips as she stuck her bottom lip out.
"Did you just call me your Omma?" This is outrageous, "get up right now," rocking from foot to foot, a rip from the seams of the pillow could be heard, but player 212 didn't care, "you hear me?"
"Please for the love of God, I am trying to sleep," sitting up right and smacking the delicate pillow against the back of the irksome player's head, a satisfied grin spread across Aera's tired face, a chuckle flew out of her lips, one she tried to keep in for a while, and patted her thigh at the sight of player 212's fuming expression.
"You're going to regret that," player 212's lip curled, she flexed her fingers, making her knuckles pop.
Throwing her head back to let out an amused laugh, Aera's eyes gleamed, "yeah right, anyways I'm too tired for this," wrinkling her nose, she began, "where am I exactly? Why are you dressed like you're in prison and . . .what happened to my socks!" Her chest tightened and her mouth fell agape, "where's my brother and . . . who even are you!"
Placing a hand on her hip, player 212 openly rolled her eyes, "I, actually asked you questions before this, but you didn't answer me, which is unfair, because no one ignores Han Mi-nyeo," she pointed towards her chest repeatedly with a cat like grin.
Letting go of the cold bed frame, Aera clicked her tongue with a loud sigh, "I was clearly asleep- didn't know it'd be such an offense to ignore Han Mi-n . . . whatever your name is-"
"Han Mi-nyeo."
"-during your sleep," lifting herself up onto her feet, a frown scratched across Aera's lips when she realised that she was wearing the same exact thing as Mi-nyeo, except the numbers: 036 was embroidered on to her jacket.
Recalling the events from earlier, she remembered some supervisors, that were clad in pink suits, changed her into some new clothing. But, she was too busy pretending to sleep to notice what she was wearing. Aera continued, "anyways . . ." feeling uneasy, she swayed slightly, not liking her situation, "I'm sorry, what were your questions?"
Letting out a lengthy exhale, Mi-nyeo looked down at her through slitted eyelids, "finally, I was going to ask, what happened? I remember number 036 being a big muscly man with a big ego. He wouldn't stop fawning over me. What happened to him huh?"
Scrunching her face, Aera thought deeply, so the man Jun-ho mentioned was real, he didn't make them up? With downturned lips, she tugged at her shirt, her heart felt heavy and it wrenched for the man's family.
If that happened to her brothers, Aera would wish some kind of portal to the afterlife would open up and swallow her whole, it would be unbearable to live.
Standing dazed with her arms flopped to her side, a curious look flashed through Aera's eyes as she let her them explore the wide and spacious room that she was in. The upper half of the walls were patterned with neatly drawn shapes, though most of it were covered by the beds. Stacks and stacks of them hugged the wall, almost like some scaffolding on a building. Everything was outlined black, but it didn't make the blinding lights on the walls any darker.
Everyone swarmed together in clusters, all in separate groups, all with different personalities and stories. But what wasn't unique about them, was that they were all dressed in the same item of clothing, only each individual had different numbers assigned to them.
A frown began to tug at Aera's lips.
Flicking her head around, she could see hefty and colossal double doors in the distance, one that was built out of, presumably, the sturdiest of metals. Was that the escape route? Or was there no escape at all? Swallowing thickly, she dreaded the last question.
Still, with her jaw hung open, Aera gradually maneuvered her eyes over towards the ceiling.
Hwang Aera's eyes nearly rolled out of its sockets at the sight of it. An enormously sized piggy bank, hung firmly from the ceiling, had a pool of cash within it. The spectrum of green never looked so tasty, for a moment, Aera craved to swim in it, though, who would need that amount of money. As long as Aera could fill her pockets up, she was happy, thus she thought against the idea of owning the entirety of that large piggy bank.
The glass piggy bank caught on to the ceiling lights and glinted intriguingly.
"I'm asking you a question," Mi-nyeo grumbled and stomped her feet impatiently against the wooden floor, interrupting Aera's thoughts. "You have a major problem with ignoring people. No one ignores Mi-nyeo," tutting and striding away, her arms swung beside her as she walked, "no one does. No, one, does."
Aera scrunched eyebrows together once more, curiosity filled her senses as she tripped over the metal frame that held the beds together. Pushing some stray strands of hair away from her forehead, "wait up, you still need to answer my questions Mi-nyeo, I have many more too," licking her lips in aggravation, she sighed massively, "no one ignores Hwang Aera," she mocked the curly haired lady.
Grabbing a hold of the woman's shoulder, when she managed to catch up to her, a yawn tumbled out of Aera's mouth, she gingerly covered it with the back of her palm, "excuse me you still need to answer my questions," Aera nagged.
"You're so strange," Mi-nyeo gave Aera a side-ways glance and scratched the side of her head, before combing through her hair, "you talk now, when I want you to leave me be, but you don't talk when I want you to."
Letting her jaw drop, a scoff left Aera's lips. How unbelievable. "I- you-" Having enough of Mi-nyeo, she let out another exhausted yawn. Taking her focus away from the infuriating lady and onto the scene in front of her, a sense of familiarity flooded Aera's senses as her dark eyes laid on a girl with chin length hair.
"You know what people in my hometown would call you, huh?" The raven haired girl gritted her teeth together, the bright lights reflected on to her eyes, creating a hostile gleam within them as she gave Deok-su a cold stare, "a damn revolutionary asshole."
At this, Aera gasped and grinned wildly, "oooh," her booming chuckle was covered by both her palms as she didn't want to disturb the feud in front of her.
The raven haired girl stood with a strong stance, a sly smile spread across her face. Her cheeks were decorated with light freckles and she had a light fringe that covered her the top of her forehead. Lowering her eyes, Aera noticed that the girl's number was 067. Sitting beside it all, Aera wondered how the girl could remain unbothered when she was facing a malicious man with an evil glare.
"You communist little bitch, I'm gonna . . ." Threatening to strike at her, the bulky man lunged forwards with a deathly glint in his eyes.
Just spectating this, Aera gripped the side of one of the beds and stood up abruptly, her eyebrows raised and pulled together, fearing for the raven haired girl. But, 067 kept her scowl with a clenched jaw.
From beside Aera, Mi-nyeo got up. Feeling the sudden absence of her warmth, Aera narrowed her eyes, squinting slightly, she watched confusedly at the sight of Mi-nyeo sauntering towards Deok-su, "excuse me . . . am I interrupting you?" Pausing and waving her two fingers with a large smile that never left her face, "sorry," Mi-nyeo apologised.
"What is it?" Deok-su scanned her up and down with his nose poking the air.
"Oh boy," Mi-nyeo fluttered her eyelashes with a lop-sided grin, "you're really good looking," winking right after, with her lips morphing into a coy smile, you could see a sudden amount of pride fill her eyes when the other men chuckled at her words.
Almost gagging out loud, an amused glance touched upon Aera's features as she watched the scene unfold. "Oh God I've had enough of this," she sighed.
Skipping down the stairs, feeling tired of standing on the sidelines for so long, Aera stumbled on her right foot as she did so. Yelping, she managed to save herself by standing on her other foot just in time, causing her forearm to bump against 067's elbow.
Inhaling sharply, 067 stared coldly at the ground through narrow eyes, a burning sensation immediately formed on her elbow, tensing up with rigid shoulders, 067 cautiously stepped further away from Aera.
Noticing this and mentally scorning herself, Aera's cheeks heated up as she sucked in a breath, "sorry," a mumble tumbled from her lips. Swallowing thickly, she glanced at 067 from her peripherals. Much to Aera's disappointment, 067 tightened her jaw even more and balled her fists up so tightly it made her knuckles pale.
". . . And I'm certainly better than some skinny girls, a lot better."
Aera tore her focus away from 067 at Mi-nyeo's comment, it made her jaw slack, "can you believe this bitch?" Facing 067 with an arched eyebrow and crossed arms, Aera snarled in disbelief. Doing a double take when 067 didn't reply, she tilted her head, curiosity filled her pupils. She looks so familiar, Aera thought, "hang on a minute I know y. . ."
Slowly spinning on her heel, 067 kept her head down and straightened her back, "what?"
". . . I know you, I think I do, I'm pretty sure . . ." Aera tapped her chin, a cheerful smile grew on her proud face as she clapped her palms together, gleefully.
An unknown emotion flickered through 067's eyes as she stuffed her hands into her pockets, "really?" A tiny soft grin could be seen on 067's pink lips, her pulse drummed rhythmically against her chest, a tell-tale sign of her hope. Though, the hope quickly vanished when 067 recalled some unwanted memories from the past, "actually forget it, you've probably mistaken me for someone else."
"No I haven't," Aera began as she fiddled with the small knife within her right pocket, examining how 067 began to pace away in a hurry, she impatiently tapped her foot, "hey . . . hey wait-" Speeding up her own momentum with an arm extended, Aera wrapped her fingers around 067's forearm, trying to stop them in their tracks.
Flinching at the sudden contact, a prickle rushed up 067's arm as her muscles grew rigid. Gripping on to Aera's forearm in defense, she thought rapidly. She dragged Aera's arm towards her until Aera was only a few centimeters away from her. Stealthily grabbing the small knife from her pocket, she gripped the handle of the knife tightly. From beneath her fingertips, she could feel Aera quiver slightly at her icy scowl.
Breezily, the air flew past Aera's ears as she held her breath, a gasp flew out of her lips as her legs moved helplessly towards 067. All she could hear was the mumbling chatter from the other players around her and her pounding pulse within her ear drum. Watching carefully as 067 brought her free arm up, with the pocket knife sitting tightly within her palm, Aera felt the blade sit coldly under her shivering chin, making her teeth chatter slightly.
One exhale and the knife would pierce Aera's neck.
"I said forget it," 067 stated, pausing between each word as if Aera did not understand.
067's breath fanned warmly against the tip of Aera's nose, causing the surface of knife to condensate gradually. Quickly eyeing the sharp blade, Aera chuckled shakily as her palms shot up to protect herself, "I heard you the first time," lifting her chin up to try and gain confidence, a crafty grin etched across Aera's face.
"Good," staring down at her and edging closer, ever so, 067 used the blade to tilt Aera's chin upwards, ". . .because you don't."
"I don't what?"
"You don't actually know me."
"Oh but I do," at this rate it was impossible to breathe, not when 067 could swing her blade at any given moment. If she did, could potentially end Aera's life. Not only that, but, Aera was struggling to keep herself upright whilst being under 067's hard stare.
The cold stare almost cut through her soul- which would do far more damage than the very blade beneath her chin.
Scoffing and rolling her eyes, 067 looked pointedly towards the ground before returning her glare on Aera. "Then who am I?"
There it was, the hope 067 felt before had returned again. She hoped that Aera would recall the fond childhood they used to share- or even, who she was.
Hope, hope, hope. It's priceless, yet the answers weren't promising.
"Yeah," nodding to herself confidently, "you're the girl in that van, thank you for the tip or otherwise I wouldn't have this . . ." Still keeping a palm up in surrender, Aera fumbled around in her pocket for, "my pocket knife," she whispered in an undertone.
Stepping away slowly, 067 dropped her hands dispiritedly and closed her eyes in disappointment as she pinched her nose briefly, "right yeah," I should've known . . . "It was nothing, you can return the favor another time," stuffing her own knife into her trouser pocket, the strong eye contact they held was broken when she teared her eyes away from Aera's.
"Wait okay," Aera murmured, her eyebrows furrowed at the sight of 067 disappearing into a crowd. It was visible that 067 was upset about something that happened, and because of this, it made her chest tighten. "Can I at least know your name?" Aera called after 067 with both palms on the side of her mouth to project her voice, "because right now your name is just a number to me, and I doubt your name is actually a number!"
Just at that moment, the speakers spoke over her, "attention. Your mealtime begins now. All players, please form a line in the center of the room. Let me repeat the instruction . . ." After the robotic woman announced itself through the speakers, the Blue Danube Waltz echoed around the hall.
"Hm," Aera began to move her arms about and tapped her foot along to the tune.
Glancing over at everyone, Aera wondered why no one was enjoying the music. It brought her so much nostalgia, she remembered when one of her older brothers would practice this piece on an old borrowed keyboard, for his school show.
That was some years ago- she smiled at this fondly.
Her personal moment was interrupted when someone pushed in front of her, eager to get their dinner, "sorry, feeling hungry," a girl her age with brown streaks in their short hair, with a nose stud, shrugged sheepishly.
"No don't worry . . ." With Aera's voice trailing away, she stood on her tippy toes and drummed her fingers together, trying to locate where 067 could be. But, with the abundance of busy people bunched together, all around the room, it was hard to spot her.
Nibbling on her bottom lip, there was some guilt that lingered on her mind, Aera didn't know what she was specifically guilty about. But, she knew that during her and 067's interaction, something deeply affected 067, and Aera was determined to find out about it, to know where she went wrong.
Perhaps the plan Jun-ho originally set with Aera's agreement, could be dragged out a little longer.
( 3703 words )
DEAR ALL,
*Sighs* I just finished another chapter, I feel: accomplished 💪💪
I'm hoping you guys are loving this💖💗💓 because I sure love writing this 🤭
When Sae-Byeok put her knife under Aera's chin, and then the next happened, and then, and then, and then- 😩
Anyways your comments literally make my day so much more better, hugs for you all🫂🫂
WITH LOVE, SYLVIA