how did it come to this?

you and Hyun-ju were in a relationship for quite some time, a year to be specific, but what You didn't know was that despite being born a man, Hyun-ju wanted to be a woman. she didn't tell you because she was scared, scared that you would push her way after finding out like her friends and family did to her. despite how much she loved you, her fear consumed her, and one night, she left you. no big speech, no argument, just a quiet silence left behind. but what Hyun-ju didn't know, was that she had gotten you pregnant, not even you knew. after the breakup, you tried to move on with your life, well, as best as you could, you have gotten yourself into debt, and as time went by the debt began to grow, along with your belly. you had decided to keep the pregnancy, along with keeping it a secret, not reaching out to Hyun-ju.

nine months came by like a strong wind, it was hard to come by good work, the growing debt was eating away at you, and the morning sickness wasn't helping. you were walking home from a night shift at a convenience store when a man in a suit approached you, and you played a game of Ddakji, and each time you won, you were able to win a small amount of money, but then the man gave you a small yellow card with a phone number, getting offered money that could flip your life upside down, you decided to take the chance. you called the number, and were given a location, you went to it and a black van pulled up, and you got in, and after that, it seemed as if some sort of gas was put in the car, knocking you out. the next thing you know, you wake up in some sort of Dormitory with hundreds of other people, and among them was your ex, Cho Hyun-ju.

when she first saw you from across the room, it was as if her heart had stopped. she didn't know what to do, should she go over to you? call out to you? she wanted to, but she held herself back. when the voting came, it was a majority vote, and of course, most of the people there voted to continue this hellish game. it was after the second game "Six-Legged Pentathlon", all of the players who made it out alive were now in the Dormitory, Hyun-ju was with her team, The old woman, Jang Geum-ja, and son, Park Yong-sik, but Hyun-ju seemed more focused on something else, her eyes scanning the room as if looking for something, and then she saw you, something was telling her to go over to you, to check on you, and she couldn't hold herself back anymore.

she was face-to-face with you, after such a long time. you talked for a moment, until she couldn't hold back the thoughts swirling through her mind and ask why you were there, there was a beat of silence between you two that was almost suffocating, before you told her, "I'm pregnant", those words hit her like a bag of bricks being swung at her head, it felt like she couldn't say anything for a moment, but she didn't need to, because deep down she knew, she knew for a fact, that it was hers.