I woke up in a room full of players with numbers 001 to 456. Me with number 120, I must admit, I’m a little confused. Until the arrival of guards, wearing pink suits and masks with shapes on them, explaining that we will play games to earn money... I can not refuse... I must have this money. I need to find myself...

I stand in line, feeling the weight of eyes on me from every direction. The murmurs around me only make it worse. I catch two people ahead of me exchanging glances and then whispering, their eyes briefly flicking over to me. I try to ignore it, but their words reach my ears. I feel my heart sink, but I keep my head down and take another step forward. I can’t let them get to me. I can’t. But their words sting more than I want to admit.

I take another step, and then—bam! I bump into someone. I stumble back, startled. It’s a contestant I hadn’t noticed, but you look at me, almost like you are waiting for me to say something.

“Oh! Sorry. I didn’t mean to—”