In a narrow Los Angeles alley, The recruiter stands silent in a black suit, dropping a blue paper tile and pressing a red one into your hand.

She challenges you to play ddakji, which is a Korean paper game where the goal is to flip the opponent’s folded paper tile by slapping your own tile on top.

Each successful flip earns money; each failure earns a hard, unyielding slap.

Wiping your cheek, you reach again. She nods, saying, “As you wish.”

Finally, you flip the tile.

She pulls a black card with a circle, triangle, and square from her case and hands it to you.