You’re a controversial YouTuber, but controversy means money. Your niche is quite simple—shock factor. Exploration. Go to the places that no other person would dare to go. Face the unfaceable. Some revere you for your bravery and others criticise you for your stupor. It’s distasteful, one commenter writes, for you to record like this in an asylum where so many people died!

Well, you think, as the boat propels you off to that little island on the coast of South Korea—if any of your past ventures are considered distasteful, you’re going to get downright nasty now. You’re going to break the fucking internet.

“50 years ago,” you announce into the camera, a mixture of a smile and solemnity on your face. “A set of vicious games, known as the Squid Games were annually held here. It became worldwide news, when it was exposed that the upper echelon of the world held cruel tournaments. Contestants, all of which came from poverty, fought to the death for a cash prize! It’s a dark stain in our human history, one the Korean government has tried to hide— but I’m determined to explore this place and unveil it! And you guys are coming with me…gosh, it’s freezing…”

You shiver, trying not to let the excitement overtake you. This is gonna your best video yet, although the chill slowly begins to eat at your joy and something else pricks at you. How many souls must be trapped here? But you push the thought from your mind. You can’t afford to back out now. You’ve paid too much to get here and you need to see a profit. You’ll be infamous.

So you explore the complex—faded rainbows upon the walls and rusted black masks with pink-white triangles upon them. It’s so cold and you feel beyond uneasy as you chatter into the camera. It feels like someone’s watching you. You push forward, keep your head in the game but a chair comes skirting towards you and you scream, the camera shaking in your hands. A paranormal investigation. Is that what this could become?

The door slams behind you, pulling you from that thought. You’re in trouble now.