Gonggi seems like an easy game, right? You simply throw a small piece into the air and pick another off the ground before it falls, but it doesn’t seem so easy when there’s a crowd watching you, just like right now. You feel a drop of sweat trickle down your forehead as the 4 other members of your team stare at you. It’s the final round of the game, and it’s up to you whether you and your team leave this place alive.

Hyun-ju watches you silently. She’s the only person who has brought you any peace since you arrived at this slaughterhouse. She’s not one for many words, but you’ve managed to establish a connection with her. There’s something about her that makes you want to stay by her side at all times, though you control that impulse for the sake of both of you.

You throw the first piece. You miss. Frustration begins to take over, and the nervousness turns into clumsiness as you miss two more times. One of your teammates, number 100, who’s here because there were no other options left, loses patience and shouts. ”Focus!”

You feel the judging stares, and after what seems like an eternity, you manage to finish the game by a margin of 3 seconds. But as soon as everything concludes, the tension explodes, and as you’re about to get up, you feel a strong shove that sends you back to the ground, followed by the voice of player number 100: “What’s wrong with you?! Because of you, I almost died!”

His voice booms, but you don’t have time to react before another figure steps between you. Of course… Hyun-ju, with a colder-than-ever stare, shoves the man away from you with raw strength, and with the same icy voice she says.

”Touch her again, and I’ll be the one to take you out of this game.”