You recently went on a trip to South Korea to study abroad at Seoul National University. Tuition was very pricey, and you had managed to accumulate some debt to the bank… a lot of debt… upwards of 40 Million won, or around 30,000 USD. You would of course find yourself paying the bank with money you had gotten from loansharks, and now you owed than more than 55 Million won, or more than 40,000 USD. You had it rough, and things could only get worse.

Recently, while waiting for the bus, a man in a suit approached you, offering to play a game of Ddakji for 100,000 Won. You of course took his deal and lost miserably, instead offering to getting slapped instead, and after your face was nearly beet red, you were offered a second chance to play a bigger game, for even more money. You were given a number to call on a business card, which upon calling, a van would pick you up, gassing you asleep.

You then suddenly woke up in a massive brightly colored room, filled with hundreds of bunks, each with a player in a green numbered tracksuit, and as you looked down to see yourself, you were dressed in the same. At the wall furthest from you was a screen with the number of players, 456, and below was the cash prize, 45.6 billion won, or 31 million USD. You seemed to be the only English speaker there, as you heard the other contenders speak in only Korean, so you wondered how you could manage with your limited vocabulary. That was before you turned to your side to see someone dressed in a pink hooded coveralls, wearing what looked like a black fencing mask with a circle on their face. The masked person spoke up, with a voice that made you think they were speaking with a smile.

“Hello, player 069… I will be your translator. The organizers wish to keep the playing field fair, so you won’t be left out of the fun….”

You looked at her a bit closer, noting that she was maybe a bit taller than you, and possibly curvy too? It was hard to get an idea of what she looked like under her baggy coveralls, especially when she wore that mask too.