𝟐𝟔𝟎

002: Ddakji.

HYUN-JUNG raised her arm and threw down the blue folded paper onto the one on the floor that didn't budge making her freeze for a moment before looking at the man. He nods, bending down to pick up his red paper as she backs away to make some space for him.

She watched intently as the man throws down his red tile and flipped over his ddakji. He looks at the teenage girl who stood there, hands balled up into fists as her fingernails dig into her palm. "Miss?" He asked her and she glanced up. "I-I don't have 100,000 won..." She said, barely above a whisper to him.

"How about you use your body to pay?" He asked and she quickly looked up, backing away as her dad's words went through her mind again, warning her of strange, perverted, older men who look for one thing and one thing only. "The age of consent is 20, you kno--" "Not like that." He quickly shut down her assumption.

He raised his hand and slapped her across the face making her back away, a hand to her cheek where he had slapped her with wide eyes. "Wh-why would you--" "I'll take a 100 grand off per slap." He simply tells her.

It seemed fair to her, at first. "Fine. You're on, old man." She said and picked up her blue ddakji frustratedly. She throws it onto the floor and the red tile didn't move again. By that time, a train had arrived and watched the man and teenage girl play ddakji with strange looks, yet went about their evenings, walking off.

She's endured more than six slaps at this point, not even reacting to the slaps anymore as she tried endlessly to flip his ddakji. "Look, this one will be it, old man..." She said and raised her ddakji and he nods, gesturing to his on the floor. "By all means, go ahead." He tells her and she winds up her arm, kissed the folded paper before throwing it harshly onto his.

It finally flips over and she smiled, "yes! Yes!" She cheered for herself, pumping her arms and turning to the man who's slowly clapping his hands. She held out her hand, "100,000 won, please?" She says as the man nods, putting the 100,000 won into her hand.

She sits down, her earbuds still dangling off the neckline of her hoodie as she put one on, her music playing when she does. "You know, miss. There are other games like this where you can make even more." He says and she glanced at him, the cash in her pocket now.

"Come on, it must sound tempting." He says when she sees her ignoring the topic. "Yeah? How much more?" She asked and he just held out a business card, standing up. She takes it hesitantly, staring up at him as he retracted his hand. "Think about it." Is all he said before he picked up his suitcase.

"Okay, old man." She said and then watched as he got onto a metro, before she stood up and took out her cash, counting it on her way out of the train station. As she's walking, someone bumped into her and she looked up, "sorry, sorry." She quickly told the girl and pocketed her cash quickly. The girl stared at her, bangs laid over her forehead and her stare is cold. It runs chills down Hyun-Jung's spine as she carried on, walking out the train station.

When she got home, the lights are out and it's quiet so she quietly shut the door, grabbed a snack and headed to bed. In her bed, she took out the business card the man had given her. She stared it at it with slight confusion at the symbols on the paper. A circle, a triangle and a square. She furrows her brows and suddenly hid the business card when a knock comes on the closed door of her bedroom.

She sat up suddenly as it was her mom who rubs her eyes and sighed. "Hyun..." She whispered and Hyun-Jung doesn't meet her eyes, rather, played with the hem of her hoodie. "I'm sorry. I-I was busy, actually, you'll be happy," she smiled, sitting up and gesturing her mom over to her. The woman walks over and sits down by her daughter's feet who grabs her jacket off the floor, taking out the wad of cash.

"Here..." She handed over the money and mother sat there, a million worries running through her mind. "Chae H-Hyun-Jung... Where did you get this?" She looked up and the teenage girl took in a soft inhale. "I've been saving up... it's all for you and dad. I promise. It's for you both." She clasped her hands over her mom's hand and smiled softly.

"I hope you didn't steal this..."

With that, her mother left her room without another word from either of them, but she still took the money. So either way, Hyun-Jung didn't care. She laid back down, still wearing her hoodie as she played with the business card in her pocket. Is she desperate?

Definitely. She wants to give back her parents all the money they gave her, her grandparents included, her friends. They might not deserve it considering how they treat her for her enormous amount of debt. Call her names. Shut her out completely. She lost trust.

And rightfully so, she shouldn't have asked for money so many times. It's rude to ask. She sighed, taking out the card and flipped over the business card to see the numbers written on the back of the paper. She furrows her brows slightly and sat up, glancing to the door.

She took out her phone, unlocking it quickly and opening the phone application. She quickly types in the numbers. 5650 4006. "Hello? Who's calling?" A man answered the call. "Hello," she says, "are you the man who gave me his business card ealier? At the train station?" She adds, biting her fingernails.

"Do you wish to participate in the game?"

The question sounded menacing and it made the anxiety in Hyun-Jung spike up, she felt her heartbeat quicken even more. "If you wish to participate, please state your name and birthdate." The man said.

"Chae Hyun-Jung. February 14, 2002."

 

  

  

  

  

   

   

   

    

   

    

AUTHORS NOTE
so sae-byeok's age is never really confirmed in the show but yk, i decided on making my oc, hyun-jung being eighteen because it felt neutral somehow (in a way)