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'Today's the reaping.' Jisung thought as he messed with a pile of dirt next to him.

Han Jisung lived in District Seven. His district was nothing special, it was like every district. Every district was disgusting, homeless people were everywhere, only the "rich" people had houses. In reality, no one was "rich", everyone had barely any money to pay for food, even less for bills that supplied the bare minimum.

He was scared, he knew this year alone that his name had been entered at least twenty times. Twenty was a lot, but there should have been more if he had been caught every time he stole. Usually, from age sixteen to twenty your name only gets entered into the drawing once a year. Unfortunately, if you get caught stealing, your name gets entered; Jisung had been caught stealing around twenty times that year alone.

The reaping, as they called it when the tributes would be chosen, was the day everyone living within the capitol dreaded. Two boys and two girls were called to fight to the death from every district.

The rumbling of military trucks scared Jisung, he was not expecting them to show up for another hour. He rushed to stand up, not bothering to brush off his pants as he ran through the woods. The woods were one of the few places Jisung truly felt calm. The scenery made him forget about his hellish life for just a few minutes.

When he reached home, he put on his reaping outfit; the nicest outfit he owned. The capitol wanted all of their potential tributes dressed nicely to represent their districts. Jisung sighed as he ruffled his greasy hair while looking in the mirror. He rarely took showers as the water was hit-or-miss, one day it would be working really well, heat and all, and the next it would have a few drops across the whole day. On the days where there is water all day, Jisung collects water in jugs that are years old so he has water to drink on days where there is no water.

He then grabbed his beat-up work boots and slipped them on, leaving right after in hope he would arrive on time to the reaping. If you didn't arrive on time, you were automatically one of the tributes. If there were more than two late, the latest was executed in front of everyone.

As he arrived at the space where the reaping would happen, he joined the line. Before you entered the crowd to wait for the reaping to start, you were fingerprinted and photographed. When it was Jisung's turn, he stuck out his hand for it to be grabbed forcefully by the tester.

They stuck the needle in, no hesitation. He hissed and the pain, putting his finger into the box on the chart designated for his fingerprint (it was updated every year). They then got the photographer to take a photo of him, using a flash that blinded him for a second.

Jisung was apparently taking too long so a peacekeeper came over and forced him into the crowd of people waiting for the reaping selection to start. Jisung sighed nervously as he looked around at the boys he was in a crowd with. Any of them could be chosen, that was a scary fact that Jisung wasn't yet ready to approach.

He then looked at the crowd where all the girls were crowded, there were fewer but still a hefty crowd. All of the sudden, a whistle blew, telling everyone to pay attention to the front of the stage. Jisung looked up front, as did around one hundred other boys.

"Today, I welcome you to the seventieth hunger games. We will now begin the drawing, starting with the girls!" The extremely excited and dressed up lady announced. She walked to the right, where the girl's drawing bowl lay. She stuck her hand inside the clear bowl, messing around with the cards before finally choosing one, and then doing the same thing to choose another.

The lady walked back to the middle of the stage, right behind the microphone. She opened the card, moving a little closer so the microphone picked up her voice better. "Choi Chaewon!" The said girl screamed as she stood in her spot in the crowd. Peacekeepers went over and dragged her to the stage, where she continued to break down. "And Rhee Jiyu." Said girl just walked up on the stage quietly from her spot in the female crowd. They both stood next to each other as they waited for the last two victors to be chosen.

With that, the overdressed lady on the stage spoke again, "Now for the boys!" She walked to the left side of the stage, where an identical bowl to the one on the girl's side lay. She stuck her hand in and messed with the cards again, before pulling one out, doing the same gesture for the fourth time to pull out a second card. She walked to the middle of the stage, opened the card and read out loud the name. "Han Jisung." A few gasps rang out as everyone knew who Han Jisung was.

Jisung was well known in his district as the poor boy. Everyone in district seven was poor. Hell, anyone in any district was poor. But jisung was on a different level. He couldn't hunt well as he didn't like murdering animals, so he stole since he didn't have any catch to sell.

Jisung's head spun as he walked to the left side of the stage. "And we have our victors for District 7!" Jisung was too terrified to move.

"Last tribute for District 7 is Seong Hajun." Said boy hesitated to go up on stage, making peacekeepers walk up to him, making him speed up his way to the stage. Hajun stood next to Jisung as the peacekeepers ushered the citizens to leave the area.

Eventually, the crowds cleared out as the two victors waited. When the majority was gone, the two victors were escorted to a government vehicle. They were all forced into the back seat. Jisung sat as close to the door as possible, he didn't want to interact with anyone if he could avoid it.

The ride felt like it was hours long, in reality only an hour. The only time that Jisung opened his eyes was when the vehicle stopped and there were cheers. When he opened his eyes, he was met with a nice-looking metro station, a crowd of presentable people.

They forced the four tributes out of the vehicle and onto the metro. Inside the metro was extravagant. There were marble floors, chandeliers, real leather seats along with cutlery made from real gold. It was a breathtaking sight that took Jisung's breath. He was escorted inside and to a table where a man sat.

He and the tribute from their district sat down at the round table with the man, the announcer sat next to them. It was an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before the woman spoke up, "Well, this train ride will only be about two hours long. You will be served with a meal in about half an hour. For now, meet your trainer, Hye Daejung, he will be preparing you for the games."

Jisung only nodded as Daejung looked at them, almost like he was inspecting them. "What are your plans for the games?" He suddenly asked, Jisung didn't know how to answer as he hadn't thought about it.

"Hide and wait." Hajun answered, stating it like it was obvious. Daejung didn't say anything as he stared at Jisung.

"And you?" He asked, having a smug grin on his face.

"Climb a tree and pick them off from above." Jisung muttered, worried it would be a stupid plan.

"Wrong! Both of you are completely wrong!" Daejung laughed before calming down and continuing, "You need allies, you are going to be hunted like deer if you don't have allies. The players out there will be ruthless, they won't hesitate to pick off whoever doesn't belong."

"So make allies and hide." Hajun muttered but Daejung heard.

"No, make allies and pick off whoever belongs. If you can't beat them, join them."

Jisung stayed silent while they talked, just listening and taking in information that would help him last as long as he could in the games. Eventually, the food was brought out. It was a roast with potatoes, carrots, onions, and corn. It was set on the table, Hajun immediately digging in. Daejung watched him pile food on his plate, a semi-disgusted face being shown.

Jisung waited until Hajun was done, and then Daejung until he got some food. He didn't get that much as he didn't have an appetite. Daejung took note of this and brought up his next point.

"In the games you don't have unlimited food. You eat when you are about to pass out, even then there will be little portions to save your food." Jisung could clearly tell that Hajun was embarrassed about it.

Jisung remained silent throughout the meal to avoid breaking into tears. He was scared, really, really scared. He never thought it would be him participating in the Hunger Games. He knew he would die out there as he had only hunted a handful of times in his life. If he couldn't kill an animal, what made them think he could kill a human?

Jisung couldn't stomach any more food so he just put his fork down onto the napkin next to the plate.

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⏰ Last updated: Jul 19, 2022 ⏰

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