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Mari's heart was beating quickly, her legs were starting to burn with how fast she was running but she had to get away. She was so stupid for thinking she could pay her debt off, she never could she always spent the money and this time was no different.
She stopped for a second to catch her breath and looked around in a panic, she glanced behind her to see three men running after her, she had to do something fast. Up ahead she saw a ladder leading to the roof, Mari wasn't the best climber but that was her only option. She quickly wiped her hands on her pants before running towards the ladder, her legs and arms protested as she pulled herself as she could feel her body wanting to give up but she pushed herself up onto the roof of the building.
She wiped her sweaty bangs away from her forehead before she started to run, she knew it would be a matter of time before they caught up with her. She was right because a few seconds later she could hear the shift of the shingles that were on the roof. "Yi Mari, stop!" One of the men shouted behind her but she kept running, she didn't look back but she didn't know how far they were away from her not until she was grabbed by the waist. "Get off me!" Mari rammed her elbow into the man who was holding her gut, he groaned and let her go. Before Mari could warn him he took a step off the edge of the roof and she involuntarily took a step back when he tried to grab her arm. "Oh my god." Mari gasped and stepped further from the edge in shock putting her hands on her mouth.
"Yi Mari, you're under arrest for murder." The sound started to come back to Mari, her face turned towards the two men who started to put the cuffs on her. "What, but I didn't-" Her pleas were ignored as they roughly grabbed her and started to carefully make their way off the roof, she didn't mean for this to happen, but it did.
Mari jumps awake, she looks around the room and finds herself on top of the covers wearing the same clothes as before. She rubs her eyes trying to calm herself, it wasn't the first time that she's had that nightmare relieving the worst day of her life and it won't be the last. She looks behind her to see Ji-yeong asleep, her mouth is curled up in a slight smile. Mari sighs and starts to slowly slip out of bed, she tries to not wake Ji-yeong but she isn't successful. "What? Where are you going?" Ji-yeong asks voice covered in slip.
Mari gulps before she pats her hair down in an urge to smooth it. "Go back to sleep, I'm gonna get some fresh air." Ji-yeong nods before pulling the pillow beside her closer. "Do you want me to go with you?" Ji-yeong asks not even opening her eyes to look at Mari, the action makes Mari's eyes well up with tears but she pushes them back. "No, go back to sleep." Mari resists the urge to reach up and kiss her on the cheek, instead she quickly walks towards the door and slips on her shoes before walking out into the hallway.
She sticks her hands into her pockets before walking down the stairs as she doesn't want to risk seeing and maybe having to talk to people. Mari pushes a strand of her behind her ear as she's walking down the sidewalk looking at the buildings around her, she spots a bench and takes a seat letting out a sigh.
Mari runs her fingers through her hair pulling at them in frustration, she thought now that she was out she would be able to escape her demons but Mari was wrong. Mari remembers the way the guy looked at her terrified like she did it on purpose as he fell off the roof but it wasn't her fault, she was trying to defend herself but she got thrown into jail for it.
She doesn't realize someone sat next to her as she's sniffling until he hands her a handkerchief. "Thank you," Mari says politely, the guy nods and smiles grabbing his handkerchief back when Mari is finished with it. After a few minutes, the guy speaks up. "Ma'am, do you have a minute?" The guy says twiddling with the handle of his briefcase. "Uh, I should get going." Mari smiles, she is about to move to stand up but pauses when he speaks. "I'd like to offer you a great opportunity." Mari gulps and shrugs before turning back around to face the man. "Depends what I have to do."
He smirks before he turns his briefcase. "All you have to do is play a game with me." He opens the briefcase and turns it so Mari can see what is inside, her breath catches when she sees the stacks of won. This was her weakness, money. "You've played ddakji before haven't you?" Mari has, so she nods. "Perfect, if you play with me and each time you win, I will give you 100,000 won." Mari hesitated.
"If I flip one of those over, I get the money?" She clarified, the man nodded but paused. "However, each time I win, you must give me 100,000 won." Mari started to shake her head no, she may have been good at this primary school but she wasn't sure how she would do now. The man sensing this leaned forward. "I'll let you go first."
Mari sucked her teeth before nodding, he smiled and let her choose which color she wanted which she picked red. He placed his card down and nodded at Mari with a smile, she threw it at the blue tile but it didn't budge. She could feel her heart pound as he grabbed the red tile that she was on the ground and threw it making the blue tile move. "Fuck." Mari whispered, the man tilted his head at her curiously.
"Do you not have the money?" He asked, Mari, pressed her lips together before shaking her head. "Then you can pay with your body." Mari felt like she was dunked in ice water, she took a step back and started to shake her head quickly. "No-" But before Mari could say anything else she saw a flash and her cheek started to sting, Mari gasped and she held her cheek looking at the man in shock.
"I'll take off 100,000 won per slap." The man said with a grin, Mari didn't know why she agreed, maybe it was love gambling but she rubbed her cheek trying to remove the stinging before she nodded slightly. Mari didn't know how many tries it took her but she knew that her cheek was stinging and was surely purple by now but she won, she was smiling as she was counting her 100,000 won in her hand before he spoke up. "You know, you can make lots of money playing games like this for a few days."
Mari rolled her eyes and shook her head, she was done. She had enough to last her and Ji-yeong awhile and if she learned anything from prison it was to quit while she was ahead. "Ms. Yi Mari, outstanding debts, frequent gambler. Lowlife, been in prison for 5 years but that wasn't your first time was it?" Mari looked at the man in shock, he didn't say anything but reached into his pocket and gave her a card with some symbols on it. "We don't have many spots left." The man stepped back once she took the card and started to walk away leaving Mari sitting on the bench staring at the card in shock.
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