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"Time for team selection is over." The electronic voice said over the speakers, Mari looked over at Ji-yeong who was next to Sae-byeok, and nodded at her. Mari pressed her lips together as she followed the rest of the teams into the game hall leaving Mi-nyeo alone in the room, Mari didn't know what would happen to her but she didn't care. She didn't want to partner with the crazy lady who thought she was the queen of the world.
She walked next to 278 into the hall, it looked like a tiny town, the teams were made to stop in front of a bunch of guards lined up in two lines. The sight made a pit grow in Mari's stomach, she felt uneasy about seeing that amount of guards in front of her. "All players, follow the instructions from staff and go to your positions." The electronic voice said, Mari's brows furrowed as she waited for instructions instead the guards started to walk towards the teams and gestured for them to follow one by one. Mari watched as Ji-yeong and Sae-byeok were led by a guard, Mari kept her eyes on her friends up until she could no longer see them. She was broken out of her thoughts by her teammate tapping on her shoulder, she looked at him before he nodded in front of them. "Sorry," Mari muttered to the guard who looked like were losing their patience by the minute.
Mari followed the guard until the guard made them stop in the middle of an alley. "Please take one pouch each." The guard instructed as he held out two pouches, Mari takes one and starts to open it as the guard explains. "There are ten marbles in each pouch, please check how many there are." Mari sticks her tongue out slightly as she carefully tilts the bag onto her hand and counts ten marbles, next to her out of the corner of her eye she can see 278 doing the same.
Mari started to have doubts, she didn't know how marbles would be used in a team challenge. She had begun to doubt it was a team challenge, she looked at the guard and started to open her mouth to ask when the electronic voice coming through the speakers answered her question. "In this game, use your ten marbles to compete with the partner next to you. The player who takes all ten marbles from their partner wins." The voice said, Mari's mouth felt dry as she looked at her teammate who looked just as worried as her.
The electronic voice faded into the background as it repeated what it just said. "You have 30 minutes. Let the games begin." the electronic voice said once it was finished explaining again, Mari gulped as she backed up so her back hit the wall, she watched as player 278 backed away from the guard and stood in front of her. "Do you want to throw the marbles and the first one to get the farthest gets the marble?" He suggests with a soft smile. "You're aware that this is to the death?" Mari croaked out, this was it.
She wasn't good at sports so today she was either going to die or someone would die by her hands. "I'm aware, I have nothing to lose. Do you?" He sat down next to her cross-legged. "I don't." Mari's carefully poured all her marbles onto the floor next to her, she watched as player 278 do the same.
"Ladies first." He said after pointing out an object that they had to try and get close to, Mari rolled her eyes but tossed the marble. She let out a whistle as the marble landed a few inches from the object, she didn't hit it which was good because they had made a rule that if the other person hits it then they would automatically lose the marble.
"One down, nine to go." Mari chuckled as she stood up and grabbed the marble and added it to her pile making it eleven instead of ten. "Let me go first this time." 278 chuckled and rubbed his hands together as he tossed it, but he put too much force behind it because he hit the object that they were trying to get as close to as possible.
"Here." He grumpily said as he stood up and tossed her the marble that was now hers. She winced as she realized that if they kept this up she was going to win and he would die, she didn't want to be responsible for someone's death again but she had to survive. She rolled her shoulders and tossed the marble, she closed her as it made the clink when it hit the object. 278 cheered as Mari stood up, she bent down and grabbed the marble before handing it to him when she sat down.
"You go." Mari nods as she looks down at her marbles, she was still winning by one so she could do this. 278 didn't hit the object this time but he got close which made Mari wince, she was nervous. She held her breath as she tossed the marble, she held her breath as it went past his marble and almost hit the jar. "You hit it!" Player 278 shouted as he stood up to protest. "I didn't, I promise I didn't!" Mari said as she stood up and walked next to him. "Okay, do you want to make a deal?" He crossed his arms and looked at her, she flinched when she heard a gunshot but nodded at him trying to focus on what he was going to say, she's been so used to the gunshots she didn't realize that there were so many dead people around her.
"If you hit the jar I automatically get all your marbles, and if you didn't hit it you get all mine." He bargained, Mari hesitated before nodding her head. She didn't know why he was so sure that she didn't hit the jar. "Let's go look." He said all of sudden smug, Mari closed her eyes as she shook her head while she walked towards the jar, she bent down to look at it closely and saw that sure enough, it was very close to the jar but it didn't hit it. "Oh my god," Mari whispered as she grabbed the marble plus his, she chuckled gleefully as she walked back over to his marbles and pushed them into her hand and raised them all together in triumph, she won.
"I guess you won." 278 said as Mari turned around to face him, suddenly the weight of what happened crashed into her, she just killed someone. She tried to open her mouth when the guard came up to player 278 and pressed the gun against his temple, Mari squeezed her eyes tightly and flinched when the gun went off.
Mari slowly opened her eyes and gasped when she saw his slumped body on the ground. "Player 278, eliminated." The electronic voice said, she could feel tears brimming her eyes but she refused to let them fall. She dropped the marbles to the floor and followed the guard towards the entrance. "Player 240, eliminated." Mari gasped, she put her hand over her mouth as she froze in her spot. "Move!" The guard shouted as a gun was pressed to the middle of her back, she could do nothing but move and let the tears fall from her face.
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