soxciety

[soxciety]

chapter three. red light, green light

summary. When the first game commences and Ha-Yoon regrets joining

wordcount. 1687

contents

After the masked man finished talking, the players gathered into seven lines. Ha-Yoon had managed to get pretty close to the front. To her left, the mother and son duo were arguing, and Ha-Yoon looked toward them with a look of amusement. Before she knew it, Ha-Yoon had made it to the front of the line. She approached the consent form and read it carefully, making sure not to miss anything. After she was sure she had read everything, Ha-Yoon signed her name neatly and turned to leave the line, heading back to her bed.

After everyone had signed the consent form, the masked guards led the players toward a long pink staircase. Ha-Yoon walked up the stairs, following the endless line of players, humming to the tune of the music that had played when she had woken up. All of a sudden, Ha-Yoon felt a hand roughly push her up the stairs. Stumbling, Ha-Yoon turned around to meet the angry face of Player 100.

“Hey, will you shut up? Your humming is annoying! And hurry up, you're holding up the line!” Ha-Yoon frantically nodded, turning back around to catch up with the rest of the players, muttering frantic apologies to the old man.

After what felt like hours, the pink staircase came to an end. Ha-Yoon almost bumped into the player in front of her, not expecting to stop suddenly. The girl looked around her surroundings—rows of pink pillars with screens and cameras on top of them, and more pink stairs. She sighed. Great.

Walking up to the camera, Ha-Yoon gulped nervously. This reminded her of school on picture day. “Please look into the camera,” a voice instructed. Ha-Yoon looked toward it with a frown on her face and stood on her tiptoes, trying to reach the camera. “Smile,” the woman’s voice sounded out. Ha-Yoon smiled, and the camera clicked, a bright flash emitting from it. The girl walked toward more pink stairs, thinking, I hope I didn’t blink.

The stairs came to an end as a large door opened. Ha-Yoon and the players stepped through, revealing a large rectangular room with an artificial landscape painted on the walls. The ceiling was open, revealing a clear blue sky with the occasional bird soaring through it. As Ha-Yoon walked deeper into the room, she could feel the textured ground beneath her feet. The girl came to a stop at a pink line spread across the floor.

“Welcome to the first game. All players, please wait a moment on the field.”

Something caught her eye at the end of the field. Ha-Yoon squinted to get a better look—a tall doll with pigtails and a lively yellow dress. Ha-Yoon gulped nervously, shifting from one foot to another. Reaching into her pocket, she grabbed her duck, pulling it out and playing with it for comfort.

The loud bang of the doors closing made Ha-Yoon jump in fear. A loud voice blared, “The first game is Red Light, Green Light.” Ha-Yoon inhaled deeply, memories of playing this game with her friends flashing in her mind. “Cross the finish line in five minutes without getting caught.” As the voice explained the rules, Ha-Yoon felt someone push past her. She almost fell over, but the person next to her caught her. Looking up, she saw it was Player 246. She smiled at him, slightly bowing. She was about to thank him when the man who had pushed her started shouting.

“Everyone! Listen up! Pay attention!” He waved his arms to get everyone’s attention. “Listen carefully! This is not just a game! If you lose, you die!” The players started to talk among themselves. Ha-Yoon’s eyes widened, her stomach dropping. Something inside her told her to trust this strange man.

“Hey! What are you talking about? We’re going to die playing Red Light, Green Light?”

“Yes, that’s right! If they catch you moving, they will kill you! They’ll shoot you from somewhere!”

The man’s voice got drowned out by the ringing in Ha-Yoon’s ears as her hands began to sweat. She could hear the other players shouting at the man, but all Ha-Yoon could focus on was the doll at the end of the room, whirling around to face the tree, her arm moving upwards.

“Do not be alarmed or panic! No matter what happens, do not panic and start running!”

“Let the game begin.”

“Green light!” Ha-Yoon ran forward as fast as she could, with the man running in front of everyone, arms outstretched.

“Red light!” Ha-Yoon stumbled to a stop, her breathing quickening, her mouth getting drier by the second. “Freeze!” the man shouted.

“Well done! You just need to stay calm like this! We just have to move and stop at the right times. Then we can all win.”

A few more rounds passed, and Ha-Yoon’s fear increased after every round. All of a sudden, a scream pierced the air, knocking Ha-Yoon out of her thoughts. Before anyone could react, a loud BANG rippled through the air.

Ha-Yoon whimpered, her breathing increasing, and black spots started to cover the corners of her vision.

“Nobody move! You must not move!”

Player 196, eliminated.

Another scream and another bang. More people started to move in panic, resulting in more deaths. Ha-Yoon’s fear only increased as more players began moving and more bangs echoed through the air. She could faintly hear the man shout out, but all Ha-Yoon could focus on was trying not to move.

“Let me repeat. You can move forward while the tagger shouts, Green light, Red light. If your movements are detected, you will be eliminated.”

It seemed like everyone was frozen in fear. The only one still moving was the man, Player 456. He ran in front of everyone, his arm covering his mouth. “You’ll also die if you don’t make it in time! That doll is a motion detector. But it can’t detect motion that’s not visible to it!” As he said that, his arm, hidden behind his back, made an opening and closing motion.

“Get behind someone bigger than you! Like Follow the Leader! We’re running out of time! We’ve got to move!”

As the doll turned back around, shouting “Green light!” the players began to move toward each other and hide. Ha-Yoon ended up behind Player 246, the man who had helped her earlier.

After an excruciatingly long game, Ha-Yoon managed to make it to the end, passing the game. She tumbled to the floor as her legs gave out, her breathing rapid and tears welling up in her eyes. Once again, she pulled the duck from her pocket and played with it to calm herself down. She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, bringing her back to reality. She looked up to see the man from earlier, Player 246. He looked down at her with a gentle smile, extending his hand to help her up. Ha-Yoon took his hand and was pulled up. He helped guide her back to the main dormitory, seeing as Ha-Yoon was in no state to do it herself.

Ha-Yoon sat on her bed, her mind racing as she thought back to the game. A loud alarm broke her out of her thoughts as the door opened, and the pink guards walked through. Some of the players began hiding from them.

“Congratulations on making it through the first game. Here are the results of the first game.” As the man said this, the screen above him, which displayed the number of players, started to go down, and the amount of money went up. “Out of 456 players, 91 have been eliminated. 365 players have completed the first game.” The room fell completely silent. “Congratulations again on making it through the first game.”

The old lady and her son stepped toward the front, begging the masked men. “Sir! Please don’t kill us! Please don’t kill us. I beg you! As for my son’s debt, I will do whatever it takes to pay you back! Please forgive us!”

“There seems to be a misunderstanding.”

More and more people started to approach the old lady and her son, joining in their hysterical pleas.

“We are not trying to harm you. We are presenting you with an opportunity.”

Someone else interrupted the masked man. Ha-Yoon turned to see Player 456 walking down from the steps that separated the beds. “Clause three of the consent form.” “The games may be terminated upon a majority vote. Correct?”

“That is correct.”

“Then let us take a vote right now.”

“Of course. We respect your right to freedom of choice.”

Most of the players sighed in relief, and the room’s atmosphere brightened with the thought of being able to leave the horrors behind.

“But first, let me announce the prize amount that has accumulated.” The man raised his arm, the remote in his hand. He clicked a button, the lights dimmed, and the piggy bank started to fill with stacks of cash. Most of the players moved toward the middle of the room. Ha-Yoon stayed in her place.

“The number of players eliminated in the first game is 91. Therefore, a total of 9.1 billion won has been accumulated. If you quit the games now, the 365 of you can equally divide the 9.1 billion won and leave with your share.”

“How much is that?”

“Each person’s share would be 24,931,500 won.”

“20 million? You said 46.5 billion!”

“The rule is that a hundred million won will be accumulated for each eliminated player. If you choose to play the next game and more players are eliminated, the prize amount will increase accordingly.”

“How much will it be if you survive until the end?” Ha-Yoon rolled her eyes at the man.

“As I already told you, the total amount of prize money for all 456 players is 45.6 billion won.”

Ha-Yoon started to zone out as the players and the masked man continued to argue. She thought about what she would choose in the vote. She wanted to leave and go back home, but 24 million won wasn’t enough to cover the debts.

back - next

[soxciety]

chapter two. unknown place

summary. When Song Ha-Yoon wakes up in an unknown location, only to find out she has to play games to win a substantial amount of money.

word count. 1420

contents

The soft melody of classical music was the first thing Ha-Yoon heard when she woke up. The girl groaned as she used her hands to clear her eyes. Once her vision was clear and she was fully awake, Ha-Yoon sat up, only to find herself in an unfamiliar place. Her eyes darted around the room, surveying her surroundings, while her hands gripped the blanket tightly.

The room she was in was a bright, rectangular space with metal-framed bunk beds lining the walls. She noticed other people waking up, all dressed in various types of tracksuits. Ha-Yoon looked closer and saw a number on the left side of their jackets. When she glanced down, she realized she had been assigned the number 127. A weight in her pocket caught her attention, and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she reached in to discover a hard object. Pulling it out, she found it was the wooden duck her brother had carved for her some time ago. A smile graced her face as she reminisced about that moment.

On October 15th, 2022, Ha-Yoon celebrated her 17th birthday. Her parents had arranged for her and her younger brother, Song Ju-Won, to attend a wood carving workshop, also known as whittling, and she couldn't be more excited. Wood carving has been one of Ha-Yoon's passions since childhood, and she proudly displays a collection of her work in her room. She refers to them as her prized possessions.

Knocking the girl out of her thoughts was her younger brother tapping her shoulder to inform her that they had arrived. Ha-Yoon stepped out of the car with a smile, trying to conceal her excitement as she already knew what she was going to carve. The night before, Ha-Yoon and her brother had decided to carve something for each other and then swap their creations once they were both finished. She had chosen to carve a tiger, a symbol of bravery in Korea, because her brother had been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, a type of blood cancer. Ju-Won had been undergoing extensive rounds of chemotherapy, and Ha-Yoon wanted to give him this tiger as a sign of his courage during this challenging time and to encourage him not to give up.

A loud blare of an alarm jolted Ha-Yoon from her thoughts, a frown etched on her face as she recalled that moment, her hands nervously fiddling with the carving. After placing the duck back into her pocket, Ha-Yoon decided to follow the other players. She climbed down from her bunk and maneuvered her way toward the forming crowd, managing to push near the front. The doors at the front slid open, revealing around nine workers, all dressed in pink jumpsuits and black masks adorned with various shapes—most featuring circles, while the one in the center displayed a square.

The square worker stepped forward and said, "I would like to extend a hearty welcome to all of you." Ha-Yoon frowned, feeling uneasy about the situation. "Everyone here will participate in six different games over six days." Faint murmurs could be heard as the square worker spoke.

"Those who win all six games will receive a handsome cash prize." As soon as the cash prize was announced, Ha-Yoon noticed people's eyes brighten with excitement.

"Excuse me," a slightly deep voice interrupted the square. Everyone turned to see where the voice originated, with Ha-Yoon rising onto her tiptoes to get a better view. She spotted a woman with a sleek black bob and the number 120 emblazoned on her jacket. 'She's so pretty,' Ha-Yoon thought. Player 120 stepped down, saying, "You said I'd be playing games, but you practically kidnapped me. How can I believe that?" The crowd shifted their attention back to the front; she had a valid point.

"I apologise. Please understand that it was necessary to maintain the game's security." Square continued.

Another voice calls out from the crowd, "What's with the mask then?" Everyone turns to see an older woman. "Is your face also a secret?"

The man beside her also shouted, "Yeah! Why are you hiding your face? Is this some illegal gambling house?"

"Even the dealers don't cover their faces in those places," the woman exclaims.

It falls silent once more, and the square begins to speak: "To ensure fair gameplay and confidentiality, it is our policy not to reveal the faces and identities of staff. Please understand."

While more people began to ask the worker questions, all Ha-Yoon could think about was how she was truly starting to regret her decision to come here. It was a man's voice next to her that brought her back to reality.

"What about my phone?" he asks as he pushes his way to the front. "Why did you take my phone and wallet? Give them back, please."

"We're keeping your belongings safe. We'll return them once the games are over"

"At least give me my phone. I need to check the crypto market. If I lose money, will you compensate me?"

"We will return it to you once the games are over." The worker repeats.

"I need to monitor the real-time prices! Do you know how much I've invested?" Ha-Yoon huffs, rolling her eyes and wishing he would just give up.

"Player 333, Lee Myung-gi," the square man announces, raising his arm to click the remote in his hand. The large television above them flickers to life, displaying footage of him playing ddakji with a well-dressed man. "Age 30, used to run a youtube channel called MG Coin. After convincing subscribers to invest in a new crypto coin called Dalmatian, causing losses of approximately 15.2 billion won, you shut down and disappeared." Ha-Yoon's eyes widened as she scanned the room, noticing several people looking shocked. One individual stood out: a man with purple hair and the number 230 emblazoned on his jacket. Ha-Yoon recognized him as the retired rapper, Thanos. His eyebrows raised in surprise and intrigue.

"You're wanted for fraud and for violating telecom and financial investment laws. Current debt levels, 1.8 billion won."

"Player 196, Kang Mi-na, 45 million won in debt."

"Player 120, Cho Hyun-ju, 330 million won in debt."

"Player 230, Choi Su-bong, 1.19 billion won in debt."

"Player 198, Jang do-yeong, 1.4 billion won in debt."

"Player 127, Song Ha-yoon, 17 years old, is here to clear her parents' debt of 1 billion won." Ha-yoon's eyes widened upon hearing her name. She blushed and lowered her head as everyone turned to look at her—some with expressions of pity and others in shock at her youth. However, the murmurs quickly ceased when the square man made an even more shocking announcement.

"Player 100, Im Jeong-dae, 10 billion won in debt." Shocked murmurs sounded out, everyone turning to find him. Ha-yoon's jaw dropped as soon as it was mentioned: 10 billion won?

"What are you looking at? Do you think it's easy to get a ten-billion-won loan? They don't lend that kind of money to just anyone! Only to those who are capable of paying it back." The voice behind Ha-yoon shouted, causing her to jump in surprise.

"All of you in this room have crippling debts and are now on a cliff-edge. When we first came to you, you did not trust us either. But as you know, we played a game and gave you money as promised. And so you trusted us and volunteered to participate according to your own free will." Ha-yoon sighed, shifting from one foot to another, getting bored of the talking.

"You have one last chance to decide. Do you want to live like a piece of trash, running from creditors? Or will you seize the last opportunity we are offering?"

The lights dimmed as a plastic, gold piggy bank, illuminated from within, descended from the ceiling, casting a warm golden hue across the room. Everyone looked up, their eyes widening in surprise.

"What you see now is the piggy bank where your valuable prize money will be stored. After each of the six games you will play, the prize money will accumulate in this piggy bank."

"How much is the prize money?"

"The prize money for the games is 45.6 billion won in total."

Ha-yoon's eyes widened; 45.6 billion won is more than enough to clear the debts and get Mr. Kim and his men off her and her parents' backs. She needs this money. A look of determination crosses her face as more thoughts swirl around in her head. 

She will win these games.  

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[soxciety]

chapter one. the recruitment summary. Song Ha-Yoon is being chased by the known loan shark, Mr Kim, when an unknown man comes to her rescue with an odd question.

word count. 1194

contents

"Hey kid, where's my money?" A man's voice abruptly yelled, breaking Ha-Yoon out of her thoughts. Ha-Yoon peered behind her to see Mr Kim, a loan shark to whom her parents owed a large sum of money, specifically 1 billion won. Ha-Yoon's eyes widened as she took off running. Mr Kim and his men right behind her.

Ha-Yoon sped past the market stalls, her pulse pounding in her chest and her eyes wild as she searched for a way to lose them and avoid a potential bruising. She could hear their footsteps getting closer and closer, their wild yells as they sought to catch up, "just stop running kid, it's no use, we'll get you one way or another". This simply motivates Ha-Yoon to run faster, despite the fact that her side cramp continues to get worse. Her gaze fixed on an alleyway in the distance, deciding to hide there.

Ha-Yoon comes to a halt abruptly, her feet slipping on the wet streets produced by the heavy rain. The girl goes into the alley and hides behind some dumpsters. Mr Kim and his men enter the Alley only a few seconds after her. He turns to face his men with an angry expression. "Where is she?" he forcefully asks. Mr Kim's men turn to face each other and shrug. Mr Kim shakes his head, "Useless, you're both useless," he says. He pushed through them and stormed away, mumbling insults under his breath, his men following him.

After a few minutes of catching her breath and calming down, Ha-Yoon decides to get up and leave the alleyway. As she prepares to go, someone grabs her roughly and shoves her against the alley wall. Ha-Yoon's eyes widened as her breathing quickened. It was Mr Kim.

"Nowhere to run now." One of Mr Kim's guys smirks.

Ha-Yoon's panic grows as Mr Kim shouts at her, "Your parents promised I'd have my money today; it's today, where is it?"

"I-I don't know" Ha-Yoon whimpers in dread, tears welling up in her eyes and her mouth becoming increasingly dry. Mr Kim smirks, "Well, you and your parents knew the consequences" He raises his arm to punch her, Ha-Yoon flinches and closes her eyes, prepared for the impact, when a new voice interrupts Mr Kim.

"Hey what are you doing, leave the kid alone"

They all turn their heads to look at where the voice came from. A tall man around 6 feet is standing at the entrance of the alley with a relaxed and polite smile. Ha-Yoon looks down and sees that he's holding a briefcase. He starts to advance towards them, Mr Kim roughly shoving Ha-Yoon on the floor as he turns towards the man. Ha-Yoon gasped as she fell, not expecting him to let her go. The girl puts her knees up to her chest and puts her head on top of her knees. She can hear Mr Kim talking to the tall man but it's all muffled due to the ringing in her ears.

After a few moments, she notices black business shoes approaching her. Ha-Yoon lifts her head to find the tall guy in front of her with a hand extended towards her; she accepts the hand, and the man helps her stand up, Ha-Yoon stumbling.

He smiles at her, "You seem upset, would you like to play a game with me?" He asks, and Ha-Yoon scoffs. "No thank you, I need to get home." She turns away from him and is about to exit the alley, but he says something that stops her. "You can win money." Ha-Yoon swings back to gaze at him, that smile still pasted on his face, " how much?" she asks.

"100,000 won" The girl pauses there for a moment, thinking about how it could help her parents pay off their debt and get Mr Kim off her back. "Okay, I'll play," she says as she walks back towards him. The man's smile widened as he bent down to open the briefcase, revealing heaps of cash and two envelopes, one red and one blue. He stands back up and asks Ha-Yoon, "Red or Blue?" Ha-Yoon examines the two envelopes and decides on "Red" as she takes it from him.

"Ddakji, I assume you've played before," he says. Ha-Yoon nods. "Great, play ddakji with me, everytime you win I'll give you 100,000 won, however everytime I win you must give me 100,000 won." Ha-Yoon's eyes widened; "Uhm, I don't have any money." "Then you can pay with something else, your body." Ha-yoon walks aside with a disgusted expression. "Not like that, I'll slap you." She takes a deep breath and nods. "Okay.

He places the blue envelope onto the floor and steps back nodding at Ha-Yoon, she gulps and slams the envelope onto the blue one effectively flipping it over. She smiles and eagerly turns towards the man with her palm out waiting for the money. He smiles and claps "well done, you've done it." He hands her the money and she quickly shoves it into her pocket.

"Can we play again?" She asks and he nods, picking up his envelope, he gestures for her to step back. When she does he raises his arm and slams the envelope down and also successfully flips the other over. Ha-Yoon sighs and turns towards the man who had already raised his arm about to slap her, "Please don't do it"- he interrupts her with a slap "hard". She rubs her cheek "That hurt" she whimpers and turns towards the man, the smile still plastered on his face.

They ended up playing 3 more rounds and 5 in total, Ha-Yoon successfully getting 300,000 won but also getting another harsh slap to the face.

"You can earn more money while playing games like this for a couple of days," the man says while pulling out a business card from his blazer pocket "please consider joining, just call the number on the back." Ha-Yoon reaches out and grabs the card. Her eyes looked at it. A brown card with 3 shapes on it, a circle, triangle and a square. She flips it over reading the number on the back, 8650 4006, she looks up to say something to the man only to realize he's gone.

She goes to the entrance of the alley to see if she could see anything but could only see the busy streets of Seoul. She looked down at the card, sighing contemplating whether or not she should ring the number. She could really do with the money so she can pay off her parents' debt.

After a few moments she pulled out her phone and dialled the number on the back, the phone rang a couple times before someone picked up, it was silent on the other end. Ha-Yoon swallowed the lump in her throat before deciding to speak, "Hello...?" still silent, "Uhm, you gave me the card and told me to ring the number if I wanted to play more games for money." After what felt like hours some on the other end spoke "If you wish to participate, please state your name and birthdate."

"Ha-Yoon Song, October 15th, 2007"

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[soxciety]

SONG HA-YOON

portrayed by Hanni Pham !

contents

𝗕𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗛 𝗡𝗔𝗠𝗘━ Song Ha-Yoon 𝗕𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗛𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘 ━ 15th October 2007 𝗔𝗚𝗘 ━ 17 years old  𝗭𝗢𝗗𝗜𝗔𝗖 𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗡 ━ Libra  𝗠𝗕𝗧𝗜━ INFJ 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘𝗦 ━ long walks, cartoons, baking, mythology, stuffed animals, dogs, cats  𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘𝗦 ━ rude people, liars, clowns,  𝗣𝗛𝗢𝗕𝗜𝗔𝗦 ━ claustrophobia (enclosed spaces) 𝗛𝗢𝗕𝗕𝗜𝗘𝗦 ━ carving wooden animals, photography 𝗛𝗔𝗕𝗜𝗧𝗦 ━ sings and hums all of the time, fiddling with her ring finger when she's nervous 

[soxciety]

RUN, RABBIT, RUN - PLATONIC!SQUIDGAME X TEEN!OC

SUMMARY. After a run in with Mr Kim, a loan shark, Ha-Yoon Song is approached by a man with an opportunity. WARNINGS. Violence, Mentions of death, blood, drugs

CHARACTER PROFILE

contents. chapter one chapter two chapter three