Subjugation on Air (2)
Dong-hyun was smart enough, but not so gifted that he could memorize this many colors. The only reason he was still standing here after sailing through the thirtieth one came down to a single fact: he was a cunning bastard.
From the moment the Joker had laid out the rules, Dong-hyun had been turning over how to make himself the winner of this game — and the answer had been almost laughably simple. Every time a color flashed on the monitor, he hopped between worlds and jotted it down in a notebook. After that, all he had to do was raise the colors in the order written on the page.
A hundred questions or a thousand — it didn't matter. He'd already worn a groove in that world-hopping trick during his grappling matches with Han Su-yeon, and lately he'd gotten even smoother at it playing Go with his grandfather, Mugang.
Four people remained, Dong-hyun included: two men and two women. One of the men was the guy who'd spoken up earlier — a calm face behind a pair of glasses, the type who looked intelligent. Both of the remaining women were pretty. One had a cold, distant look about her; the other still had a baby face.
Then again, every woman in this place was easy on the eyes. They clearly hadn't grabbed people at random. The men were a mixed bag, but the women? Every last one of them was a looker. Pretty girls made for better ratings, after all.
Unlike the other three, who grew visibly more anxious once they passed the thirtieth color, Dong-hyun was completely at ease. At the fortieth, the baby-faced girl dropped out. At the forty-fifth, the guy with the glasses was gone. And then the two of them climbed all the way to ninety.
Dong-hyun had cheated his way up, sure — but this woman was the real deal. She'd memorized ninety colors cold.
"You in Mensa or something?"
Dong-hyun asked the woman, who was still concentrating. She didn't answer. She looked like she was still reciting the sequence in her head.
The woman, for her part, was surprised too. This rough-looking guy was matching her almost step for step.
The ninety-first. The ninety-second. The ninety-third. The duel stretched on until they hit the final, hundredth color. Dong-hyun stared at the woman's face. There was a rule: if both of them got it right, the older one won.
The organizers had put that rule in place assuming plenty of people in the lower ranks would tie on the same number of correct answers. They'd never imagined anyone would get all one hundred. The broadcast was already buzzing — the first game, and it was already this exciting.
The last color was white. Dong-hyun already had his card raised, and he glanced at the woman's. Amazingly, her paper was white too. She'd actually gotten all one hundred.
Holy shit. Is she even human? How is that possible?
She was genuinely brilliant. Adrian had been gifted at strategy and tactics, but Dong-hyun had never thought of him as particularly intelligent. This woman, though — her memory was genuinely world-class.
"Woooow!! Incredible! You've just witnessed an unbelievable showdown between contestant Ahn Jin-woo and contestant Han Gyeo-wool! When we designed this game, we never thought anyone would get a perfect score — and now we've got two of them! What a way to kick things off!"
The Joker sounded genuinely thrilled. And why wouldn't he be? Of all the yearly installments of this game, this one looked like it was going to be the biggest hit yet.
Han Gyeo-wool? So she's one of my subjugation targets.
After Cho Yu-min, she was the second one he'd identified.
"All right! Line up according to how many you got right. For anyone with the same score, we'll rank you by date of birth."
At the Joker's words, staff members began herding the checked contestants into a line. Dong-hyun and Han Gyeo-wool stood at the front, and the rest filed in behind them. Han Gyeo-wool glanced at Dong-hyun, then looked away. Dong-hyun, on the other hand, studied her carefully.
She had a haughty look about her, but she didn't look that old. If things went his way, he might take first place. And if he did, he already knew who he'd pick as his opponent: Han Gyeo-wool.
The first game had been a brain teaser, which meant the paired matchup would probably be something physical. With that slender frame of hers, there was no way she could beat Ahn Jin-woo — a guy who'd been a gangster.
While Dong-hyun was sizing Gyeo-wool up, the rest of the contestants finished lining up. The Joker stepped in front of Dong-hyun and Gyeo-wool first.
"Sooo, between contestant Ahn Jin-woo and contestant Han Gyeo-wool — whoooo's older??? Drumroll, please!"
The Joker supplied his own sound effects, then announced their birthdays.
"Contestant Ahn Jin-woo, born May 3rd, 1998! Contestant Han Gyeo-wool, born August 2nd, 2000! Contestant Ahn Jin-woo takes first place overall!"
Han Gyeo-wool was twenty-six, which meant Dong-hyun had claimed victory in the first game. Her expression twisted slightly, but she composed herself almost immediately. As if anyone would pick the person in second place.
The remaining ranks were assigned one after another.
"Now then, starting with our first-place contestant, Ahn Jin-woo — please choose whoever you'd like as your partner. Age, gender, doesn't matter. Pick anyone you want."
At the Joker's cue, Dong-hyun stepped forward.
Thirty-one contestants had their eyes on Ahn Jin-woo. Most of them avoided meeting Dong-hyun's gaze. Hard not to, looking at that rugged face, those broad shoulders, that muscle. And after watching a guy like that nail a hundred questions without breaking a sweat, you'd start thinking he was close to a perfect contestant.
Dong-hyun swept his gaze over the crowd. The first person who jumped out was Cho Yu-min. That taut, muscular body, those huge hips and breasts — they pulled the eye whether you wanted them to or not. And the fact that she was one of his subjugation targets didn't hurt. So far he only knew of two, which meant he was essentially choosing between Cho Yu-min and Han Gyeo-wool.
When he looked at Han Gyeo-wool, she didn't look away the way Cho Yu-min had. She met his eyes.
"I've decided. I'll take the second-place contestant — Han Gyeo-wool."
Han Gyeo-wool's expression twisted.
"Whoa!! Plot twist! In the entire history of this game, first place has never picked second place — but this season just keeps breaking records!! I can't wait to see what kind of synergy these two perfect scorers are going to create!"
Starting from Dong-hyun's pick, each contestant chose their partner in ranking order. Once every pair was set, the Joker stepped forward again.
"Every team is set. Now, each pair will decide together whether you want to cooperate or compete. Head through the two doors behind me and press either the Cooperation or Confrontation button. Keep in mind — if even one of you presses Confrontation, it overrides Cooperation. So choose carefully."
Han Gyeo-wool walked over to Dong-hyun.
"So... you picked me because you want to cooperate, right? Honestly, I was thinking about picking you too. Someone with both the physique and the brains on my side would've been a huge advantage."
It was a perfectly reasonable thought. Dong-hyun, however, had no intention of cooperating.
"Cooperate? Yeah, right. In a game like this? We're going to end up as rivals anyway. Why the hell would I pick cooperation?"
"Excuse me? You don't even know what the next game is, and you're that confident you can beat me? Don't do something stupid. Cooperating is the smarter play."
"You really think they're going to throw another brain game after the first one already tested our heads? This one's going to be physical."
"Heh. You know one thing and miss two. They used a brain game to rank us, which means the second game will be a brain game too."
Gyeo-wool looked completely sure of herself. The way she said it, Dong-hyun almost believed her. But she was someone he had to break anyway, for the quest.
"Then you go ahead and press Cooperation. I'll press Confrontation."
"You're serious. Fine. Let's do this."
They were the first pair through the doors.
He opened the door to find a monitor and two buttons: one labeled Cooperation, the other Confrontation. Dong-hyun pressed Confrontation, and one of the two doors on the far side swung open.
Please proceed through the open door.
Following the monitor's instructions, he went through the open door and found a staircase leading down. At the bottom was another wide-open space — not the field they'd been on before, but the interior of an actual building. The lighting was so bright you wouldn't have guessed you were underground.
Gyeo-wool was coming down a different staircase.
"I honestly didn't think you'd actually press Confrontation. All right. Let's see what you've got."
After the two of them — the first pair — a while passed before people started coming down one by one. Some teams had clearly chosen Cooperation, and those pairs seemed to have been sent somewhere else.
Once the last person had come down, the Joker descended to join the ones who'd chosen Confrontation.