Breaking Them on Broadcast (7)
Ding-dong~ It is now 8 o'clock. Participants are free to move about as they wish.
Dong-hyun had fallen asleep with Gyeo-wool tucked against his side, and the chime of the broadcast dragged him back to the surface. They'd gone at it so many times through the night that he'd lost count, until exhaustion finally pulled them both under. Gyeo-wool was breathing soft and even beside him, sunk so deep he almost felt guilty waking her. He thought about getting up, then felt the warmth of her skin against his chest and let himself drift off again.
They didn't surface until around noon.
"You're awake?"
By the time Dong-hyun sat up, Gyeo-wool was already dressed and ready to go. They washed up quickly and headed out. Quite a few people were already wandering the halls.
Dong-hyun started looking for the others who'd chosen the same kind of match he had. The first to catch his eye was the woman who'd become a slave to that middle-aged guy. The first time he'd seen her, she'd been bursting with life. Now her eyes were hollowed-out pits — she'd clearly been put through hell. A nasty-looking bastard like that making a young girl his slave… it wasn't hard to imagine what he'd done to her. And if she was pretty, that only made it worse.
Next was Cho Yu-min's partner. She was even bigger and more heavily muscled than Cho Yu-min herself, but she looked considerably more beaten down than she had yesterday — vacant, like something inside her had checked out. Then Cho Yu-min came walking over and the big woman flinched hard. Even with Cho Yu-min's hand kneading her ass, she couldn't get a single word out.
The man who'd been made a slave had a face gone ashen overnight, like something in him had died. He'd clearly been put through the wringer. The only one who looked relatively intact was the glasses guy's partner. She seemed a little worn down, but among the slaves she was in the best shape.
Except for Dong-hyun's partner, of course. Gyeo-wool's face looked even plumper and more radiant than yesterday. She'd clearly slept well — her skin had a healthy sheen to it.
Dong-hyun took her to the cafeteria. They hadn't eaten since dinner the night before, and after a full night of activity he was starving. Quite a few people were already eating. The atmosphere wasn't bad — most pairs had chosen cooperation, and the food was actually excellent.
"You made it."
Lee Su-hyun spotted them first as they walked in and offered a greeting.
"Yeah. Sleep well?"
"Yeah… well… something like that."
The awkwardness in Lee Su-hyun's answer hinted at something between the two of them. They'd claimed to be just friends — a guy friend and a girl friend — but something had clearly happened last night.
"Gyeo-wool, you look like you're in a good mood. I was actually a little worried, you know."
Lee Yu-rim said it looking at Han Gyeo-wool, and what she meant was obvious: she'd been worried about Gyeo-wool becoming Ahn Jin-woo's slave. She was still keeping her guard up around him.
"Yes. I slept so deeply I feel completely refreshed."
Unlike yesterday, the two women carried the conversation, and the mood around the table lightened considerably. Dong-hyun finished eating in the meantime and stood up first.
"I'm gonna step out and get some exercise."
"Sure, go ahead."
Lee Su-hyun showed no interest in leaving Lee Yu-rim's side. Dong-hyun left the cafeteria and started walking the perimeter.
The underground complex had quite a few rooms ringing the main hall. There were the sixteen residential units, and beyond the cafeteria there was a library, a recreation area, and other spaces meant for killing time. Dong-hyun figured there might be something hidden down here. He'd watched plenty of survival shows in the real world, and those almost always had a hidden piece that could tip the game. He searched carefully, methodically — and found nothing. Empty-handed, he headed back to the cafeteria.
Lee Su-hyun and Lee Yu-rim had already moved on. Cho Yu-min was sitting across from Gyeo-wool, talking. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but Gyeo-wool's face was a blank mask while Cho Yu-min grinned and chattered away. Then she spotted Dong-hyun coming through the door, flashed him a sly little smirk, and walked right past him.
"What'd she say to you?"
Dong-hyun asked. Gyeo-wool's mouth had just started to open when the broadcast cut in.
The main event will begin shortly. All participants, please gather in the main hall. Anyone who fails to arrive within five minutes will automatically be declared the loser. Please take note.
They headed for the main hall without ever hearing Gyeo-wool's answer.
The Joker was waiting on the central stage.
"How was everyone's first night? Some of you are glowing. Some of you look like death. Quite the variety."
He surveyed the crowd with a lazy sweep of his eyes.
"The main event is about to begin. Your opponents will be the people in the rooms next to yours."
A murmur rippled through the participants. Dong-hyun had already moved according to Gyeo-wool's prediction, so it didn't matter to him — but most of them hadn't seen it coming, and it showed. It didn't help that quite a few of them had actually gotten friendly with their neighbors.
"Please follow the staff to your venues."
A staff member approached and led Cho Yu-min's team from Room 7 along with Dong-hyun and Gyeo-wool. Each pair was escorted to the competition floor.
The venue was packed with blocks laid out like endless rows of dominoes, and one wall held a wooden crate divided into a ten-by-ten grid. None of the four had the faintest idea what kind of game this was supposed to be. They just stood there staring.
A staff member came over and laid out the rules. Each pair would designate one player for the body and one for the brain. The two physical players would compete first: fifty twenty-kilo blocks laid out like dominoes, and the first to get all fifty into their own crate would take the round. If the winner finished all fifty while the opponent only had thirty, the remaining twenty blocks became the winner's property. Round two belonged to the mental players. They would face off at Indian Poker, with chips equal to the number of blocks they'd secured in round one. The game used two sets of cards numbered one through ten — twenty cards in total. You couldn't see your own card, only your opponent's, and you bet based on what you could deduce. Naturally, the more chips you walked into round two with, the better your position.
Dong-hyun and Gyeo-wool split it the obvious way — Dong-hyun on the body, Gyeo-wool on the brain. Cho Yu-min's side put the big woman on physical and Cho Yu-min herself on mental.
Dong-hyun liked his odds. Back in the real world, this exact scenario had been all over YouTube Shorts — whether it was better to start with the closest blocks or the farthest ones. At first glance, grabbing the nearest ones looked smarter. But you burned out toward the end, which meant starting with the far ones was actually the winning play. Whether the big woman knew that or not, Dong-hyun had the physical advantage either way.
"When the whistle blows, start loading blocks into your crate. Throwing a block is a foul. A foul freezes you for ten seconds. Keep that in mind."
The staff member finished the briefing and blew the whistle.
Dong-hyun sprinted straight for the far end. As expected, the big woman started with the closest blocks. Cho Yu-min threw her head back and cackled.
"And here I thought that asshole was smart. What an idiot — leaving the close ones and running all the way to the back."
Dong-hyun ignored her and kept running. The block was heavier than he'd expected when he picked it up, but in Ahn Jin-woo's body it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. By the time he'd moved his first one, the woman already had seven. He didn't panic. He just kept moving.
Fifty twenty-kilo blocks was a full ton of weight. And with the blocks set about a foot apart, the back-and-forth ate more time than you'd think. The effect showed almost immediately. While Dong-hyun finished the far blocks and worked his way inward, the woman was running out of steam — and she had to carry each load farther and farther, which only exhausted her more. Her pace started to drop.
Cho Yu-min, who'd been laughing at Dong-hyun a minute ago, was now screaming herself hoarse.
"You fat-ass bitch! Move already! Just you wait till tonight!"
Even her screaming couldn't close the gap. Dong-hyun ran himself ragged, and when he dropped the fiftieth block into his crate, the big woman had only finished thirty-two.
Gyeo-wool walked away with sixty-eight chips. Cho Yu-min got thirty-two.
And yet Cho Yu-min's face had gone calm — nothing like the rage from a moment ago.
"Alright. I'll give you this — you're smart. And you're built, too. But I think you overlooked something. Winning this game comes down to round two."
"You think you can beat Gyeo-wool?"
"Heh. If she actually plays for real? Probably not. But you know the weak spot of teams that chose confrontation? After a whole night of you using her however you wanted — you really think that girl is going to let you win? If she just folds every single bet, I win. Isn't that right, Gyeo-wool? You understood what I told you in the cafeteria, didn't you? How about we put that man on his knees under you and make him suffer for a change?"
Cho Yu-min's voice turned sweet as she started working on Gyeo-wool.