Chapter Text
Thanos awoke to classical music.
Lame was his first thought. What kind of old fucks decided this? But looking around the room for the first time made him forget that thought entirely. Hundreds of beds were stacked on top of each other with thin, colorless sheets, making the already windowless room look bleak. The green uniforms everyone wore stood out among the beige, soulless room. He looked down at himself and realized he was also put into these green uniforms.
He panicked slightly. Those weirdos better not have done something while stripping me and putting these green prison get-ups on. He looked down at himself and explored the uniform. He noticed a number on the left side of his chest. 230. Was this his label for the next few days? A fucking number? He felt a little insulted that they would label someone as great as him with some number that was most likely randomized.
He analyzed the other stuff he was forcibly put into and noticed that his shoes had also changed. What the hell? He just bought those expensive ass shoes and they were a limited edition too. He hasn’t even been conscious for five minutes, and he already hates this place.
This place, which he was forcibly taken to. He did play Ddakji with that business bastard, and he did call the number, but that was the only consensual part of how he got here. He was knocked out by a gas and practically kidnapped. He will admit he has had some crazy fans, but kidnapping was officially the craziest thing to ever happen to him.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of a blaring alarm as the doors at the front of the room opened, revealing odd soldiers dressed in bright pink with shapes on their dark masks. The other people, including himself, had now started to get out of their beds and head towards the middle. Thank whatever God was up there that had his bed closer to the ground. He sincerely did not feel like climbing down all of those ladders and stairs.
He made it down to the middle to join the now-forming crowd and stood there looking around at all of the people who had also been taken here. They ranged in age from all different groups, and the split between male and female was probably around 60%/40%, but it was close to an even split.
Then, the soldier in the middle stepped forward. He was wearing a square mask in contrast to all the others, who had a triangle. “I would like to extend a hearty welcome to all of you.” He began, speaking in a monotone robotic voice, almost as if the mask was altering how he was talking. “Everyone here will participate in six different games over six days. Those who win all six games will receive a handsome cash prize.” He concluded.
Six fucking days? And here he thought the games would only last two or three days. Why the hell does each game need to take them a whole day? A whole day he will never get back because they want to take it slow.
“Excuse me,” A woman spoke up from the crowd, “You said I’d be playing games, but you practically kidnapped me. So how can I believe that?” She asked in a strong yet shaky tone.
The soldier paused for a moment before answering, “I apologize. Please understand that it was necessary to maintain the game’s security.” He said with absolute certainty. There was no way this was necessary, he thought angrily. That's apparently what others thought similarly.
“What’s with the mask then? Is your face also a secret?”
“Yeah! Why are you hiding your face?”
“Is this some kind of illegal gambling house?”
“Even the dealers don’t cover their faces in those places.”
There was then a murmur through the crowd as they all talked amongst each other in agreement and distrust for the games.
“To ensure fair gameplay and confidentiality, it is our policy not to reveal the faces and identities of staff. Please understand.” The square soldier spoke with a lack of sincerity.
“Did you take off my clothes and put these on me?” A girl spoke accusingly. That reminded him of something he needed to ask.
“Yeah, and what’s with these shoes?” He called out, his voice feeling drowned out, yet he knew he was the loudest in the room.
“My shoes are limited fucking edition. They’re hard to find! Are you going to replace them if they get ruined?” He shouted accusingly at the soldiers who still just stood there unmoving.
“These don’t fit and the color sucks.” The girl from before continued. “Can I just have what you’re wearing instead? I like the pink.” She concluded with a hint of a smirk in her tone of voice.
“I’m sorry, but that is not possible. You must be in your uniforms for the games.” The square mask finally spoke. Oh, so you’ll answer the chick and not me, He thought angrily.
“What about my phone? Why did you take my phone and wallet? Give them back, please.” Thanos checked for his phone and wallet in the pockets of his jacket and pants, only to find them empty. Did he just get kidnapped and robbed? This was incredibly fucked up.
“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,” A familiar voice he couldn't quite place spoke up, “If I lose money, will you compensate me?”
“We will return it to you once the games are over.” The square soldier repeated in the same monotone voice as before, almost sounding like a broken record that had accidentally played the same thing twice.
“I need to monitor the real-time prices,” The familiar voice shouted angrily, “Do you know how much I’ve invested?” He sneered with a growl in his voice like he was too mad to fully contain it.
“Player 333, Lee Myunggi.” The soldier spoke suddenly as he pressed a button, causing a projector to drop from the ceiling.
“Age 30, used to run a YouTube channel called MG Coin.”
Wait.
“After convincing subscribers to invest in a new crypto coin called Dalmatian,”
That's why the voice was familiar.
“Causing losses of approximately 15.2 billion won,”
MG coin.
“You shut down and disappeared.”
Damn right, he did.
“You’re wanted for fraud.”
That.
“And for violating telecom and financial investment laws.”
Mother.
“Current debt levels, 1.8 billion won.”
Fucker!
He was the reason he was here in the first place! The reason he lost his money was because of him!
“Player 196, Kang Mina, 45 million won in debt.”
He must not have been paying attention to the projector during MG Coin to realize they were showing footage from when they played Ddakji.
“Player 120, Cho Hyunju, 330 million won in debt.”
Wait, if they were showing the video of them while playing Ddakji, then that means…
Oh
Oh
Oh, please don’t-
“Player 230, Choi Subong, 1.19 billion won in debt.”
He froze. Seeing himself in that bright green T-shirt, showing the fact that he wore a bright color on purpose right in his face, and the vape in his hand reminded him of how he got caught up in that drug scandal in the first place. It started with his ‘friend’ giving him weed and a vape, and the next thing you know, he was being exposed for taking pills and other drugs. He looked down in shame at seeing himself in the video, moments away from jumping off that bridge.
“Player 198, Jang Doyeong, 1.4 billion won in debt.”
What if that Business bastard had never shown up?
“Player 226, Kim Yeongsam, 1.9 billion won in debt.”
What if he showed up a little later and saw him jump? Would he have tried to stop him or sit there smiling as he watched?
“Player 444, Kim Namdu, 2.02 billion won in debt.”
More trash off the street.
“Player 343, Sim Jaeseok, 2.89 billion won in debt.”
Was he even really going to jump?
“Player 006, Park Mihwa, 3.1 billion won in debt.”
Would his fans have cared that Thanos, the greatest rapper, had ‘tragically’ committed suicide?
“Player 283, Lee Eunju, 4.02 billion won in debt.”
Would anyone? No, he didn't want to think about that right now. Or ever. God, he needed to take a damn pill right now. But instead of doing so, he looked back up at the screen.
“Player 100, I'm Jeongdae, ten billion won in debt.”
Holy fucking shit!
Thanos looked around for this older man who had somehow found himself in that much debt. There were whispers paired with incredulous expressions throughout the sea of people. He heard a few whispers that stuck out: “Ten billion?” “ Who’s that?” “Who is it?” But a shout shut them up quickly.
“What are you looking at?” The old man, whom he assumed was the one with the debt, shouted. He couldn't get a good look at the man, but he sounded like a snobby prick.
“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 man barked again. Pay it back? Yeah, you're doing such a good job at that, he laughed at his joke in his head. He was the funniest person he knew.
“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. 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 ceiling then opened up in the middle of the room, and out came…a piggy bank? He remembered when he used to have one that he painted purple because he thought the pink was too girly. He didn’t mind pink now, but back then, he wouldn't be caught dead anywhere near the color.
“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.” The soldier said without even looking up once.
“How much is the prize money?” A woman called out.
“The prize money for the games is 45.6 billion won in total.” The room erupted into gasps and astonishment. 45.6 billion? With that amount of money, he could pay off his debt and still have enough to practically pay his fans to forget about everything that happened!
“45.6 billion won? And will one of us get it?” A man wondered aloud.
“We will give you the details about the distribution of the prize money after the first game. For these games, you will be given a special new advantage.” His mind came to a halt. These games? New advantage? Does this mean that people have been given money this way before? Why had no one told him this before?
“What is it?” Another person called out.
“After each game, you will be given a chance to vote on whether to continue the games or not. If the majority votes to stop the games, you can leave with the prize money accumulated up to that point.” Thanos may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but his gut was telling him something was off. Maybe he just needed to take a chill pill. Literally.
“Are you saying we’ll still receive the money, even if we leave after the first game?” A man in the back of the room spoke with a shudder in his voice.
“That’s correct.”
Thanos didn't pay any mind to the soldiers in front of him. His attention was zoned in on the older man who had spoken previously. He was a bit sweaty, had eyebags, meaning he hadn’t slept, and was shaking a bit. All the symptoms you see in a druggie with withdrawal. He had been there and done that when his mom nagged at him to quit. He fidgeted with his cross necklace deep in thought. He knew how it felt and it sucks so maybe he could help the old man out. He wasn’t going to right now with all of these workers watching him, so he decided he was going to find him later.
Then, a loud, angry voice met his ears, and he turned towards it.
“ Good heavens. Excuse me. You idiot!” An old woman yells. He couldn’t quite see her or who she was yelling at, but he could hear them very clearly.
“Mom! What… What are you doing here?” Oh shit, that was that dude's mom. He chuckled in his head, imagining how embarrassing it must be to be yelled at by your mom in front of hundreds of people.
As the mother and son continued to bicker, he thought of his mom. Although she never really talked to him anymore, he still loved her more than anything. All he ever wanted was to make her proud. He was almost a Chuggu player before he found passion in music. He and his mom would kick the ball back and forth when he first showed interest. She took him to his games when he was little until she got too busy to take him. He would play and practice by himself and walk to his games. That lasted from the 1st year till the 9th year in school, when his friend had him listen to music with him.
He finally heard the two stop bickering as the masked soldiers made a final statement.
“If you wish to participate in the games, please sign the player consent form. Those who do not wish to participate, please speak up now. We always give you a chance to leave the games. So please, line up and sign the forms accordingly.”
Just then, he wondered if he could end up finding that older man in one of these lines. He couldn’t remember his number on his jacket since it was too small for him to see it earlier. Since he was close to the front of the lines that were now forming, and the old man was in the back, he could probably find him if he went to the back of the lines where he was.
The purple-haired man then sluggishly walked to the back of the line, and he already regretted his decision. He could have signed the damn form and then found him after. He was tempted to ask people if he could cut in front of them so that he didn’t have to wait in the stupid line that seemed like it went on forever. Just then, he felt a light, repetitive tapping on his right shoulder.
“Yo, Thanos! What is up, my man?” The guy beside him asked loudly. Directly into his god damn ear. Jesus, he loathed fans who didn’t know personal space. The rapper then exhaled and forced himself to smile before turning to him.
“Hey man, it's always good to meet a fan! What's your name?” He asked the stranger, trying his best to sound genuine. All of a sudden, the other man's face dropped completely. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and what also looked to be… sadness?
“You don’t… You don’t remember me?” he stuttered. Now he felt a twinge of guilt. He had many fans, and he wished he could remember all the people who still supported him after everything, but he simply couldn't.
“No, forgive me, but I don’t think anyone can remember all of their fans personally,” he gave a nervous chuckle and continued, “What's your name, bro?” He then watched the other man's face drop even more as the twinge of sadness turned into the main emotion on his face. He then laughed it off and spoke.
“It’s uh, it’s me…Nam-gyu…” The other guy, Nam-gyu, spoke as if he was trying to jog his memory yet he didn’t remember this “Namgyu” even with how hard he was trying to. The line was moving pretty fast, maybe he could lose this guy and this awkward situation after he signs the form. He tried to walk forward to continue the line, but Nam-gyu persisted, cutting in front of him.
“I worked at the club Pentagon!” He then hushed into a whisper, “I supplied you with all your drugs and shit.” Thanos quickly shoved a hand to the other man's mouth as he thought. Oh, right, he remembered Nam-gyu. He had a few conversations with the man as he was slowly spiraling with his drug addiction. The black haired man didn’t know what he was enabling Thanos with when he supplied him with countless drugs, no questions asked. Back then, he cared, but now that he was a normal user, you could say he was grateful.
Thanos nodded in recognition as he smiled. “Nam-gyu, hell yeah, I remember you, man! Sorry for not recognizing you at first, the club was always so fucking dark. And I was also kinda fucked up on shit at that damn place.” His smile then dropped as he got closer to Nam-gyu to whisper, “and don’t go blabbing about my drugs and shit in here, got it? You don’t know who could be listening and I swear to Christ if I get my shit taken because of you I’ll kick the shit out of you.” He pulled back his hand to see Nam-gyu already smiling underneath it.
“Yeah, heh, whatever you say, man,” the shorter man giggled as he grabbed the taller one's hand, leading him to catch up with the line, which had moved significantly. He was honestly surprised that the people behind him didn’t yell. He turned around to see who it was once they finally caught up to their spot in line. Player 120. He looked her up and down as he tried to figure out why she didn’t yell. She turned to him when she realized he was staring, and smiled slightly.
“Are you alright?” She asked calmly as she looked down. Jesus this woman was tall as shit.
“Oh yeah yeah I'm good,” Thanos said, trying his best to sound nonchalant while looking at her as he tried to avoid eye contact at the same time. The taller woman noticed his discomfort and tried to strike up a conversation.
“I’m Hyung-ju, what’s your name?” She asked kindly with a soft tone. He then smirked as he got to introduce himself, but instead of doing that, he was interrupted.
“What the hell, are you insane? Do you live under a rock? This is the Thanos you're speaking to right now! The greatest damn rapper of all time!” How the hell do you not recognize him?” Nam-gyu annoyingly piped up behind him as he put both hands on his shoulders. Although he was flattered to hear what Nam-gyu thought of him. He turned back to the women, Hyung-ju, and noticed that her smile had now dropped.
“Oh, sorry,” She let out a huff of a nervous laugh, “I don’t listen to that type of music, so I apologize for not knowing your work.” She then smiled at them; however, it was an apologetic one rather than a happy one. The purple-haired man then smiled and swatted Nam-gyu away from him.
“Oh, don’t worry señorita, I am not offended whatsoever!” Which was true. He would much rather meet someone who didn’t know who he was rather than meet someone who thought he was some useless druggie.
Hyung-ju laughed, and her smile returned. But then she looked up and her eyes widened. “Oh hey, you're up next to sign it!” She exclaimed to Nam-gyu, who then turned and bolted to the table. Thanos quickly followed in suit, but not before shouting, “Bye, señorita!”
Nam-gyu signed it, and then it was his turn. Being it the music industry meant he had to sign a shit ton of papers, forms, autographs and whatever the hell else you sign. This also meant he stopped caring about what exactly he was signing. So, he didn’t read it over at all before signing it and turning to Nam-gyu with a smile on his face.
The black haired man took his hand and dragged him over to a bed closest to the floor.
“So, what are you in here for, huh? Did you spend too much of that rich boy rapper's money on drugs? Cross the wrong dealer?” Nam-gyu questioned as he giggled.
“No uh, I got scammed by this fuck ass streamer, MGcoin. You heard of him?” Thanos replied. He watched the other man's face shift from recognition to anger.
“Oh that bitch I got scammed by him too! That fucking prick I’m gonna make him pay up once we all leave this place!” The other man then went on a rant about…something. He wasn’t entirely paying attention. All he could see now was MGcoin himself finishing up signing the form and walking towards the duo.
“Well speak of the damn devil and he appears,” Thanos said with a smirk, cutting off the other mans rambling. Nam-gyu turned to look at where the other man's attention was and smirked along with him.
“Well shit, we better go say hi then huh” They both laughed as they stalked towards MGcoin.
“The Amazing Myunggi from MG Coin? Is that you?” Nam-gyu yelled out as they got close to the other man. MGcoin looked them both up and down in confusion. “Who are you?” He asked.
“You may not know me, but I know you. MG Coin. I was subscribed to your channel. And I lost a shitload of money, asshole.” Nam-gyu explained angrily.
“Yeah, so did I,” Thanos agreed as he stared MGcoin down.
“You’ve got the wrong person,” MGcoin grunted as he tried to push past them. Thanos put a hand to his chest and pushed him back to continue talking to him.
“I watched your content all day, every day. Now I even see you in my dreams, motherfucker!” He yelled out. It was kind of embarrassing to admit, but yes, that fucker has made an appearance in his dreams once or twice but he wouldn’t necessarily call those dreams. “But thanks to you, I got to bond with my boy Nam-gyu over here,” He exclaimed as he wrapped his arm around the other man's shoulder, “Because we shared the same pain.” He concluded as he and Nam-gyu giggled.
“I thought the sons of bitches who made that coin fled to the Philippines with the money. So why are you here? Did they cut you loose?” Nam-gyu concluded his sentence by looking at Thanos, which made them both laugh at the man in front of them.
The other man rolled his eyes. “What do you want from me?” He asked bluntly.
Thanos then stopped smiling and stared into the other man's eyes with a cold expression. “What do you think? Give me my money.”
“Did I force you to buy that coin?” He asked, devoid of any empathy. This fucker was starting to piss him off.
“You told us to bet it all, you fucker. You swore it’d shoot up. You said we’d be fucking idiots if we didn’t buy it!” He ended with a shout. He swears that if Nam-gyu weren’t next to him he’d deck this asshole right here right now.
“You are responsible for the final decision on your investment.” Didn’t you hear me say that at the end?’
Now Thanos decided he didn’t give a single fuck if the guy was next to him. He was about to go in for a punch when he felt something pull him back.
“Hey, calm down!” Namgyu exclaimed as he quickly put both of his hands on his shoulders from behind him, rubbing his arms soothingly.
“Hey, let me go, you idiot!” Thanos exclaimed, trying to rip himself out of the other man's grasp to punch Myung-gi.
“But you can’t, you wouldn’t want to end up on the news, would you?” Nam-gyu explained as he pulled the other man away from MGcoin. Yeah, he was probably right. He also didn’t want to get kicked out before they even played the first game.
“Attention players, the time for signing is now over. Please proceed to the photo hall.”