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First Day in Hell

The alarm sounded, jerking him awake. He sprung up, quickly. He had never heard anything so loud. “Calm down, man. You had a nightmare or something?”, His new roommate asked, getting up slowly from his bed.

“That sound. Where is it coming from?”, Kang asked.

“That is the alarm. What did you think it was?”

“Nothing. I’ve never heard anything so loud in my life”

“You don’t even have a life yet”, the man grunted, as he got up on his feet. He walked to a mirror beside his bed and stared at his reflection. “Come on, get up. We have to do some cleaning in the hall. That’s what the alarm is for”

“Ok”, Kang said and got up, slowly. He could barely keep his eyelids from closing, as they still had a lot of sleep in them. “How long does it take to clean up?”

“I’m done answering questions for today”

…....

Kang was fitting in, pretty fast. Everyone had their eyes on him, all through the day. He had a feeling they hadn’t attacked him only because his new roommate was with him. He definitely wasn’t actually fitting in.

He looked around, as they sat for lunch.

“Fuck! It’s this green thing again. I already told you I don’t like this green thing in my food”, a guy complained, loudly.

“O my God! I thought you were kidding. Actually, I thought that was a dream”, the other guy replied. “You hate it so much”

“The last time I ate it, I puked on the toilet seat and couldn’t shit for the next week, Rico”, he said and pushed the door away.

“It’s simple. I love the green part. I’ll take yours and I’ll give you my sushi”

“You sure you haven’t licked it”

“Shut the fuck up!”, a thick voice interrupted them. “Shut the fuck up and eat your food, mate. You’re disturbing our appetites”

It was the same man who had attacked Kang earlier. Their eyes met and Kang looked away, quickly. “Who’s that guy?”

“Who’s who?”

“The guy that attacked me. The one that just asked them to shut up now”

“That is Jae”, his roommate answered. “He is one of the strongest here so be careful around him. There is no law here so he can smash your head against a brick and all you can do is die”

“How about these two? Everyone’s looking depressed but they seem pretty cheerful”

“That’s Rico and Remi. They are roommates… Your roommate should be the closest to you”

Kang chuckled, childishly. “And here you are being so serious with me”

“They are the closest of the roommates… they managed to help each other get this far. I imagine the possible tragedy, all the time”

“What’s that?”

“I imagine the both of them getting pitched against each other…. Rico would have to fight Remi in the ring”

“That would be bad. Can that really happen?”

“I don’t think they’ll let it happen. They are roommates. One can kill the other by midnight”

“They are friends. They can’t do that”, Kang said and glanced at the two friends who were laughing loudly. “I bet they won’t be friends anymore after that kind of fight where one of them has to win”

The man laughed. “You are so new and ignorant”, he muttered. “They wouldn’t have to remain friends anymore. Once you get in the arena with an opponent, one of you has to die or none of you will be getting out”

Kang’s eyes fell on the impenetrable passageway, as an armored man walked through and stood dramatically by the side. Another armored man followed and stayed on the other side, then a lady walked in. “How are they coming out through a passage but can’t get out through the same passage?”, Kang asked, staring at the beautiful young lady. She was pretty young… probably as young as he was.

“They can actually walk out through the same passage. We can’t”, the man replied, looking at the lady too, as she walked around looking at each of them.

“Who is that girl? She’s cute”

“Don’t look too much. She’s one of the Larger Figures”, the man said.

Kang’s eyes met with the girl’s. They stared at each other for about two seconds and he looked away. “Are they so dangerous? What is she here for?”

“She’s probably here to pick a plaything for her masters”, the man said. “They always send girls to pick one of us for the fun”

“Really?”, Kang muttered and smiled, looking up at the girl again. Their eyes met for another second.

The man slapped his face, gently, to stop him from staring. “What are you doing? Do you know what they do to them when they are picked?”, the man said in whispers.

“You said ‘fun’, didn’t you?”

“Their master’s fun. Not your fun, idiot…. They drill your ass and expand your shit-hole”

Kang chuckled. “What does that even mean?”

“You”, the lady said, in a soft but loud voice, pointing at one of the men eating. “You are coming with us”

The man stood up, reluctantly, wondering where he was going. That was the first time he was getting picked for that. The lady turned, walking back to the passage. She stopped in front of the passage. “You all should move up. The next game is now and the spin is about to start”.

She walked through the passage. The armored men put a kind of golden shackles on the man and pushed him through the passage, before walking in after him.

“What are they going to do to him?”, Kang asked again.

“I already told you. They are going to drill his ass and expand his shit-hole”

“Yea. What does that mean?”

“Maybe you should volunteer to get picked, next time”, the man said and stood up. “Let’s go up”

“Alright”

Everyone got up too. None of them was allowed to stay back whenever the spin was going to happen. “So what’s your Shin Zhu?”

“Shin what?”

“What’s your Shin Zhu? You don’t know what Shin Zhu means?”

“No. Am I supposed to know that?”

“Your Shin Zhu is your special ability. It’s what you fight with”, the man said and looked at Kang’s body again. “Asides the fact that our body size doesn’t help against the opponents Shin Zhu, your body size really gives your opponent an edge. You’re so lean”

“My creators definitely said all new bodies are small and lean”

“No, man. None of the new bodies are so lean”, the man replied. “So what’s your ability? Every new creature knows it’s special ability, immediately it is created”

“I don’t know… and I’m pretty sure my creators didn’t figure it out, either”, Kang said. “I heard them talking about me”

“That’s why they were going to put you in the oven. You are complicated and bad for business”, the man said, as they got to where they were going. “Well, being here is a bad idea. Till we figure out your ability, you will have to hide from the spins”

“Won’t they find out if I’m missing?”

“They don’t count. They just keep cameras in the hall and the rooms to know who’s in and who’s not”, the man said and looked back. “Keep your eyes there. Once everyone is up here, count two seconds and run back down”.

“Ok”, Kang replied and rushed out.

They arranged themselves in a circle, with a button in hand. They clicked on it, staring at a screen on the wall. Each of their faces appeared on two sides of the screen and a timer counted.

‘ three…. two… one’

A kind of light beeped on their projected faces on the screen on both sides. It kept beeping, moving from a face to the other, and it went around for a few seconds and stopped. On the first side of the screen, the beep stopped on Rico’s face. That was his first fight in a long time. He clenched his fist and cracked his knuckles.

The second part of the screen was still beeping. It soon slowed down and the beep dropped on the face of Kang’s roommate. He closed his eyes in disappointment. He wasn’t ready for any fight, at the moment.

The beeping light moved away from his face and he let out a sigh of relief. “Fuck!”, the man muttered and his expression of relief quickly changed, as the beep moved two faces away from his and landed on Remi’s face.

Remi’s eyes twitched, as he looked at Rico’s face. Rico kept his eyes on the screen, staring with horror and disbelief.

“The Fight has been postponed to the next day”, a feminine voice announced. “ The contenders should take the day to prepare for the fight. Good luck, soldiers.”

“Look me in the eyes!”, they could hear from the room. It was late, already, and they should be locking their doors already. The lights would soon go off. “I said look me in the eyes, you prick!”

There was a fight going on in the hall. Jae was playing the bully again. Kang opened their door, slightly. Whoever Jae was holding up against the wall, he was twice as big as Kang. Kang wondered how Jae would handle his tiny light body. Jae would probably dangle him upside with one hand. “I’m sorry!”, the smaller guy muttered, slowly looking up at his face”

“This motherfucker dare look at my face”, Jae said, hysterically, with one hand on his victim’s neck. He punched him in the face. “Ain’t that funny?... Eh? You still looking at me?”

He punched his face again, slamming his head against the wall. The guy looked away quickly. “Please, Jae… I swear I won’t do it again”

“Well, you already done it, Jackie, and I’m not letting this one go. At least, not yet”, Jae said. “Don’t worry. I’m almost done with teaching you a lesson… that is to help you make sure you don’t do it again. I’ll just-“

Jackie spat on his face, swiftly pushing him away. As expected, Jae’s friends stood there for a second, still surprised, as Jackie kicked him and punched him in the face. Jae pulled his hand, suddenly, almost pulling him down. He kicked Jae back down, dusting his hands off and kicking him in the face. He took to his heels, heading straight to his room. “Go after him, you idiots” Jae ordered and sprung up immediately.

They ran after him. He staggered at the front of his door, pulling it open immediately. He dashed into his room and slammed the door, resting against it. Immediately, the lights went out and they could see nothing.

“Wow! That was close”, Kang muttered and closed the door, walking back to the bed. “He almost got caught”

“So Jae didn’t kill him?”, his roommate asked.

“You wanted Jae to kill him?”

“It’s usual… Jae always brutalized them whenever he got physical”, the man said. “I know he’ll probably kill someone someday… just don’t be the one”

“Me? Never. I’m not going anywhere if you won’t be going with me”

“Well, I won’t let you go around with me”

“I won’t let you leave me behind…. So is it true?”

The man turned over. “Go to sleep, Kang. Tomorrow is another day*

“Please, just answer my question first… it’s the last one and we can go to sleep”

“What do you want?”

“Rico and Remi will be fighting each other in the ring, tomorrow. Is that true?”

“Yes… like we had predicted”

“What do you think is going to happen?”

“They are in the same room, right now. It’s late and the lights are out. Each of them knows he has to kill the other to survive. They will be there, through the night. What do you think is happening, right now?”

“uh… I don’t know?”

“I don’t know, either. Come on, sleep”

“What is your name?”

“You said that was your last question”

“Well, it’s not my last question. Please, tell me your name”

“well, that was my last answer. Please, go to sleep”

……..

*“Hello, Jin. Looks like you are making progress”, an hefty man said, appearing right behind him. He had almost broken the lock successfully.

Jin turned slowly, thinking of a way to escape whatever was coming for him. He stared at the man in the eyes with nothing to say. Other armed men walked in after the man and stood there, pointing guns at him. He raised his hands up, slowly. “This isn’t what it looks like. I swear”, he said.

“It sure looks like a lot of things. Don’t it?”, the man said, smiling. “I think I’ll be the one regretting this since you are one of our bests, which is why we intentionally put you with a physical match to make the game unpredictable”

“Please. I’ll just go back to my room and I’ll never come back here”, Jin said. That definitely couldn’t set him free, unless this man wanted to keep him in the game. He hoped there was another punishment. He wasn’t only close to escape. He had multiple alternative ways to get out.

“Oh really. I still wonder what you were doing here in the first place. You said it’s not what it looks like, right? Or did I get that wrong?”, the man asked, still smiling. He waited for a few seconds. There was no response from Him, as expected. “Don’t mind me. I just like toying with the minds of people, unnecessarily…. Shoot him, guys”

Jin clenched his fist and an aura of fire swirled around his arm. He stretched his arm at them, throwing them back with a wave. He calmed down, as they fell on the ground…. But one person was still standing, too far to be affected by the wave. His eyes moved up, slowly. The man was armed, pointing a gun at his head. He shot Jin in the head*

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