Thud!
My eyes snapped open at the pain felt in my abdomen.
However, my hand went to my Adam's apple first rather than the pain.
There was not a single drop of blood on my neck, let alone a scar from a knife cut.
Wasn't I just slashed by a knife? Why is there no wound?
Before I could even ponder the answer to my question, I felt pain in my abdomen once again.
Wham!
"Ugh!"
What caused the pain in my abdomen was none other than a sturdy man's foot.
I was lying on a dirt floor where weeds grew sparsely, curled up like I was sleeping.
Around me stood three men wearing floral shirts, gold necklaces, and replica watches masquerading as luxury goods.
It was the stereotypical attire of bad people.
The three men surrounded me, looked down, and lost their tempers.
"Lee Ju-seong, you remember what you said the last time we met? I will pay it back by next month. Did you say it with your own mouth, or not?"
"Mo, money? What money are you talking about?"
"This bastard is suddenly pretending not to know? What money am I talking about? The words! You! Say! Afterwards! Borrowing! Someone! Else's! Money!"
The man stepped on me with his foot every time he broke a syllable, and the hard heel of his shoe exquisitely crushed my ribs and flank.
Every time I was stepped on, considerable pain surged along with the illusion that my flesh was being gouged out.
I instinctively curled my body and held onto my consciousness tightly so as not to lose my mind to the pain.
'Think. A situation like this wouldn't have happened suddenly. I was driving Dong-won's car until just now. And then I encountered a stalker and suffered a misfortune. But when I open my eyes, I'm being beaten by people who look like they're doing illegal things in some dark place. Moreover, the wound on my neck isn't there at all. The front and back don't connect at all.'
I thought I was dead, but I'm alive.
The wound that should be there is gone.
As if it were the price, a debt I never borrowed existed.
Even though it wasn't a situation I knew, I strangely felt a sense of deja vu.
A moment later, the words the man spat out in anger came as a huge clue to solve the deja vu.
"I looked into it and found out you borrowed money from our business and gambled it away? You ended up losing it all, didn't you? Tell the truth, kid. Do you think I've seen guys like you only once or twice?"
Thanks to the keyword gambling, a strong spark flew in my head.
I, Lee Ju-seong, had never even touched illegal gambling in my life.
However, if it was another Lee Ju-seong, not me, he was a gambling addict.
The extra Lee Ju-seong who participated in the popular drama Money Game, which I appeared in five years ago, was a person who had incurred a huge debt due to gambling addiction.
'I remembered. Just in case my name might be mentioned once, I asked for the character's name to be my real name. And while the settings written in the script were only my name, personality, and abilities, I filled in the rest of the settings as I pleased and engaged in acting.'
'One of them was the setting that I became a gambling addict, fell into debt, and participated in a Money Game.'
Normally, when writing a drama script, they don't pay detailed attention to the settings of extras.
My situation when I appeared as an extra in Money Game Season 1 was not much different.
Only minimal instructions and settings were written in the script given to me.
However, since I was going to act anyway, I added a few of my own settings with the intention of doing it properly.
The situation according to those settings from back then was actually being implemented.
'Whether it's a feasible thing or not isn't important. At least the pain I felt while being hit until now is real. Right now, checking whether this world is really a worldview like the Money Game drama is more important than arguing whether it's a dream or reality.'
The loan sharks surrounding me wouldn't show any consideration just because I was hesitating while continuing to agonize.
Since it was a life that was fortunately preserved, I would decline to waste it by being dazed.
I forced my aching body to get up.
The laughter of the three men was heard from around me as I got up pathetically while trembling, but I didn't care.
"Excuse me. I'm out of it because I've been hit so much, so let's check a few things."
"My, my, you crazy bastard. What happened to your head? You were crying and begging for your life until just now, but your attitude suddenly changed? Have you gone mad because it's about time for you to die?"
Lee Ju-seong in the Money Game drama was a character who was a coward, gloomy, and cried often.
Since the Lee Ju-seong of this world would have lived passively and pathetically from birth until now, it wouldn't be strange if my current confident attitude appeared as if I had gone out of my mind and was acting out.
Whatever.
I took a step closer to the gold-necklace man positioned in the center of the three men. And I grabbed the man's shoulder to steady myself.
"My name is Lee Ju-seong. Age thirty-three. I am a resident of Garibong-dong, Seoul. Is that correct?"
When I looked at the man with burning eyes and asked clearly, the man hesitated for a moment, suppressed by my spirit.
"I, I said it as a joke, but it looks like this bastard has really gone mad."
"Answer the question first. Am I the Lee Ju-seong I just mentioned?"
The man brushed off my arm roughly and then pushed strongly with the sole of his shoe against my stomach.
Since it was a body that was already a mess before I regained consciousness, I couldn't withstand the man's physical strength and was pushed back, falling on my butt.
"You know well that you are you. But why didn't you know the fact that you have to pay back the money? Huh?"
"I worked at an adult game room, fell into gambling, embezzled the store's money, and on top of that, I'm in a position where I touched loan companies, right?"
"Yes, yes, that's right. Even if you don't chatter, it's a fact that we~ all~ know. 50 million won including interest. That's the money you have to pay us back."
As soon as I heard the man's answer, I became certain.
I had undoubtedly become the Lee Ju-seong in the Money Game drama.
It was the same up to the part where I became a gambling addict while working part-time at an adult game room, and not only squandered my savings but also touched things here and there to borrow money.
'50 million won? There's no way the debt is only that much. It's probably much more than you guys think, right?'
When adding the settings, I had set it so that I lost all the savings I had collected for 10 years and additionally carried a debt of 200 million won.
I lost the money I had saved for 10 years, and all that was left was debt in the hundreds of millions.
It had to be around this level of circumstance for it to make sense that I participated in a Money Game, where one has to kill people to earn money.
The man walked toward me as I fell and squatted down.
Even though he lowered his posture as if to roughly match eye level, the composition of him looking down on me remained the same.
"Now, let's have a time of choice. You still have a home to go back to, don't you? The deposit for your studio apartment in Garibong-dong is 45 million won. I'll give you a chance to settle it cleanly after receiving that. Wow~ a 10 percent discount? I've really become a gentle person."
What happens after this?
Regrettably, I hadn't separately set the circumstances leading up to participating in the Money Game.
When filming Season 1, I was put into the filming site for the first time at the point where the protagonists had already arrived at the site after participating in Money Game.
So, I thought that creating my own settings for the circumstances of arrival was excessive, and I deliberately omitted them.
'In the drama, a Money Game official approached people who needed money and drew them into the game by suggesting participation. If a Money Game exists in this world, an official will come to find me too.'
Sure enough, a new shadow was cast behind the loan sharks.
He appeared from a blind spot that only I could see.
A black suit, a black bowtie, and a cleanly angled briefcase.
Looking only at the coordination below the neck, it was no different from the appearance of an office worker in a position where they have to maintain etiquette.
However, the coordination above the neck was quite far from the basic form that a normal person would usually have.
The man was wearing a silver mask with only eye holes hollowly pierced.
"Gentlemen, I would like to ask you something for a moment."
A soft voice flowed out from inside the mask.
The polite way of speaking contrasted with the bizarre mask and created a sense of disparity.
An unidentified man who visited a sparsely populated place wearing a mask with an obvious intention to hide his identity.
I couldn't help but instinctively feel that he was not an ordinary person.
A normal person would have fled in terror.
However, these three loan sharks, like those whose profession was to intimidate opponents using their pride as a weapon, loitered and scanned the masked man up and down.
"Who are you? Don't meddle unnecessarily and get lost."
"I'm sorry, but the person lying there seems to be the one I was looking for. Are you Mr. Lee Ju-seong by any chance?"
"Aha~, did you also lend money to this friend? But what should we do? To get money, you have to take a waiting number?"
"I understand. You mean to keep the order. If it's about that, we had just contacted this person earlier saying we would visit him today. In terms of order, I think we might be first."
One of the loan sharks approached the masked man, tilting his neck from side to side.
Then he reached out and tried to take off the masked man's mask.
"Ah, you really can't understand words. Are you like that too? Are you crazy? Appearing while wearing a strange mask and... Aaaargh!"
At that moment, the masked man snatched the loan shark's arm and snapped it in a bizarre angle in one go.
Crack!
A sound as if forcefully tearing it apart came from the loan shark's elbow area.
Since he had hardened the joint and snapped it properly, it would be difficult to hear good news even if he went to a hospital.
"Aaaaaargh!"
The colleague's scream stimulated the remaining two loan sharks.
The two loan sharks shouted with curses mixed in, and they rushed at the masked man with their eyes rolled back.
The movements of the masked man dealing with two people at the same time were not ordinary.
After lightly avoiding the flying fist, he struck the opponent's face with his own fist.
Crunch!
Oof, that nose must be broken.
Next, he simply brushed off the other man's kick and accurately struck the opponent's jaw with a roundhouse kick.
Snap!
Did the jaw turn properly? He'll have to eat only soft food for a while.
The masked man, who subdued all three men in an instant, looked at me calmly as if nothing had happened.
The performance the masked man just showed gave me certainty.
He's a Money Game official!
In drama Season 1, the protagonist was also driven into a corner like me, and a Money Game official appeared and showed outstanding combat ability to take him out of the corner.
The official name was 'Dealer'. That Dealer who provides convenience for proceeding with a game against players in a casino.
The existence of the Dealer was as good as evidence that a Money Game unknown to ordinary people actually existed in this world.
The Dealer bowed politely while placing his right hand on his left chest.
"My introduction is late. I am a Dealer named July. Have you read the invitation I sent?"
I recalled the Money Game invitation from the drama in my head.
I remember it was an invitation with the content 'We invite you to the Money Game.' written in white letters on black paper along with the contact date.
How should I respond?
If it were the Lee Ju-seong in the drama, he would have been terrified and wouldn't even have been able to speak properly.
However, now that the drama had become a real situation, I couldn't follow the same path as an extra.
If I acted like an extra, I would die before long just like in the drama.
It's acting. I have to act.
A role to survive!
"Invitation? Of course I read it. But as you can see, interlopers came along the way."
"I see. I almost misunderstood, thinking you were not responding to the invitation."
"The content was definitely that I could earn enough money to pay back my debts and then some if I participated in your game, right?"
"Of course. But since there are many people who wish to participate, we cannot provide the opportunity to everyone."
It's a game where killing each other is taken for granted.
If everyone is a coward, the game cannot proceed.
Therefore, the host side has prepared a test to pick out people who can move voluntarily so that the game can at least proceed.
Now he will tell me that I have to take a test.
"So I have prepared a test to check if you have the qualifications. If you wish to take the exam, please follow me and get in the car."
Dealer July headed out of the vacant lot without even looking back.
At the edge of the vacant lot, a van presumed to have been ridden by July was staying.
July got into the driver's seat and didn't give me any hint until he closed the car door.
I felt a steadfast assertion that they never force anything, and the choice is mine to the end.
Without a moment's hesitation, I strode to the van and got into the back seat.
"Let's go."
July started the engine and departed without a word, and I closed my eyes deeply and opened them, quietly taking a deep breath to normalize my accelerated heart rate.
There is an option not to participate, but I chose the option to select by my own will.
In any case, at this rate, I have to run around until my body crumbles day and night to pay back money I didn't even use.
Moreover, the beating I experienced earlier would come along as a bonus.
Even if I manage to spend a long time paying it all back, I'll be over forty by then, and my health will be a mess, so it would be impossible to build up again from zero, thus my life is practically over.
In that case, I will utilize the hand I have in my grasp right now.
The hand that knows the contents of the Money Game!
Of course, it was clear that not every situation would flow exactly like the drama.
The longer I, who was originally supposed to die soon as an extra, survive, the more the situation will flow in a different direction from the existing Money Game scenario.
I'll have to move while taking that into account.
I can do it.
Let's think that the Lee Ju-seong of this world is acting as the Lee Ju-seong of the original world.
What did Kim Dong-won say? He said I have strong mental strength. And he said I'm a guy who knows how to act a role beyond the role.
If I could act as a person with originally strong mental strength one step deeper, the possibility of surviving in the Money Game wasn't non-existent.
If it didn't work even after I did what I could, it wouldn't be too late to give up then.
While I was firming up my resolve, the van stopped at a small pier 15 minutes away from the vacant lot.
July got out of the car first and opened the back seat door so I could get out.
"We are going to take the test from now on, but I will ask one last time. Are you really going to participate?"
I answered immediately.
"Since I've already jumped into the board, I can't back down."
Whether July liked my answer, he lightly placed his lightly curled hand on the lower part of the mask and then took it off.
As if covering a smiling mouth with his hand.
"Thank you for your proactive attitude. Then, without further ado, let's start the test right away. Do you see the fishing boat moored over there?"
A small fishing boat was floating at the pier.
A net was half-hung on the boat's net hauler, and a drum was wound tightly in the center of the net.
"Yes, I see it."
"A person is inside there. He is a person who caused immense damage to our organization. He is scheduled to be sunk into the sea today."
"I see."
"You're not surprised."
"The invitation said I could earn as much as tens of billions of won. An organization that would pay tens of billions of won to an incompetent person like me couldn't possibly be normal. I came prepared to encounter as many abnormal things as possible."
July clapped his hands to express satisfaction and then put both hands in his pockets.
When July took his hands out of his pockets, different objects were held in each of his hands.
In his right hand, a palm-sized remote control.
In his left hand, a piece of lottery ticket.
The test began simultaneously with the appearance of the two contrasting ingredients.
"Here is a remote control. If you press the button on this remote control, that drum will be sunk into the sea entirely along with the net. And this is a lottery ticket with a confirmed win."
I nodded in the sense that I was listening.
July's words continued.
"Even though I say it's won, I cannot tell you the rank. It might be 1st prize, or it might be 5th prize. If you, Mr. Ju-seong, press the remote control yourself, I will give you this winning lottery ticket."
It was identical to the Money Game participation test I knew.
The fact that the participation test was identical suggested that the flow of the early part of Money Game was highly likely to flow according to the scenario I knew.
Despite knowing all the contents, I feigned ignorance.
"What happens if I say I won't take it?"
"Nothing changes. You, Mr. Ju-seong, will not be able to participate in the Money Game and will return to your daily life empty-handed. To a daily life where you are merely chased by debt."
"Hmm."
When I pretended to agonize for a moment, July whispered while putting the remote control in my hand.
As if a snake was tempting by offering the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.
"For your information, even if you don't press the button, it is a foregone conclusion that the person will fall into the sea. You are merely taking on the role of an executioner for a moment. He is a person who has no~thing~ to do with you."
"You are asking whether I can kill an unrelated person for money whose amount cannot be confirmed, aren't you."
"Your understanding is quick. Of course, you will be troubled. No matter how much there's no relationship, it's a matter of a person's life...."
July was trying to lay out lines of temptation, naturally thinking I would hesitate.
However, there was no case of a period being marked on July's words.
Because I pressed the button before that.
Click!
On the fishing boat, the net hauler rotated in reverse and lowered the net into the sea, and the drum slowly submerged below the water surface.
Whether he didn't know I would make a decision so without hesitation, July stayed still without being able to speak.
Inside the eye holes, the only gaps in the silver mask, his pupils were shaking significantly.
I had no way of knowing for now whether his reaction was embarrassment or admiration.
I snatched the lottery ticket July was holding and said cheerfully.
"I hope the 1st prize is won."
I will rewrite the script of this drama.