“You’re really not going to study?”

“No.”

“Look, I know you’re smart but don’t you think you play too many games at this rate?”

“No.”

“That’s a really bad habit.”

Minatozaki Sana frowned at the dense Myoui Mina across her in that huge meeting room. Behind her, Lim Nayeon, could only silently gulp at the atmosphere. These two CEOs argued almost all the time but Minatozaki Sana was patient so they rarely fought. When the blonde lost her patience, though, things could turn scary.

Lim Nayeon only hoped both of them wouldn’t fight because there were only the three of them inside that room and if both CEOs did, Lim Nayeon wouldn’t know what to do.

“From Taiwan, twenty-one years old, mother died, father died, no sibling…” Myoui Mina being what she was, ignored Minatozaki Sana, “sob stories, sob stories everywhere.”

“Myoui Mina.”

“What?”

“Did everything I said to you come in through your right ear and then leave straight through the left one?”

Mina softly exhaled a breath, “Sorry.”

Lim Nayeon also silently exhaled a relieved breath at that.

Sana sighed and stood up to her best friend, some papers in hands, “Always the same sorry, never changes. No wonder you don’t catch what people mostly say, you’re too busy ignoring them.”

“I don’t ignore them. I don’t do it by purpose.”

“You do.” Sana said sternly, softly slapping Mina’s head with a paper, “And that’s really annoying, someone should tell you that.”

“You tell me almost all the time about it.”

“And yet you never change.”

“Fine, fine, I won’t ignore you anymore.” Mina sighed deeply, “Now go back to work. You’re the one who wants to discuss about Nine-Six.”

Sana sat on the table, “Chou Tzuyu is the youngest worker, ever. We never had someone under twenty-three before. Looking at her background, she must’ve had a very tough life to finally choose to be our Worker.”

“Why did her father die, again?”

Another slap on the head with a paper, “It’s because you didn’t listen to me, you dummy. I’m tired of repeating the same things.”

Mina gritted her teeth and glared at Lim Nayeon who quickly turned away.

“Her mother died when she gave birth to Chou Tzuyu. Her father was a street boxer, that’s why she has a physical advantage, she can fight and all. A year ago, her father died in a fight. Chou Tzuyu spent one year to work here and there to pay off her debts before coming here. She has no sibling, no grandparent, aunts, uncles, none.” Sana read the paper about Chou Tzuyu in her hand, “She’s just all by herself.”

“How come a child could survive with no family.”

“Well, I don’t know. You said you don’t want to hear more sob stories.” Sana hopped down to her feet, “But I guess she has people she’s close with, not blood-related, but still a family after all.”

“How did she pay off her debts? What was her job?”

Sana groaned, “Ugh, I’m sure as hell already told you about it less than an hour ago. You’re such an airhead for ignoring me. Nayeon, tell her.”

“O-oh, yes, Miss Minatozaki.” Lim Nayeon quickly fixed her posture, “Nine-Six worked some part-time jobs as a waitress and a cashier, also she took a part in the street boxing fights but it didn’t last long because she was too young, and a female too, so she stepped away from that after she felt the money was enough.”

Mina nodded her head, “Tough girl.”

“How’s her training?” Sana asked.

“It’s going well, Miss Minatozaki. She’s a fast-learner. She already memorizes the maze. She’s going to start learning the weapons more tomorrow.”

“That’s good to hear.” Sana brushed her hair and walked around, she just couldn’t sit still, “Make sure she’s overall healthy and don’t tire her too much. She’s already doing great as a newbie.”

“Yes, Miss Minatozaki.”

“Good, you can leave now.” Sana said to Lim Nayeon with a smile.

The manager was relieved. Being with the same room as the CEOs by herself was too awkward and tense.

“Thank you, Miss Minatozaki. I will--”

“No, no, stay here.” Mina suddenly said, “Give me the reports of last week’s--”

“It’s lunch break, Mina. She can leave.”

“Yeah, but I need the reports. She’s not hungry. Are you hungry, Lim Nayeon?”

“I-I--”

“She is. Let her leave. You can have your reports later.”

“No, I need it now before I forget. Lim Nayeon, bring it to me.”

“Yes--”

“No, no. You should leave for lunch, Nayeon.”

A hiss, “Stop butting in and just let me work, Minatozaki.”

“It’s you who should stop butting in and let her eat her lunch, Myoui.”

“No--”

For a really long twenty minutes Lim Nayeon had to stay there, mentally screaming, at the two women arguing about her lunch break. The perks of having two CEOs, really.

-

“Lunch break!”

As one of the Trainers said that, the doors to the building were opened simultaneously. They were being trained outdoor, so when the break started, they could get back in. Tzuyu wiped her sweats, she felt so dirty and tired. She could hear her stomach grumble. A Trainer gave her a bottle of water and she gulped it immediately.

On the wall above the bench, there was a picture of Myoui Mina and Minatozaki Sana. Tzuyu couldn’t lie, she had been staring at that picture since the training started the morning before. Her short meeting with Minatozaki Sana some days ago was still clear inside her head. How could a super rich and mighty CEO be that kind? Not to mention extremely beautiful too…

“You’re totally head over heels, huh?”

A sudden voice startled her, and she found Yoo Jungyeon grinning beside her.

“You surprised me.”

“Don’t worry, we all are. I mean, who isn’t? Miss Minatozaki is just perfect, isn’t she?”

Tzuyu only shyly nodded, looking back at the picture. It really didn’t do justice for the blonde CEO. She looked better in person, even better up close.

“What do you think of Miss Myoui, though?” She then asked Jungyeon.

“Hmm…” Jungyeon made a face, “I don’t think much about her. Why would I anyway, she isn’t Miss Minatozaki.”

That led a laugh from Tzuyu.

Suddenly there was a noise and Lim Nayeon appeared from nowhere. All the Trainers and Workers bowed to her, including Tzuyu and Jungyeon. Lim Nayeon only nodded her head as she walked through them, before she noticed Tzuyu and Jungyeon standing in front of the picture.

“Hello, Miss Lim.” Jungyeon greeted her.

“Yeah, hi Zero-One.” Lim Nayeon turned to Tzuyu, “And… Nine-Six. You’re Nine-Six, aren’t you?”

“Yes, Miss Lim.”

“You look tired, Miss Lim.”

“Well, yeah.” She nodded again, brushing her hair, “Watching two CEOs quarreling isn’t really my favorite.”

“Miss Myoui amd Miss Minatozaki fought?”

Lim Nayeon shrugged as she stared at the picture, “They do it all the time. Miss Minatozaki is a saint for putting up with this one.” She said with her finger pointing at Myoui Mina on the picture, “But you didn’t hear that from me.”

Tzuyu and Jungyeon laughed.

“Okay, that’s it. I’m going to get fired. Go eat, you two. It’s lunch break.”

“Yes, Miss Lim.”

They bowed as Lim Nayeon walked away. She was kinder than the first time Tzuyu met her. She probably just had a resting face or something.

“See? Everybody thinks the same about Miss Minatozaki so you can bluntly drool over her and nobody will find it weird.” Jungyeon threw an arm around Tzuyu’s neck, “Now, let’s eat! I’m so hungry.”

-

“Two, or three years ago?”

Tzuyu ate hungrily as she listened to Hirai Momo. She asked both Characters about their most serious injuries because she was curious. She needed to prepare to get hurt because she most likely would. The thoughts of it still scared her, but seeing how chill Yoo Jungyeon and Hirai Momo were, she thought maybe it wasn’t a big deal after all.

“What happened?”

“I got shot in the ankle.” Momo said proudly, showing off her left ankle and Tzuyu could see some scars, “Unable to walk for a few months, I got extra rest times, though.”

“But could you still keep up with the next tournament?”

“Well, yeah, because I wasn’t new in the game, so it was all okay.”

It made Tzuyu gulp because unlike Momo, she was new, and if she got hurt, she wasn’t sure if she could continue as good as she was that time.

“And what about you?” She turned to Jungyeon.

“Got slashed on the shoulder.” Jungyeon tapped her left shoulder, “The Player who did it became the winner.”

Tzuyu’s eyes widened, “It could happen?”

“Yup. The weapons aren’t just guns. When the game reaches its final stage, leaving two or three Players left, they have to upgrade their weapons from guns to blades. It was Miss Myoui’s idea six years ago. Miss Minatozaki didn’t agree, they fought, and it took pretty long for them to decide but in the end, the idea was accepted but with Miss Minatozaki adding a new rule as well, for the Characters to wear helmets other than those bulletproof vests.”

“It was pretty tense between the two back then. We even thought one of them would step down. They both can be stubborn at times. And people under them like us can only watch.” Momo chuckled.

Tzuyu laughed half-heartedly, “So, it’s most likely a Character will get slashed like you did?”

“Hmm… depends on the Player.” Jungyeon shrugged, “Some Players managed to win without badly injuring the others. The goal of the game is to reach the center of the maze. They don’t have to hurt each other. It’s just for the sake of the tension. And remember, we don’t control our body during the game. The Players do.”

“The maze is so complicated, though…”

“Yeah, right?” Momo agreed right away, “Miss Myoui sketched it herself.”

“She did?”

“Yeah, she did.” Jungyeon nodded, “She’s a genius. Everything in this whole game is her idea. Miss Minatozaki just kind of… controls her.”

“They must be very close, then.”

“They’re childhood friends.”

“They are?”

Both Characters nodded as Jungyeon said, “They basically spent their whole life together. Man, they must be soul mates. They never get bored with each other.”

“Maybe not yet.” Momo joked with a laugh.

Tzuyu laughed with them, “And if they do, who do you think would stay and who would leave?”

“Well, isn’t it obvious?” Momo said bitterly, “Miss Myoui would stay and Miss Minatozaki would leave.”

“And we all should say, welcome to hell.”

The three of them laughed loudly before it died down with Tzuyu saying, “I hope it wouldn’t happen, though.”

-

Being still really wasn’t Minatozaki Sana’s thing.

She walked around her room, the sight of the sun going down could be seen clearly from the huge windows. She stopped walking, crossed her arms and bit her lip as the sun went down. It was still bothering her. It wasn’t the first time for her but it definitely lasted longer than ever. Being worried for Workers was totally her thing, but she was sure she had never been worried this long.

“It’s not weird, is it?” She asked, more to herself than Park Jihyo so she quickly continued before the latter got confused, “I mean, I’m the one responsible for hiring her, so it’s no wonder that I’m this worried. Also, isn’t she super young? I was probably already in school when she was born… or maybe even older.”

“It’s not weird, Miss Minatozaki. We’re keeping an extra eye on her too because she’s new, and young, and the tournament is only in five months.” Park Jihyo said.

Sana tapped her foot impatiently, “It’s making me anxious. There’s so many what-ifs in my head and if they happened, or at least, one of them, the one to blame is me.”

“But Miss, we’ve made sure about her ability. We even raised the standard of the tests, just like you suggested. She passed it all. And she’s now doing really well in her training. I’m sure she’ll do just fine. Probably not extremely well or anything, but fine.”

“Yeah, I was that sure too.”

She really was.

Finding a replacement wasn’t easy, it never was. It was their very last option if a Worker wanted to resign. Myoui Mina really hated it, so she always left it at Minatozaki Sana to handle. Before this, every replacement Sana found had been doing well, as expectations, even exceeding them, but now honestly, she wasn’t sure anymore of Chou Tzuyu.

There were quite bunch of reasons.

First, the time. The Constraint thought they were doing well in persuading the former Worker, Six-Two, not to resign, but they were wrong. They were dragged for a few months after the latest tournament, only to be turned down by the former Worker, saying she had decided not to renew the contract and just left. The Constraint could do nothing about it. If they forced things on her, it would violate the contract, and Minatozaki Sana would definitely be against it because, what was a contract for in the first place? To avoid slavery and provide decent treatments for the Workers in this whole crazy workplace.

So she let Six-Two resign, and of course, had to find a replacement. The thing she could’ve done way earlier if only Six-Two didn’t take that much time to think. Well, she couldn’t just find a replacement before Six-Two makes her decision, because the job was a big deal, she also needed to be serious about hiring. If she hired, she hired. She wouldn’t hire someone just for a backup.

Because of the short time and the urgency, she wanted the standard to be raised. She doubted it, though. Would a female, because she was looking for a female Worker, be able to pass the tests? If none could, and there was no replacement, she would have to switch to a male one, and it would take more time.

Nothing was right, really.

Second, the age. Hiring a twenty-one year-old, really? Chou Tzuyu was too damn young. Back then Sana wanted to set an age minimum of twenty-five years old, but Myoui Mina won with her idea of the Workers’ ages range from twenty to thirty. She shouldn’t have let herself lost that time. Her fear really happened this time. Someone under twenty-five, even twenty-three, was hired, and she was the one responsible for it.

Third, the person herself. Chou Tzuyu had no family. Sure, there were some Workers having the same story as Chou Tzuyu, but they were all older. If something bad happened to Chou Tzuyu, nobody would have the legal rights to stand for her. No one would care enough for her like a family would. And who knows what those people above would do about it?

Sana sighed. They bothered her to no end, right after she met Chou Tzuyu herself and really saw how young the Worker was.

“You know it’s not that simple, right?” Sana continued, still having her back to Park Jihyo, “Things can happen in the game. When it starts, we lost control of the Workers. It’s all up to the Players.”

Park Jihyo nodded hesitantly, “Yes, Miss.”

“I wanted to ask for a raised standard for the Players, but doing it for the sake of one Character is impossible, according to Mina. She said no right on my face for that idea.” Sana darkly chuckled, “You said I was worrying too much, but I think you’re wrong, she said. It’s kind of true now.”

“Well, Miss Myoui is difficult to persuade.”

“The most difficult.” She couldn’t agree more, “She said I have impossible ideas like, she should’ve looked at the mirror saying that.”

Park Jihyo only wryly smiled at that.

Minatozaki Sana turned around to face Park Jihyo, “You said you have an extra eye on her, didn’t you?”

“Yes, Miss.”

“Have more, then. Watch her more closely. Directly. The three of you, especially. Also, report everything to me. Her training, her health, even her appetite, everything, to me. I’ll be in charge of her. But you, of course, don’t tell her.”

“Yes, Miss.”

She walked to her working desk, where Park Jihyo was standing, “Since she has no family, I’ll take care of her more than the others. We’ll just ignore the bad possibilities and try as much as we can. Later, recommend her to the best Player so they most likely won’t injure her that badly.”

Park Jihyo nodded, “Yes, Miss.”

“Also,” Sana bent down to her desk, tapping her fingers on it, “don’t tell Mina about this. Since she doesn’t care and she doesn’t ask, don’t tell her. It’s just between you and me, and the others. If something goes wrong, just tell me immediately, don’t go to Mina. She wouldn’t care anyway, there’s no use.”

She clearly wouldn’t spare her time just to listen to Myoui Mina’s nag of how she cared too much about the Workers. They work for us, it’s their job. It felt like Sana had heard those words thousands of times.

Park Jihyo once again nodded, “Yes, Miss. I understand.”

When Minatozaki Sana sat down with a sigh, Park Jihyo knew the CEO was starting to get stressed. It wasn’t the first time, for sure, but Park Jihyo didn’t know why she felt like she had never faced this situation before.

Probably Minatozaki Sana’s anxiousness was starting to rub on her too.

-

“You still haven’t taken it off?”

Tzuyu jerked her head from what she was staring, a picture of Minatozaki Sana, what else, to the voice, which was Yoo Jungyeon sitting on her huge bed. The newbie raised her eyebrows, one hand drying her hair after the warm shower, didn’t quite understand what Jungyeon was referring to.

“That,” Jungyeon pointed to Tzuyu’s left arm, “I’m sure it’s already healed for a while.”

Well, Tzuyu didn’t really have any other explanation for that.

Almost a month being a Worker, Tzuyu was starting to get used to her new life. Hirai Momo was right. They were being treated like some A-lists. Each of them had their own respective rooms, with private bathrooms and stuff, and it was bigger than Tzuyu’s whole house back where she came from. It felt like a five-star hotel, Momo said, and Tzuyu agreed, even though she had never stepped into an actual five-star hotel.

Rubbing the wet band-aid on her arm, Tzuyu sat down beside Jungyeon on the bed.

“Just take it off.” Jungyeon said, “That won’t be the last time Miss Minatozaki ‘heals’ you. She takes care of us all the time, you know.”

Half-heartedly, Tzuyu tore the band-aid off of her arm. It made Jungyeon laugh.

“Whoa, you’re totally head over heels for her.”

“But you said it’s normal…”

“It is. But still cute.”

Tzuyu only looked down when Jungyeon laughed even louder.

“Anyway, how’s everything?” Jungyeon turned serious after, “I mean, it’s been a while since you joined. How’s your training? Like, the progress, and all? It’s not that bad, is it? I heard you’re a fast learner.”

“Yeah, it’s not so bad.” Tzuyu pursed her lips, “It’s just… still sinking in, you know? All of these things… they’re hard to grasp.”

Jungyeon nodded her head as she lied down on Tzuyu’s bed, “Yeah, yeah I know. This job is crazy. We’re all crazy. I mean, who even works as a character in a freaking game? Myoui Mina is insane.”

It made Tzuyu snort, “You seem like you hate her so much.”

Jungyeon shrugged.

“Why?”

“Well…” Jungyeon turned to her side, facing Tzuyu, an arm supporting her head, “this whole… thing is her idea. Can you imagine that? It’s like she was suddenly, hey I want to play games using real people, isn’t that exciting? in a blue moon and poof, this game was built. It’s just crazy, you know? I can’t find any word to describe it other than that. She’s basically living her wild imagination using all of us here. Crazy.”

“Yeah, but,” Tzuyu also lied down on her huge bed beside Jungyeon, “with that she employs more than a thousand people. From Workers like us, to Trainers, to Programmers, even to those butlers in this whole island, everyone works for her. She pays us well. And she has never used her power for things she shouldn’t.”

“That’s because she has Minatozaki Sana with her!” Jungyeon exclaimed, lying on her back, “If she didn’t, I wouldn’t know what’d happen. I don’t even want to imagine it.”

“Exactly, you don’t know what will happen. So what if Miss Myoui isn’t as bad as she looks like? What if she’s actually kind even though the way she does things is different from Miss Minatozaki?”

Jungyeon made a face to the newbie, “Believe me, I want it to be true. I want to believe that Myoui Mina is kind, yada yada, but the thing is, she has never showed any of the sign. She’s just plain crazy in my head. And I’m probably even crazier for working like this.”

Tzuyu smiled, “Just take the bright side. If she weren’t crazy, we wouldn’t get this job. And I think it’s actually awesome, that she turned her crazy ideas into reality. Not everyone can do that. She’s one of a kind.”

It made Jungyeon sigh as she brought her palm to her forehead.

“Man, I really envy your positive mind. I wish I could go back to some years ago just to feel those things such as actually admiring Myoui Mina.”

Tzuyu scooted closer to Jungyeon, “Don’t worry. I probably will turn like you sooner or later, don’t you think?”

Jungyeon sneered, “Exactly.”

-

None of them talked for the past twenty minutes. Myoui Mina counted.

She sometimes wondered if Minatozaki Sana forgot that even though Mina was quiet and looked uninterested all the time, she was very observant. It was always useless if Sana tried to lie to her. Mina would know. Simply because they had been attached to each other since forever. If Sana felt like she knew Mina more than the latter knew herself, Sana should also realize that it was like that too for Mina.

Being with a quiet Minatozaki Sana really wasn’t Mina’s favorite.

“What is it,” Mina mumbled. It was her nature to ask as subtle as she could so that she wouldn’t sound so caring.

Sana still stared at the window beside them, her dinner remained untouched. Mina had emptied hers and it bugged her knowing Sana basically hadn’t eaten anything since both of them sat there.

“My dad called me earlier.” She finally answered, eyes still to the window, “He asked me about marriage.”

She didn’t lie. Her dad really called her some time ago. It’s just marriage wasn’t the only thing he talked about. And it wasn’t the thing that bothered her the most.

“And,”

“And he got me into thinking about it all over again.” Sana turned to Mina, a bitter smile on her face, “You know how much he wants me to settle down.”

Mina knew that, “But you’re not even in a relationship.”

“Yeah, it actually makes him worried even more. Remember how upset he was the last time I broke up,” Sana chuckled.

Mina pursed her lips hearing that.

“Don’t think too much about it. It’s fine.”

“Do you want to?” Mina asked.

“Hmm?”

“Do you want to?”

“What?”

“Getting married.” Mina asked again, more seriously, “Do you want to?”

Sana looked at Mina for a moment as she asked herself. Did she really want to get married? Did she ever think of that idea for real? No matter how many times she thought about it, the answer was still the same.

“No.”

“Then you shouldn’t. If you don’t want to, you shouldn’t. Marriage is a big deal. You can’t just do it because your father wanted you to. You have to want it too.”

“And what if I finally want to do it?”

Mina looked back at her, eyes so tired Sana wondered how close the former was to her limit. If Mina still looked this bad with Sana by her side, Sana wondered how it would be if she weren’t even there.

“Don’t worry.” Sana said with a smile, as she grasped her spoon and fork to finally devour her dinner, “It hasn’t even crossed my mind. Even after my dad nagged at me the whole time about it. I think of marriage because of him, not because of the idea itself.”

And she didn’t lie again. Marriage was indeed a faraway plan for her. Someday, maybe, but she never knew.

Seeing Sana having her dinner made Mina’s uneasiness fade away. She then took a sip of the wine and swallowed it along with the words she could never say, be it that day, the day before, or the day after.

Don’t leave me.

****

Hiii

I see some of the comments asking about MiTzu... well, it's not MiTzu lol definitely not. It's SaTzu. With a little bit of 2na. And yes, the Players and Characters live in the same world, they're all normal human beings. I mentioned a bit about the maze, and I actually portray it not like the one in Maze Runner, but it's more like the one in Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, the 3rd task in the Triwizard Tournament.

Does it feel like I'm missing someone in this story? Yes, it's Chaeng lol. She'll appear soon, don't worry.

And as always, thank you for reading, subscribing, and leaving comments. Do tell me what you think!!