Girls her age typically were worrying about university, parties, and more university at this time of year. On the other side of the globe, 18 year old Ellie Kirk was worrying about whether she would live through the night. It had been advertised as a once in a lifetime chance to meet your favourite artists, so she entered her email and some basic information and hoped for the best while expecting nothing. Then she was flown out to this “concert” called Battle Royale. She definitely got her chance to meet some Kpop idols.

It was intimidating to be dropped into a box with strangers; strangers who are celebrities, celebrities who Ellie had only ever read about. She recognized most of the girls there, even though they were all crying and/or screaming their plastic faces off. No matter where she stood in that room, when people arrived they would automatically move away from her. A few times she even plucked up the nerve to try and join a conversation but they would quickly shuffle their bodies to block her out of the circle. Ellie eventually decided to give up, opting to sit against a wall along with four or five other stragglers she did not know. They all looked so different than any poster, album cover, or video she’d seen. Some girl looked like Taeyeon, but then again it maybe it was another non-idol like herself. Some girl had a voice just like CL, but it could be a non idol too. It was astounding how ordinary they all looked without the glamour of makeup, jewelry, and fancy costumes. She had plenty of time to form theories about who was who as she she remained by herself. Most of all she thought about being in that room and watching that woman Mai explain the game so nonchalantly, it made Ellie disgusted.

Mindlessly she folded and unfolded a scrap piece of paper, needing something to get her thoughts in one place. After being ambushed by a group of three girls, she had to change her location for a fifth time. No where was safe. She could hear the mumble of their voices as they continued to search for her,

“Who do you think she is?”

“A trainee?”

“As if. She’s not pretty enough.”

Ellie listened closely to the three different voices chatting away beneath her. When she had been spotted in a park, she ran for the closest and largest store. This happened to be a quick service restaurant. Behind menu boards commonly were large cupboards - which Ellie knew about after working as a barista for three years - so quickly she hopped up on to the counter and crammed her body into the space. As for her bag, it was stashed in a garbage can. She pressed her ear against the wooden door, the frustrated voices coming closer to her hiding spot,

“It’s been thirty minutes. is gone.”

“Yeah, I guess she made it to another exit”

They continued to discuss whether or not Ellie had anything valuable and who she was. The most popular theory was that she was long gone and some secret weapon from one of the Big Three. Neither were true of course; she was was still in the cupboard metres away from them and still just a university student. The banter was interrupted by the now familiar voice of Mai as it sounded clearly through invisible speakers,

“Time for the midnight report, end of day one. This is when you get to know about all your dead friends in the order they died: YG trainee Chell, Jiyeon of T-ara, Zelo of B.A.P, Eunkwang of BtoB, SM trainee Carter, Taeyeon of SNSD, XIA of JYJ, Hyorin of SISTAR, and Chunji of Teen Top. Keep up the good work kids. That is all. ”

Nine were dead. That means out of the 21 girls and 21 guys, 33 are still alive. There wasn’t room for feeling remorse over the deaths, the only connection being that she listened the their music a handful of times. No one knew her, and she didn’t know them. In reality they are just people. Perhaps being alone and invisible was to her advantage. As for eliminating people, she’d never even gotten into a fist or bar fight before, let alone killed a person. Also, though she had beaten every first person shooter game in existence on the highest difficulty setting, that did not equal weapon wielding skills in the real world.

“Are they gone?” thought Ellie, daring to creak open the door

Through the sliver she’d made, the restaurant was perfectly visible. She flicked her eyes to check for any movement no matter how small.  Ellie gradually pushed open the door fully, remarking in her head

“They better not ing pop up”

Cautiously she tiptoed around the area. It felt good to stretch her body out after being contorted into all the wrong positions. She had made it successfully over to the garbage can she had stashed her bag of provisions. A few sticky wrappers clung to the tough fabric, but she just brushed them off on to the ground. The contents clanged inside as she lifted it fully out, making her curse aloud. Whoever thought that molotov cocktails should be a weapon in this game, clearly hoped for that person’s failure. They are noisy, heavy, and inefficient. Also, nothing says “come and get me” like a flaming explosion. of oil, human, and broken glass. Suddenly she heard a rustling and an annoyingly high pitched voice,

“Found you Ana; or are you Ellie?”

A hard something prodded her in the back. Ellie looked behind her shoulder to see a sniper rifle being shoved at her by a no name girl. She looked about the same age as herself, perhaps a bit older though. There was not anything outstanding about her that Ellie noticed. Average brown hair, average pale face, and average healthy body -- it made her just that; average.

“I found her!” average girl hollered

“Oh for s sake” hissed Ellie

The sound of clicking crescendoed gradually, two sets of feet wearing high heels coming for her. Eagerly, average girl commanded,

“Drop the bag, and I won’t shoot”

As if Ellie was suppose to trust her word. In that bag was her only chance of survival, no matter how much she hated her weapon. She considered the psychological aspect of this situation. The rattle of the gun was most likely out of her inexperience and nervousness, and she most likely called the other two goonies in order to impress them. Why call in backup when you have a freaking sniper rifle and your opponent has nothing? Average girl definitely was trying to impress her idol “friends”. So then who was this average girl? There wasn’t time to think anymore as a bullet whizzed out from behind Ellie.

“Ahhh-” Ellie opened her eyes, stopping mid scream, “What?”

On the ground sprawled average girl, the sniper rifle lying down beside her. The kickback had knocked her in the face, making her go unconscious. The bullet had missed Ellie by a lot because of the kickback, the little metal ball embedded in the ceiling instead of her body. With wide eyes she stared at the still body.

“B-brooke?”

Easily Ellie recognized who’s voice that belonged to. The infamous face for Miss A’s Suzy glared at her from across the restaurant, leaning over the stair railing. If there was a time to accept her fate as a weak player, it was now. She could only run. There wasn’t time to make a molotov and throw it. Suddenly she felt her hair being yanked extremely hard, a voice screaming

“Not so fast!”

The second assailant successfully got Ellie on to the floor, making her trip over the body of the average girl named Brooke who still was out cold. Ellie scrambled across the floor towards her bag which had kicked out of reach. This escape plan was thwarted effortlessly as her feet were grabbed and her body dragged backwards.

“What’s in the bag” yelled the girl who dragged Ellie

She remained silent, refusing to answer. By now Suzy had made it down the stairs and joined her buddy.

“Watch her, Yenny. I’m getting it.” ordered Suzy marching towards the table which the duffel had slipped underneath.

If they took her bag, there was no reason to keep Ellie around. The only thing in her favour was the fact that average girl Brooke was passed out, and the others were very on edge. By no means were they calm or in their right minds. Stressed out people were the easiest to trick. Then again, Ellie was probably just as stressed out as them at the moment. She racked her brain for anything that could help her get away. Ok, the bag has the bottles, gasoline, rags, clothing, map, water, and food - practically everything. In her jeans’ pocket was ten cents and a crushed mint. Then she felt her back pocket -- she had a lighter. She had forgotten about putting it there when she’d checked out her supplies.

“Don’t move, ok?” muttered Yenny, threatening her with a steak knife she’d taken off the counter

Ellie remained seated on the floor, Yenny pressing the knife against her neck from behind. If she moved slowly enough, she could get the lighter out of her pocket and create a distraction. A distraction out of what though. The most she could do was set Yenny’s skirt on fire which wouldn’t catch quickly enough anyways. By now she had managed to slip the lighter secretly into her hand. She had to wait for an opportunity. Yenny’s long hair tickled her face as she helplessly watched Suzy root through her belongings.

“What the hell are these...” Suzy yanked out one of the half full bottles of gasoline, shaking them as she spoke, “Alcohol? As a weapon?”

In that split second Yenny relaxed the knife against Ellie’s neck to look at what Suzy held up, Ellie whipped out her lighter. A small flame sprung to life as she waved it at Yenny, the flame effortlessly igniting her hair. As the orange creature crept ate away at Yenny’s locks, Ellie began to scurry away. The crinkle of burned hair was almost as loud as Yenny’s screams. She raced towards Suzy who held Ellie’s bag, hoping to grab a bottle of water to douse herself with. It wasn’t water she splashed on to her flaming head though.

“Suzy! Put it out! Help me!”  shrieked Yenny, swatting at her head and running around furiously

The bottle shattered on to the ground when Yenny dropped it, layering the ground in gasoline and glass. Ellie navigated through the hazards, grabbing her duffel bag back. The sound of running water could be heard as Suzy soaked her friend with it, trying to stop the fire. She was about to bolt out the exit when she saw a distinguished paper on the ground. It wasn’t some napkin or receipt a customer had left around. It more like a forgotten school assignment with the amount of writing on it.The full page typed printouts laid where Yenny had once been standing.

“Oh my god” Ellie leafed through the small package of papers, skimming the typed words while mumbling, “This is her weapon”

No longer was Suzy occupied with Yenny when she saw Ellie holding those papers. She hurled herself over the service counter, knowing that they’d be done for if she stole them. Suzy failed to watch where she stepped as she slipped on the gasoline spill, tumbling on to the shattered glass sprinkled floor. Desperately she tried to snatch the papers from Ellie, ignoring the pain from her bleeding legs and arms.

“Those are Yenny’s” barked Suzy, staggering to her feet

Running on adrenaline Ellie flicked her lighter to life for a second time, touching it briefly to the slick ground. Instantly a lake of fire was created, forcing Suzy to rush backwards in order to not be consumed by it herself. Brooke was barely out of range from the fire. With no way of jumping across and the sniper rifle melting away in the flames, the fight was over.

“Holy . I almost died, and almost killed two people, maybe even three.” yammered the Ellie to herself, running in no particular direction

The kickback of the sniper rifle, Yenny having long loose hair, the bottle and papers being dropped; these coincidences saved her. The sun wasn’t going to be rising for a few more hours, so that made her feel slightly more secure about moving around unseen. With no streetlights the city was an endless dark void. As tightly as possible she gripped the papers in hand, still sprinting away from the scene of the fire. When the scent of smoke and gasoline began to dissipate, she allowed herself to walk instead. Ellie was frightened beyond belief. Breathing heavily she ducked into a shopping centre, needing somewhere to regroup.

Other players probably had alliances too, like Brooke, Yenny, and Suzy back there. They clearly weren’t partners, but they were working together. Ellie had nobody however. Everyone was a stranger to her and she wasn’t someone to be sought out either. Whoever was her partner, was her one and only potential partner. Well, she could always go it alone but that would be a suicide mission. Her strategy should be smart, deductive, and observative. She needed to find her partner. Now, the she had the miracle that she didn’t expect. She breathed unevenly, staring at the papers

“Ok; let’s win this”

She had stolen a complete list of players. It included information about some player’s weapons, strengths, weaknesses, potential allies, and numbers. Well, whoever created this game wouldn’t give away all that information on every single player, but it was nonetheless a strong weapon. Everyone was named though. That was important. Ellie took a pen from a nearby kiosk and began editing the list, crossing out the dead and adding what she knew about those she’d met.

“Sniper rifle, list (stolen by Ellie), unknown” she wrote besides Brooke, Yenny, and Suzy’s names

It was hard to think that all these idols, like Kris, HyunA, Naeun, and G-Dragon -- she had been listening to their music on the plane ride here, to this hell hole. Now she was in a blood bath with them, and either would kill or be killed by them. They say fame kills after all. Ellie would read the list in full in the morning. Right now she needed sleep more than anything, so she slumped her way to a department store and flopped on to a bed on a display.