author: jwhong005 / written: 20130307 / rating: pg-13 / pairing: jongkey with a side of hinted 2min / based on battle royale
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Time — 3:30AM KST, Busan, South Korea

Her feet were tired. Her school uniform was tattered; the thigh high socks covered in dirt mixed with a dry crimson-looking color, shoes worn down. Her hair was a mess. It had knots and the light layer of makeup was smudged so that the mascara ran down a little bit. Ten days had passed and she was tempted to just give away her position in the school. But the gym was big, the campus even bigger, so getting to her would just be agonizing.

What made such a thing happen? Such a game as the government called it, was not a game at all. She knew at home her mother and father were watching, crossing their fingers that their daughter, their oldest out of three, would make it out alive. However, they knew from experience that there could only be one. It was the nations new way of testing the theory of "survival of the fittest". Scars were but a sign that they were stronger than the last that walked before them. It was not supposed to be a burden but a way to strengthen their people, a way to make them proud.

South Korea's own seventy-fifth annual Battle Royale, hosted in different bustling cities each year, played by fifty selected first year high school students was designed to unify the people of the Republic of South Korea.

Hopeless tears ran down her cheeks, mixing the salt water with dirt, dust and blood as it cascaded down like a stream. This girl, Cho Seohyun was surprised that she had made it this far. She was surprised that she had enough energy to run, carrying a gun she never imagined possessing, with tears left to boot. So many of her friends had perished from either insanity or from being killed that any wishes of making through this ordeal was meager.

"Help me! Please, oh God, please help me!" she heard shouted from the boys' locker room. 

Before it was prohibited to go in there. She would know since this school in Busan had been her home. With over six hours of school to attend to and tutoring after the last session ended, school was more of a home than anything else. Now she would be able to call it her death bed possibly.

"Please! Jonghyun, you don't have to do this! We've been friends for so long. You just can't do this!" the voice continued to plead.

Seohyun could only imagine it. A boy on his knees, begging his best friend to spare his life just to live another day to be killed by another contestant. People at home were probably watching such a scene happen, wondering what would end up being the duo's fate. Being friends with one another meant nothing when life was on the line. Such a primal, animalistic trait would come out that people didn't even know they had.

"I'd rather have the collar take me!"

Yes, the collars. A metal contraption around their necks, fastened on by a lock that only one key could open, a key that was unaccessible to them. For such a brutal game that followed such a "laissez faire" policy, had few rules in the fine print. Trying to break out of the arena (in this case the school) to freedom is not allowed, with no exceptions. Killing oneself is not allowed either. For attempting to do such things would result in the collar detonating.

With one last bullet in her gun, she figured this would be the way to go. Save someone's life just to loose her own later. Out of all the contestants she was considered #32. The higher number granted, the less chances the government saw the contestant surviving. At least she wasn't at the bottom but being at the bottom would've meant she would have been out of her misery.

"I'm sorry," Seohyun whispered, barely heard as she flicked off the safety and pulled the trigger.

Her aim was off since she was not used to firing at someone. Even so, it hit the male right next to the heart, barely missing. It was enough to make the male fall down to his knees, clutching his chest in desperation. The weapon he had been holding fell to the ground, clanked against the wooden flooring.

A rifle her father would've called it if he had been there. He would know since he was a police man. But that didn't matter since it was not allowed for parents who once participated in the games to train or prepare their children.

"Run while you can." The boy on the ground wheezed his final words out, closing his eyes since it was becoming tiresome to keep them open. It felt good to give in but bad to loose. Both were so tempting to give into, to strive for, even.

"J-Jonghyun, you can't die on me. We promised to find Taeminnie and bring him back home safely to Minho. We promised that things would be good again. Somehow Taemin-ah would find a way to get us out too since he had always been the smartest." The second male cried out, crawling across the floor to get to his fallen comrade, the fact that he had nearly been shot by that same person he was nearly sobbing over.

Cracking a grin, the skin of his lips splitting, he coughed up a spot of blood. "Who knows? Maybe I will make it. The world is cruel like that, you know? Make sure that Tae wins this, okay, Kibum-ah? We promised Minho."

Overhead an alarm went off, signaling that someone else had died. The TV in the corner of the room usually used for seeing the scoreboard in the locker room flickered on. It was the same woman that every student learned to eventually hate. She was the original reason the Battle Royale began. It was because of her that the legacy was continued after her death.

"Contestant #17, Choi Siwon is now obsolete as well as Contestant #41 and #42, Jo Youngmin and Kwangmin. Twenty contestants still remain! This is the fastest games ever hosted in Busan, continue as you have been. Fighting!" the shrill announcer grinned, beaming from ear to ear, unusually happy for such a lame sight. Good thing it was just an act since he had won the game nine years ago.

When the screen went black, the light in the room dimmed considerably. With no source of light and nearly no working electricity in the school, the only light was outside and it wasn't safe there. Night vision became imperative for surviving. Not only that but the darkness made things seem worse with Jonghyun's small groan of pain.

"I'm sorry," Seohyun apologized again, hand going up to tug on her collar, wanting to rip it off.

Kibum looked up, eyes solemn but understanding. He had almost killed someone too. They were classmates in to the average eye but strangers in reality. They had never spoken a word to each other so trying to hack his arm off with an ax was almost too easy if it hadn't have been for late Contestant #12, Hwang Chansung who interfered. 

"Don't worry about it. Taemin's still alive. That's what matters." Kibum shook his head, a small bit of hair falling into his eyes, crusted solid by blood whose owner would be unknown.

"But you should be fighting for your lives not someone else's!" Seohyun answered, feeling a sudden burst of motivation that would most likely prove to be futile later on.

"I love Jonghyun and the both of us were put in the game. He was named #22 and I'm #39. There's no use in trying to get us both out so we'll help a friend instead. He can get out and go back to Minho. Minho will take care of him. He was #13 two years ago." Kibum explained, hand absentmindedly Jonghyun's hair, the other's head now in his lap as his chest continued to bleed.

"A final announcement for today," the TV flickered on again three and a half hours later. "Contestant #22, Kim Jonghyun is now obsolete. Contestant #39, Kim Kibum has been left incapacitated. Contestant #11, Jung Yonghwa broke the Code and has been escorted off the campus deceased. It has been the end for quite a few people today but there is still hope to prevail as number one! Fighting!"