JESSICA
She had a final day with James before she's sent off to the central province again.
"The producers asked you a question. You have to answer them now. Here's your coffee." He said as he passed to her a cup of coffee.
"It's about the game, they want to decide your 'role', whatever that means."
Jessica took a seat across the table from him. "Let me see."
He passed her his phone.
Jessica stared at it.
"It seems like they changed the format of the game. Maybe it's fun this time."
"I'm glad you think so positively for a person who might die on this fun show."
Jessica rolled her eyes.
"I'm a celebrity. I should pick celebrity."
"Maybe it's a trick. Like they're Hansel-and-Gretel-ing you into this role."
Jessica tapped the celebrity option and James grunted, "What's the point of having me to manage you if you don't listen."
A pop-up window appeared on the screen.
'As expected of Jessica Jung-' the window read,
'-a fine choice for someone with plenty of connections. Your partner is someone whom you have met before, Rain.'
Jessica groaned and flopped on to the couch, letting her legs and arms dangle out to express how tired she was of this game already.
"Rain is so boring. He's ancient, he's a dad and when's the last time anyone saw him? He's like an iPhone 4."
James laughed and suddenly, a notification sounded from his phone. They both looked at it, curious albeit a little scared.
"It's from the producers again." He unlocked his phone and read it.
"It's explaining the role of the celebrity in the game."
"Give me that."
'The celebrity is able to communicate with producers through a video and audio recorder, as well as receive "goodies" from outsiders, authorised by the producers.'
"James. Retweet the old video of me helping the homeless man again.
Call an orphanage, I'm going to adopt a child.
I need all the public's love before the game starts."
___
HEECHUL
"Why are you even wearing nicotine patches if you're still smoking?" his manager screamed as Heechul walked off the set. They had just wrapped up the final episode of Knowing Siblings and Heechul had already lit a cigarette before the camera lights even went off.
He laughed off the comment and quickly ran to the balcony. He needed to calm his nerves and hide from people before his tears got the best of him. He was so mad at Hodong.
Heechul had a feeling that Hodong had made the choice to summon him, to basically call for him to be assassinated on live television.
One cigarette quickly turned into a box and the sun had now turned into a purple that matched the bruises on his neck left by the some random girl last night.
His phone vibrated and Heechul sighed. He had specifically told his manager to tell everyone to leave him alone tonight and he can't even listen to that one simple instruction?
He looked at it and groaned.
Pick a role?
"Is there a role for Daddy?"
"Aw, what."
"Who took celebrity? Who is more of a celebrity than I am?"
If anyone were to pass him then, they would definitely think he was a madman.
Heechul's hand hovered above the Hunter ability but he quickly tapped Timekeeper, he can't imagine himself killing an animal. Sure, he ate meat, he enjoyed a good baked fish and an occasional chicken-and-beer, but he sure isn't killing the animal himself.
The timekeeper ability seemed clean and non-committal, and Heechul was all about being non-committal.
A window popped up on the screen and a short sentence appeared.
'Your partner is Amber Liu.'
"At least she sounds like a hot supermodel or something."
___
YIXING
"I don't know how they found you, but they did." Aunt Zhuyin's voice was gentle, calming amidst all that was happening.
"I guess you could complain, but you have to remember, Yixing, the game is not about dying. It's not those fictional stories where they try to kill all its players off except the victor.
There's chance for a team survival, even if there are only two winners."
Yixing let his aunt's words sink in.
She had been in a survival gameshow before, but that was in China. This is Korean. He was caught in a foreign land with no family to seek help from in person, called forth to this crazy game. Some people died playing this, for crying out loud. He felt like tearing his eyes out as he thought about it.
"Yixing dear, you are capable. It's in you to make it through this. All you have to do is find yourself a safe path and a trustworthy allegiance."
"Thanks, a yí."
He hung up shortly after, and suddenly a notification came in. It was from Survivor 8. At this rate, you should get a gist of what they would send to him. He had thought to call his Aunt Zhuyin once more but decided there was enough wisdom in her words to guide him even through this unexpected curveball.
"The game is not about dying." He recounted her saying. Not hunter, definitely.
"Find myself a safe path and a trustworthy allegiance," he repeated, his eyes wandering on the screen of his phone. Then it stopped at the top left option.
"The eye. 眼."
Are they going to provide Chinese translations for me in the game too? He thought to himself.
But before his finger landed on it, a window suddenly popped up. It read, I'm sorry, you took to long to respond. The choice is passed on to your partner.
Yixing looked at the screen of his phone, horrified. If only his aunt warned him about being slow in making choices.
___
TZUYU
The Chinese-born acrobat was just wrapping up training that day when her phone vibrated, falling off the bench.
She gasped loudly and lost composure, the split second of carelessness causing her body to drop from the trapeze. Thank god for padded landings.
She checked her phone after recovering from the fall. "Oh my God, this madness again."
The message was the same as Lay's, as well as Heechul's and Jessica's.
Except, of course, 2 options were unavailable.
Honestly, timekeeper sounds boring anyway. Considering I learnt the layout of my new Korean neighbourhood in just three days, I think navigator is the one for me, she thought, self-satisfied.
And with a tap of a finger, she found out her partner was the mechanic that works at the vehicle service center at the edge of town.
A/N : If the number of characters is too much to handle, just hit me up. I feel like I tend to put too many characters anyway.
I'll try and list them all out every now and then as a refresher.