“Is Zhi your surname?”
Jiang Shang asked, breaking the atmosphere.
“……”
Zhi Ying’s expression instantly froze. After a pause, she said, “I don’t have a surname.”
“Then you can take mine. Jiang Zhi Ying, it sounds quite nice.”
Jiang Shang seemed to enter some kind of role model state, shamelessly pushing his boundaries.
Zhi Ying: Are you being polite?
Zhi Ying rolled her eyes and walked away without looking back.
Shaking his head, Jiang Shang felt a bit strange just now, as if he had inexplicably said something outrageous.
No longer thinking so much, Jiang Shang walked into the bank.
Finding the bank card password in his memory, Jiang Shang withdrew some money and began to look for an internet cafe nearby.
“Ten thousand South Korean won.”
Jiang Shang handed ten thousand South Korean won to the counter attendant.
“There, machine number four,” the attendant pointed in the direction of machine number four.
What good luck, it’s four again.
Jiang Shang pulled out the chair, sat down, and turned on the computer.
“……”
“A deluxe king room.”
Jiang Shang handed his bank card to the hotel counter lady.
“Sir, our deluxe king room costs two hundred thousand South Korean won per day,” the counter lady reminded him with a smile.
“I know.”
Jiang Shang’s movements did not change.
“Alright, please wait a moment.”
The counter lady took the bank card and said politely.
Jiang Shang did not really stay in the internet cafe all night as he had said. Instead, he left after finding the information he wanted. The main reason was that the environment inside was too noisy, with the smell of smoke, foot odor, and barbecue, various strange smells mixed together, delivering tons of critical hits to Jiang Shang.
“Sir, your room is room number 3423.”
The counter lady handed Jiang Shang a room card.
“Thank you.”
Jiang Shang took the room card, said thanks, and then walked towards the elevator area.
“Uh ah, huff~”
Jiang Shang lay in the bathtub filled with hot water, letting out a comfortable groan.
“So Squid Game is a game played by South Korean children.”
Once his body relaxed, Jiang Shang began to recall the information he saw at the internet cafe.
Squid Game was popular among South Korean children mainly in the 1970s and 1980s. Because the pattern of the game field resembled a squid, it was called Squid Game.
The game is usually played by 8 to 10 people, with players divided into offensive and defensive teams. The home bases of the offensive and defensive teams are called “houses.” The circle is the “house” of the offensive team, and the rectangle is the “house” of the defensive team.
After the game begins, the defenders inside the lines can move with both feet, while the attackers outside the lines must move by hopping on one foot. However, once an attacker crosses the connection between the triangle and the rectangle, which is the “waist” of the “squid,” that attacking player gains the right to move freely with both feet. Therefore, this area is also called the offensive upgrade zone.
Subsequently, the attacking team members gather at the entrance of the game area, which is the circle in the center of the back edge of the rectangle, while the defending team members gather in the triangular area.
When the final battle begins, the attacking team must step on the squid’s head, which is the intersection of the circle and the triangle, to win. The defending team, to win, needs to push all attacking team members out of the game area.
Physical contact, including but not limited to pushing, pulling, and dragging, is allowed in the game.
In short, the aggressive nature of Squid Game is rare among childhood games.
“So, based on Pocket’s act of defining this world as the ‘Squid Game’ world, it’s highly likely that one of these six games is Squid Game, and it’s very probable that it’s the final game.”
“Then, according to the number of people required for Squid Game, it’s very likely that only 8 to 10 people will survive to the last game.”
Jiang Shang scratched his head, finding it still dry, and then submerged his entire body in the water.
“Popopop! Popopop! Popopop! (By the way, these six games wouldn’t all be childhood games, would they?)” Wetting his hair, Jiang Shang poked his head out of the water, applied shampoo, and began to rub.
“It must be, right? By the way, what games do South Korean children play? Tops? Jump rope? I’ll go online and look it up later.”
The deluxe king room came with a computer; Jiang Shang had noticed it as soon as he entered the room.
“Damn, I stayed in too long, my head feels a bit dizzy.”
Jiang Shang dried himself, changed into a bathrobe, and holding his head, wobbled to the computer desk.
“Huff~”
Slumped in the gaming chair in front of the computer desk, Jiang Shang was not in a hurry to turn on the computer. Instead, he poured himself a cup of black coffee from the coffee machine nearby.
He took a sip, and it was extremely bitter. Jiang Shang immediately made a pained face; he particularly disliked bitter tastes.
Just as he was thinking about pouring it out, Jiang Shang saw that there were also milk cartons and sugar packets next to the coffee machine. With the thought that wasting was shameful, Jiang Shang added a packet of sugar and a milk carton.
Still bitter, add another one.
Still bitter, add another one.
Still a bit bitter, add another one.
It’s not bitter anymore, but it’s not sweet either, so add one more.
It’s sweet now, but it feels strange not to use the last one, so use that one too.
After much effort, Jiang Shang finally drank the coffee. Well, it probably couldn’t even be called coffee anymore. Others add milk to coffee, but Jiang Shang was adding coffee to milk.
In any case, after much fuss, Jiang Shang finally turned on the computer.
“Uh, let me see, Ddakji, Gonggi, Marbles…”
Jiang Shang fell silent, looking at the dense array of various games and their rules.
“Forget it, I’m not looking anymore. Anyway, since Pocket created such a game, there must be a way to clear it.”
Jiang Shang’s head was overwhelmed by the various complex game rules, so he simply stopped looking at them.
“By the way, this world seems to be not much different from the real world, so development should also be similar to the real world, right? Let’s see what new things there are now.”
Jiang Shang suddenly remembered the feeling of being out of touch with society when he first came out and decided to adapt to contemporary life here first.
Searching for keywords such as “changes in China in the past decade,” Jiang Shang was surprised to find that his country had indeed changed a lot. It had become stronger, and life had become more convenient. Mobile payments, shared bicycles, and various new terms made him stunned.
“Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong ding-dong!” The slightly urgent doorbell rang from outside the door. Jiang Shang snapped out of his trance, walked to the door, looked through the peephole, and saw no one. He looked down and saw a business card lying on the ground.
He opened the door, looked around, and the corridor was empty, with no one in sight.
He closed the door, picked up the business card. The back had a circle, a triangle, and a square. He flipped it to the front, which had two lines of text.
Time: June 23rd, midnight
Location: Same as last time
“Tomorrow? That fast?” Jiang Shang was a bit surprised. “It’s good that it’s fast. The sooner it ends, the less likely things are to go wrong.”
Returning to the computer desk, Jiang Shang shut down the computer, rolled onto the bed, closed his eyes, and immediately fell asleep.