Part 1

It had been love at first sight for the two of them. Him still in the military and stationed in Korea, her a freshman hoping to one day get her degree in law, two people from two different worlds spying each other across a crowded cafe. It had been like something out of a fairy tale ... that was until they actually tried to talk to each other! Doug barely spoke a word of Korean and she had decided early on to learn Chinese instead of English. Somehow they had made it work though, dumb awkward gestures intermingled with giggles and grunts. She must have told him her name about a dozen times before he understood. Kyon Soo-Ah. He just called her Soo.

Eventually after a great deal of effort she learned enough English for them to actually talk, and thus began their romance. She was so happy back then. So alive and curious about the world, she devoured her studies unlike any of her peers. Soon they were married and he quit the military, getting a degree in marketing while Soo got her degree in law and tried to use it. He was proud of her, proud of his new wife. Her degree showed real drive and integrity. He really valued that in a woman, but the reality was that he couldn’t speak Korean and was unable to get his foot in the Korean advertising industry ... it was better for them to move back to his home in America. In America a degree in Korean law was not terribly useful, and money was too tight for Soo to go back to school, so they settled into their new routine. Him with a lower level job in advertising, and her as his devoted housewife.

That was how they lived their perfect life, all up until that fateful day that everything changed.

“Mr. Cowan would like to see you, Doug.”

Doug blinked, glancing up at the lithe form of James, Mr. Cowan’s secretary, a no nonsense kind of guy, bespectacled by a pair of wide rimmed rectangular glasses, short neatly combed brown hair atop his head. Doug chuckled internally, remembering all the skinny kids like James that he’d pushed around back in basic training. James wouldn’t have lasted a day there.

“What does he want to see me about?” Doug asked. It was an odd time to be called in by the boss, it’s the middle of the day and he was already neck deep in work.

James looked back down at his files stiffly, in a way that made Doug feel like he was blaming him for not already knowing. “You can ask him yourself. I’m sure it’s nothing serious.”

Doug shot an annoyed look at the other man but knew that even if James noticed it, he likely wouldn’t care. Letting out a sigh and filing away his work, Doug headed to his boss’s dark brown wooden door at the far end of the office. He knocked once before heading in.

Mr. Cowan was a large man, just fat enough to make him uncomfortable to look at, but with a good amount of muscle buried far below it. Stubble covered his chin (or rather chins), and an expensive toupee sat atop his head. At the moment he was lying back in his chair, and watching a game of womens’ tennis on his computer.

He glanced over at the door upon Doug’s entry and smiled, letting out a husky smoker’s chuckle. “Douglas! Siddown, come on...”

Doug let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. It seems he caught his boss on a good day. “You wanted to see me, sir...?”

“No! I wanted the other Douglas-heh! Ahk!” He coughed. “Yes of course I wanted to see you, my favorite marketing man!”

Doug hated this routine, Mr. Cowan’s ‘big brother’ bit, pretending like you were his best friend in the world as if he didn’t spend every other day screaming at the whole office. Still he was the boss, and Doug wasn’t about to usurp his authority over a little shouting.

“Yes sir, that’s good to hear, sir!” He responded enthusiastically. “How can I help you?”

Mr. Cowan drummed his fingers on the desk, not bothering to pause the tennis game, the sounds of the two girls crying out with each stroke filled the room. “Tell me about yourself, Douglass. Where do you see yourself in five years?”

Doug blinked. Was this a job interview? Why was Mr. Cowan asking him this now? “Well u-uh I suppose working for you, Mr. Cowan! I’m very loyal to this company sir, I’ve put in a lot of hours a-and time-”

“Yes, that’s very good Douglass, well done. You are for the most part, a very important member of this company.”

Douglass leaned forward feeling suddenly uncomfortable. “For the most part, sir?”

Mr. Cowan chortled. “Eh-heh! Well even you have to admit, that last advertising campaign you pitched- well it was a bit of a miss, son.”

It was? This was the first he was hearing of it, sure it didn’t do as well as the previous ones but ... is that how management saw it? “Ahah ha, yes of course sir, a complete miss!-”

“A shame is what it was! We put a lot of faith in you, boy- and because you HAVE certainly come through in the past I’m more than willing to overlook this little bump on an otherwise smooth road to success!”

Doug felt grateful to Mr. Cowan. He might be hell to work under but there was no doubt that he was fair. “Absolutely sir, I’ll work twice as hard from now on.”

Mr. Cowan waved his hand. “Sure sure ... how’s the home life? You got a wife? I saw you got some nice pictures up on your instagram...”

Mr. Cowan had been going through his instagram posts? He wasn’t sure how to feel about that, wasn’t that a little strange? “Oh, yeah! That’s my wife Soo, I just adore her.” Doug fumbled with his phone until he brought up a photo of his wife. “Oh this is one of my favorites, the first time she ever saw California, she was so excited, we spent practically that whole vacation on the beach...”

“Hmm, sounds like a grand old time ... Ah heh! Pretty little bird, isn’t she?” His boss leaned forward, taking the phone and spending a little longer than necessary looking over the photo. “What is she, Chinese? Japanese?”

“Uh-ah hah, she’s Korean...”

“I’m surprised you married her! Asian girls are always desperate to have a few White babies pumped in ‘em but you don’t have to bring ‘em home to do that!” Mr. Cowan let out a heavy chuckle.

Doug laughed awkwardly, shifting uncomfortably. Mr. Cowan’s words were inappropriate, and if Soo were here he’d have said something ... but since she isn’t Doug decided to let it go, guy talk is never serious anyway. “W-well yeah haha- she’s mentioned she doesn’t really want kids, and if we were to have them we figured it’d be better to wait until we’re more financially stable.”

Mr. Cowan shook his head, his eyes still wandering over Soo’s body. “They all want kids, Douglass. Whether they admit it or not, it’s what they’re made for. They can go to whatever universities, get whatever phony degrees, pretend that a piece of paper makes them smart but we all know as soon as you put a baby in it the dumb bitch is gonna realize that’s all she really wanted.” He chuckled. “Give ‘em a job and it’ll shut ‘em up for a little, but never put them in charge of anything! It’s not good for them...”

Is that really how Mr. Cowan saw things? How he views ALL the women in the office?

“Soo, she went to university, a real good one in Seoul- and she worked hard for her degree, I saw it! I think a woman with a degree shows real drive and integrity!” It felt good saying that. Doug sat up a little bit taller in his chair.

“Yes yes that’s very nice.” Mr. Cowan set the phone down on his desk, Soo’s beautiful face smiling up at them. “Douglass, let me cut to the chase here. I like you, you got real potential, a bright future, a sweet little wife, I want to see you go far. So I’m sticking my neck out for you now, despite your little missteps in your last project.”

Doug felt knocked off balance by the sudden shift in the conversation, were they talking about serious stuff now? “Sir, what do you mean stuck your neck out? What’s going on?”

His boss smiled at him. “Tonight there’s going to be a little company meeting, a fun little night out with all the board members and all the higher ups in the company. I recommended you as one of my employees of interest!”

“You mean ... you want me to come along?”

Mr. Cowan slapped his knee. “That’s what I told everyone upstairs! They’re all chomping at the bit to meet you and your wife!”

Doug glanced down again at the picture of his wife on the table. “I ... we did have a date night planned for tonight this is a little short notice-”

The fat grubby face across from him shifted in an instant, losing any joviality. “You told me this is what you wanted, no? Douglass, I’m giving you a real opportunity here, at no small amount of risk to my own credibility. I thought you could handle this...”

Doug shifted forward in his seat. “N-no! I’m absolutely on board, I wouldn’t want to make you look bad, sir.”

Mr. Cowan’s ‘big brother’ routine returned once more. “Atta boy! I’ll see you there tonight! And don’t forget the missus, they’re all excited to meet her...”

Why was Soo so important? Wasn’t he the one who was being considered for ... a promotion? A raise? What was this for again? “Yes, absolutely sir, you can count on me to bring her. I can’t wait!”

That night didn’t stick well in his mind. He remembered the beginning, it started out with him and Soo meeting a number of people, introductions and comments on how pretty his wife was, then things became blurry. Drinks were served, but only one or maybe two ... chatting, laughing, talking became difficult, he remembered seeing his wife on the other side of the bar being held up by the other men, her head lolling against one of their chests as she tried to make her way back towards her husband. They were joking around, grabbing her, turning her around and pushing her just to watch her stumble in her heels, and when she finally fell it was into their arms. It was the last thing he remembered before blacking out.

When he finally woke he wasn’t in a bar, or his work or his home. It was a plain white, square room with a single solid metal door and a flickering fluorescent light hanging from the ceiling. The walls were decorated with what appeared to be children’s arts and crafts. Paper plates and sticky notes were crafted into little clowns, popsicle sticks with glitter and googly eyes made funny looking stick figure men, scribbled drawings on papers plastered all over the room depicted magicians and acrobats and performers of all kinds up on stages. At the bottom of each artwork there were names scribbled in cursive, clearly not in the handwriting of a child.

It took a few minutes of staring up at the arts and crafts display for Doug to finally fully come to. He blinked and looked around, noticing a small form laying beside him.

Doug shot up, the whole situation hitting him all at once. “Soo! Soo, wake up!” He nudged the sleeping woman next to him, shaking her gently but firmly, the dizziness of the drugs slowly leaving his system.

“Wh-what?- Doug? ... What are you doing?” Soo was struggling to sit up. “What’s going on?”

“Soo, we’ve been kidnapped...” Doug tried to keep the panic he felt from reaching his voice and only partially succeeded. “Some cartel maybe? Or like a-a foreign government?”

Soo finally began to properly come to and began to clutch at his arm. “Doug-! Doug, where are we?!”

He stroked her hair and tried to calm her, all while looking around at the room. “Shh-sh it’s ok sweetie, we’re going to get out, I promise, we’re going to find a way out of this ... place.” They were still in the same clothes they wore to the bar, him in his white button up and her in a cute blouse and shorts ... however his wallet keys and phone were all missing. His eyes caught a glimpse of a camera in the far right hand corner of the room, hidden in the darkness. It moved slightly.

Doug jumped up. “Hey! HEY! Hey you freaks! Let us go!”

Soo stood up as well. “Doug, I-I don’t think we should antagonize these people-”

The door to their room opened, revealing a long hallway. Cheers could be heard at the other end, as though a massive crowd were gathered. Standing in the doorway was a man, well dressed in a very expensive looking suit. His hair was slicked back, a white, friendly smile crossed his face.

“Woah woah, hey there! It’s alright, there’s no need to panic! You’re alright, you’re on a game show!”

Doug looked at him quizzically. He did not believe this story for an instant, stepping intentionally between the man and Soo. “What the hell are you talking about, what kind of game show kidnaps their contestants?”

The man clasped his hands together. “A very unique kind, one catered to adults. My name is Sinclair, I’m the host of the show.” His face exhibited clear signs of extensive plastic surgery. The man had, on paper at least, a perfect face. “Now let me say now that how we handled your initiation was very abnormal. Mistakes were made, paperwork mixed around, and for that we’re very sorry.”

“Very sorry?! We thought we’d been kidnapped by North Korea or something!” Doug’s anger flared.

A chorus of laughter could be heard coming from the end of the hallway, adding to Doug’s mounting confusion.

“Ah, I should mention that this conversation is being streamed live for our audience waiting just outside for the two of you. Full disclosure, complete transparency.” Sinclair gestured up towards the camera in the corner. “Now, again I apologize for the rude awakening and terrible mixup. Normally paperwork is signed beforehand, but I’ll offer you the choice now.”

Sinclair took out a clipboard, slowly and methodically adjusting the papers and pulling out a fancy velvet tipped pen. Soo was still eyeing the camera above her uncomfortably while Doug fumed.

“You have two choices in front of you.” Sinclair offered the clipboard to Doug, winking as he did so. “You may leave now, and I would completely understand if you wanted to do so, after the tragic blunder made at your expense you are absolutely entitled to be upset. That’s the first form on top. It would of course ruin the episode, but that’s on us.”

Doug felt a little awkward at the prospect of all the people out there having to be turned away just because of him, but his anger at being kidnapped was still too strong. “Thank you, we’ll be taking that option!”

Sinclair handed him the clipboard. “Quick rundown, it’s a simple form, it just says you’re leaving in good health of your own volition, nondisclosure agreement, forgoing all prize money or consolation prizes, all that kinds of stuff.” The man breathed out, but seemed resigned to Doug’s decision and much more saddened than upset. “This will require a lot of explanation to my superiors ha ha ... wish me luck!”

Doug glanced over the form as Sinclair began to leave. “Uhm- wait hold on, uh ... just out of curiosity, how much is the prize money?...”

Sinclair glanced back at him. “Well, should you opt in and sign the second form, the one underneath, you’ll have a chance to win a sum total of 40 million dollars...”

Doug gaped at him. “40 MILLION? ... That’s really the final prize?!”

The host laughed and gently attempted to calm him down. “Y-yes that is the WINNING prize, but very few contestants have ever won that much. Consolation prizes range from $5,000 to just under $50,000, depending on the favor of the crowd.”

Soo tugged at Doug’s shirt from behind. “Honey ... we should ... I think we should just go, I don’t like this.”

Doug was still reeling. “Sweetie that’s 40 million dollars! Even just a 100,000 would change our whole lives, you could go back to school maybe, or we could get a new place! Maybe something with a pool! Even just the consolation prize is an easy five grand!”

Soo continued to fidget, glancing up at the camera. “I just don’t think-”

“The choice is yours of course.” Sinclair cut in. “Keep in mind however that whatever your choice, you both have to choose it together. Again, full disclosure, complete transparency, this is an adult contest and it is NOT easy!”

“We can win!” Doug chattered excitedly, although when he failed to sooth Soo’s worried expression he turned back to Sinclair. “We can win!”

“So what do you say? Are you willing to take up this challenge? Or are you going to quit and go home?”

The murmuring of the crowd outside began to change. Slowly a chant rises above the idle chatter, growing in strength, louder and louder!

‘TAKE IT UP! TAKE IT UP! TAKE IT UP!’

Doug laughed, looking up towards the camera. “You want me to take up the challenge?!”

Screams and cheers echoed from outside!

“Is that what you really want?!”

The roar of the crowd grew louder!

Doug turned to Sinclair. “We accept your challenge, Sinclair!” He signed his name with a bit of flare and passed the clipboard to Soo.

“Doug I don’t-...” Soo was breathing heavily, her nerves starting to get the better of her, but with Doug and Sinclair looking at her and the roaring chants from outside echoing through the hall, she looked down and silently signed her name as well.

Accepting the clipboard back, Sinclair flourished towards the camera igniting the cacophony of the crowd. “Gentlemen and scoundrels, we have a game tonight!”

Doug’s excitement grew as the three of them made their way through the tunnel, emerging out into the light and onto a magnificent stage, applause resounding through the room as they came into view of the crowd for the first time. He couldn’t resist giving them a wave, his heart beating fast at being in front of so many people, his mind blank as his nerves took him over. The room looked like a theater, balcony seats and all, patterns of gold and black held a stark contrast to the red silks of the stage curtains and the bright spotlights shining on them. The crowd was just a dark silhouette, although squinting out at them Doug could see they were all wearing masks of various sorts.