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You wake up to the sound of your alarm ringing in your earphones, and quickly turn the alarm off. It is precisely 5:45. You quietly sit up, and look at your roommates. They are just waking up, too. You are relieved that everyone has woken up on time. You look at each other, silently exchanging meaningful looks. Then you simultaneously creep out of your blankets, climb down from your beds, and get to work.
As you begin your mission, you think about the steps you had to go through for today…
***
You struggle to open your eyes, and look at the clock. It is 8:15.
Your eyes fly open.
You jump out of bed, shake your roommates awake, fly into the bathroom, wash your face and brush your teeth and brush your hair in exactly 30 seconds, grab a shirt and pants and put them on without seeing whose they are, throw your books in your bag, sling the bag over your shoulders, stuff your feet into someone’s shoes, and race out the door with your roommates close behind you.
The elevator is just closing, about to go down. You throw yourself between the double doors, and manage to open the elevator again. You and your roommates sigh in relief, and look at each other.
One of your roommates, JY, is wearing your red Nike sneaker on one foot and her white indoor slipper on the other. Her hair has a comb stuck in it, and she is wearing a pink blouse with the buttons buttoned on wrong with green shorts.
Your other roommate, SJ, looks even worse. She is wearing her black hoodie inside out, and underneath are your orange ski pants. Her bare feet peek out from below.
You look around the elevator. Everyone else looks similar to you.
You all look at each other’s haggard faces, and sigh again, this time in despair. You have been living at GLPS for only a week, and you are already close to losing your minds. The hectic schedule of homework, classes, studying, homework, and more homework is too much for you. Most of you don't get even 3 hours of sleep every night, because of all the research papers and presentations and speeches and essays to do. The elevator door opens. You trudge out into the white snow, starting another tiring day.
You race through your classes without really learning anything, and sigh in relief when eighth period is over. You think that at least there is dinner to look forward to. You climb the seemingly endless hill, forcing your numb legs to keep on walking. The dormitory is the main prison, but they give decent food.
Time flies by as you get into the overflowing elevator, get off the elevator, walk into your room, throw off your bag, silently climb the stairs to the cafeteria, and eat dinner with your roommates.
When you arrive at your room after dinner, you and your roommates look at each other. Somehow, you know that all three of you are thinking the same thing. At the same time, you say: “Let’s escape.”
This is when your frantic planning begins. You spend all of compulsory study time, snack time, and most of the night carefully planning every step of your escape. It is only well after midnight that you are done and satisfied with your final plan. You decide to start your mission tomorrow.
The first step will be to subdue the PAs, also known as Prison Assistants. They are slightly less powerful than the TAs(Trainer Assistants), but they sleep in the room next to you, so they are a main danger factor, too.
You know that all the PAs like coffee. So you decide to put a steaming hot mug of coffee with ground sleeping pills hidden inside right in front of their rooms. There are 11 PA rooms, so you need 11 mugs of coffee. This is easily arranged, because JY is friends with the cafeteria workers and can borrow even 100 cups if she wants. You get the cups ready to place in front of their doors right before they go to bed.
Also, you know that you need to stay hidden the whole time. There are CCTVs installed in elevators and the stairs, so using the elevators and stairs in your normal clothes is out. 4 TAs who seem to never sleep guard the four sides of the dormitory/prison, so climbing out of the window is out. The only way is to walk right out of the main entrance. You aren’t tall enough to be teachers or TAs, so you have to steal the navy-blue hoodies that PAs always wear. SJ, who has a talent for charming people, engages the three PAs on our floor in a long and interesting conversation about the handsome PA that had left the camp two days before, right after they change out of their hoodies into their pajamas. While they are talking, you creep into their room, steal their hoodies, replace them with similar-looking shirts, and sneak back out.
After that, you place the mugs of coffee in front of all their doors. Soon enough, you can hear snoring sounds from all the rooms. You check all the rooms, just in case, and sure enough, they are all asleep.
You pretend that everything is normal, and go back to your everyday schedule of homework, studying, work, and more homework. You go to bed and set your alarms at 5:45, for once going to sleep with a peaceful mind and hope for tomorrow.
***
Your roommate taps you on the shoulder, waking you up from your silent recollection. You start to get to work.
First, you change into the PA hoodies and unremarkable jeans. Then you brush and tie your hair, wash your faces, put on lotion, and become clean enough to look like a PA.
You slip a can of fainting spray that can make a full-grown man lose consciousness for 5 minutes into your pockets, just in case. You don’t want to use them, but you have to be ready for cases of emergencies.
You organize and stuff everything you have into cardboard boxes, write your address on them, and place them inconspicuously on the pile of packages being sent to the outer world.
You are ready.
You get into the elevator, and slowly go down, your hearts pounding.
The elevator door slides open at the first floor.
You step out of the elevator. The automatic double door opens, welcoming you outside.
The TA that guards the main door is right beside the door. You try to walk as casually as you can, but your lips are getting dry, and your heart seems ready to fly out of your chest if anything happens.
Then the TA stops you, stepping into your way.
Your heart starts to pound even faster.
He opens his mouth, and takes a breath.
Then he says, “Could you borrow me 500won to buy a drink? I’m really thirsty.”
You sigh quietly in relief, slip a coin out of your pocket, and hand it to the TA. He nods thanks, and steps out of your way.
You walk on in the dark, walking down the hill to the road outside the school. You want to talk and laugh with your roommates to ease the tension, but you know that it isn’t the right time yet.
You grip each other’s hands tighter as you reach the exit. You walk past the statues beside the main exit...
And you are out.
You and your roommates jump up and down, shrieking and clapping and crying and feeling happy enough to fly at the same time. You keep yelling, "We did it! We're free! We did it!"
You walk beside the road to the faraway city, where you can see lights and cars and buildings and humans and no homework and no detention and no PAs or TAs to stop you.
You are free. Mission accomplished.
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