CHAPTER#1:- MANNEQUIN.

Scam. What is a Scam?. Well in simple words scam refers to an act of fooling or tricking someone, common knowledge isn't? Despite this factor alot of people get tricked and fall into the traps of these scams.

I often wonder how do people get scammed even today? Is it the lack of education? Awareness? Or..... Greed?

Well that's why we the "Mannequin" exist, our work is to protect people from scams and frauds, pretty straight forward right?

Well in reality Mannequin is not just some agency which protects people from scams, but it also organizes some pecuilar "Games" between various people with the reward being "Marionette" which appreantly is a currency only to be used within this organization and only by people involved in a game, of course not everyone in the public knows about it but to be honest even though I work here, I don't know much my self since my work is only to register the maniacs who for some reason want to play the game of death.

Kind of ironic how a facility which is meant to protect people from scams actually scams people into thinking that their work is so narrow and simple.

"Hey Ortwin! There's a new guest, I guess he wants a registeration"

"I am on it!"

A guest? At a Sunday morning? that's pretty unusual.

Upon Opening the main door, of the Top floor, yeah we conuduct our little game service at the top floor, I saw a young boy leaning back on the chair with a smirk on his face, his hair in the front was pretty long and dense it was covering his eyes, but I thought it would be rude to question it.

"Hello, Sir do you want a registeration?", I said but surprisingly the boy didn't reply, " Sir are you listening?"

"O-Oh hello! Sorry I fell asleep", the boy said as he was about to stand up, he Suddenly fell down.

"Sir! Are you okay?"

"Yeah dont worry i am fine, I just haven't eaten anything in a while"

"Oh..."

I kind of understood his issue, maybe he was a runaway kid, yet I couldn't stop him if he wanted to Register since I would lose my Job if I did that.

"So, Sir My name is Ortwin Wolflimer, I am the registeration staff of Mannequin, how can I help you?", It was a waste of time to go on with the formalties, I just got straight to the point.

"Nice to meet you, I am Kozlov, Konstantin Kozlov, I am twenty two years old and I am from moscow,I would like to register into the Mannequin"

The boy's voice was kinda aloof as if Mannequin was some kind of hotel or a playground, but I must admit I was intrigued by his behaviour.

"Okay Sir Kindly fill this form and I would need some kind of ID card"

When the boy, or should I say Kozlov started to fill up the form I was genuinely surprised because his handwriting was extremely identical to mine, this incident just fueled my curiosity about him even more.

"Here its done Mr Ortwin"

"Okay Sir, You are now officially registered welcome to Mannequin, we hope you will like your stay here"

I turned around and started to walk down the hallway then suddenly a voice called me from behind.

"So when is my first game?"

"Uhh I am sorry sir but you will have to inform us in advance if you want to play a game"

"Oh..I see, so can you please start looking for a game for me?"

"Sure sir but it might take more than a day"

"It's fine, here it's my address, unfortunately I dont have a cell phone, so if you need to contact me you will need to come at my apartment, I am sorry if it feels a bit hectic"

I could sense a bit of desperation in his voice almost as if these games were extremely valuable to him.

"Sure sir it's fine, I will inform you the moment we find one"

"Thank you so much! You are really an amazing person, honestly I didn't believe I would someone as understanding as you in this place"

"Oh sir... It's nothing", I said while rubbing the back of my neck to be honest just like Kozlov I also never expect to meet a calm and genuine person in this messed up scenario.

In the evening, I was approached by my collegue Hudson, he was one of the overseers of the Game which means his rank was higher than mine and we were on good terms for the most part.

"Hey Ortwin, the Opponent and the game for that new kid is decided"

"Oh So quickly?"

"Yes surprisingly this order came from boss, the Kozlov kid will Play 'Deceptive Hands' against Kosu"

"What?! Are you insane! It's Kozlov's first game and that Kosu guy is an experienced swindler! He has also won deceptive hands thirty times in a row!"

"Yeah? Well I don't care besides this order came directly from boss, so you better not question it moron"

"Hey! Hudson come back here!"

It's insane and why is the boss even interfereing in such low level games?. Shit! If Kozlov loses he will definitely will not be able to pay the bet price and then these guys will cut off his wrist using scissors. I guess this is why nobody likes me here..I just get way too emotional sometimes, why am I even stuck at this place?.

TO BE CONTINUED.