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"This game will be played in teams of two," says the woman over the speaker. Minho sees heads turn. The married couple make eye contact and smile. The woman goes on, "Find someone you wish to play the game with," He stares at the back of Seungmin's head, "With mutual consent, shake hands and you will become partners. Let me repeat."
The room springs into action. The married couple shake hands. Chan and Felix do the same. Plenty of others team up, and when Minho looks in front of him again, Seungmin is gone. He looks around in a panic, searching for the number '222' . He's talking to Changbin. Minho's eyes go wide, and he runs over while trying to look like he's not. It doesn't work.
Once he ends up by Seungmin's side, Changbin wraps an arm around Jisung's shoulders with an apologetic smile and a "Sorry, man, he asked first." Seungmin nods.
Minho taps his shoulder, "Play with me. I'll make sure you win."
Seungmin turns around, arms crossed, "What makes you so sure of that?"
Minho shrugs, "I haven't died yet, have I?"
Seungmin looks like he's contemplating, and Minho laughs, "Who else would you go with?"
Seungmin's eyes scan the room. His eyes finally land on Minho's, and he sticks his hand out. Minho grins and shakes it.
The teams proceed to where the game will be held. It's a large room, made to look like a little town. It somewhat reminds Minho of where he grew up. He can hear a woman screaming in the room behind them. It must be the one without a partner.
A guard comes up to him and Seungmin and guides them to a small flight of stairs next to a wall, leading to nowhere.
"What do you think the game will be?" Minho asks, plopping down on a step. Seungmin sits down a few steps lower than Minho. The guard hands them a small pouch each.
"Marbles?" Seungmin says, grabbing one from the pouch and looking at it, then at the guard. The guard says nothing. The guard never says anything.
The woman's voice starts speaking, "In this game, use your ten marbles to compete with the partner next to you."
Minho's head snaps up. Compete?
"The player who takes all ten marbles from their partner wins."
The air becomes tense.
"Oh," Minho says.
"You have thirty minutes."
Minho can see Seungmin gulp.
"Let the games begin!"
Minho looks up at the giant numbers on the wall. 30:00. 29:59. 29:58.
"This is sad," Minho says, huffing and resting his head on his knees.
"What game do you wanna play?" Seungmin asks, staring straight ahead.
"Wow. So cold."
Seungmin rolls his eyes, "What game do you wanna play?"
"I don't know. Only old people played with marbles."
"Well, we need to figure something out."
Minho hums, "Then how about... we bet everything on one game."
Seungmin sighs, "Worth a shot, I guess. Let's start."
"Why are you in such a rush? Do you want me to die that bad?" Minho laughs. "Let's not play until..." he glances up at the clock. 27:53, "until there's three minutes left."
"What would we do until then?"
"Talk."
Seungmin raises his eyebrows, "What's there to talk about?"
"Anything. One of us is going to die here, so we might as well share all of our secrets. Get them off our chests."
The sound of a gunshot startles Minho. There's a quiet cry of, "Hyung," followed by a loud sob.
"Player 103 has been eliminated."
Seungmin lets out a shuddering breath, then looks back at Minho.
Another gunshot.
"Player 225 has been eliminated."
Minho glances up at the clock again. 23:49.
"What's your name?"
"Kim Seungmin."
Minho smiles. "Mine's Minho."
"Family name?"
Minho thinks for a moment, "Don't have one."
"Oh."
Gunshot.
"Player 301 has been eliminated."
"What do you want to do when you get out of here?" Minho asks, scooting down the steps until he's sat next to Seungmin.
"I need to pay for my mom's surgery. Then, I'll buy a nice house. For me and her and my sister. Maybe two houses, right next to each other, so that she can have her own space. She probably thought we'd have moved out by now. I could even get someone to take care of her."
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-two."
"Ah, I'm twenty-four."
21:04.
"What about you?"
"Hm. I'd like to adopt a cat when I'm out of here. Maybe a few of them. I never got the chance to have one as a kid."
"You kind of look like a cat."
Minho smiles, amused, and one of his eyebrows raises, "Really?"
"Yeah. Your eyes."
For a moment, the two just stare at each other.
"If a cat blinks really slowly at you, it means they love you," Minho pauses, "Like this." Minho looks directly into Seungmin's eyes and shuts them at a snail's pace, then opens them just as slowly. Seungmin looks a bit redder than the last time Minho looked at him, but maybe it's just the lighting. Or the big, glowing, red numbers projected onto the wall. 19:24.
Minho looks down at the little pouch in his hand, "I wonder how the other guys are doin-"
Gunshot.
"Player 118 has been eliminated."
Minho and Seungmin's eyes meet.
"You were gonna team up with him."
Minho hears another cry of "Hyung, " a few feet away, from a voice that unmistakeably is 914's.
Another gunshot.
"Player 228 has been eliminated."
Minho mimics the woman's voice under his breath, "Player 125 has been eliminated."
Seungmin looks at him with sad eyes, but doesn't say anything. Minho turns to him and gives him a slow blink.
"Kim Seungmin."
"Yes?"
"If you make it out of here alive, adopt a cat. Please."
Seungmin looks taken aback, "What?"
"If you make it out of here," Minho says, "Just adopt a cat. I like orange ones."
"What makes you think you're not making it out of here?"
Minho stays silent.
"Five minutes left."
Minho inhales sharply, "What should we play?"
Seungmin shakes his head, "Two more minutes."
Minho nods. He looks down at Seungmin's hand on the step next to him, and gingerly moves to put his own over it. Seungmin looks up at him, but Minho stares straight ahead at the timer. 4:29. 4:28. 4:27.
When the timer hits 3:15, Minho turns to Seungmin. Seungmin, who had been staring at him this whole time. They almost bump noses with how close they are. Minho slowly blinks at Seungmin, and when he opens his eyes again, he sees that Seungmin is doing the same. He turns his head to the timer.
3:02.
3:01.
3:00.
Minho stands up, pulling Seungmin up by his hand.
"Whoever gets their marble closest to that wall wins. You can go first."
Seungmin nods and steps forward, still not letting go of Minho's hand. He grabs one marble out from his pouch and squats down. He stares at his marble, then looks up at Minho, and then, with all his might, he rolls the marble forward.
It's pathetic.
Seungmin's shoulders slump as he stares at his marble. It's nowhere near the wall. He looks up at Minho through teary eyes, accepting his fate.
"You'll be able to get that orange cat yourself."
Minho sniffles, then shakes his head, "My turn."
He grabs a marble out of his pouch and squats down, just like Seungmin. He turns his head to him and smiles. A tear rolls down Seungmin's cheek. Minho looks back at the wall and gets ready to roll the marble. Then drops it.
"You win."
Seungmin's head whips around to look at him, "What?" he looks down at the marble, and then back at Minho. His face contorts in a mixture of anger and pain, "What are you doing? Throw it again!"
Minho stays silent, letting a single tear roll down his cheek.
Seungmin pulls him up from where they're sitting, shoving him up against a wall, "Why did you do that? Throw it again!"
"I don't want to."
Seungmin wipes his tears with his sleeve, then grabs Minho by his jacket and shoves him against the wall again, "Throw it again!"
"You win. Go. Go take care of your mom."
"But-but-"
"There's nothing waiting for me if I get out of here alive. Let me die knowing you're okay."
Seungmin lowers his head, sobbing into Minho's chest, "Fuck you."
Seungmin pulls back from Minho and reaches to wipe some of his tears, and Minho smiles, "You have to go now." Minho glances at the timer. 1:02.
Seungmin nods, giving Minho one last slow blink. Minho copies him. Seungmin lets go of Minho and turns around. He watches as the guard walks towards Minho, gun in hand, until he disappears behind Seungmin.
"Hey, Kim Seungmin!" Minho calls after him, "Thank you for playing with me!" Minho sounds as teasing as he usually does, but this time it's shakier, "Don't forget about that cat!" He hears a faint sniffle.
He flinches at the sound of the gunshot.
"Player 125 has been eliminated."