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*
"Kang Saebyeok!"
Her heart feels like it's ripping apart.
The guard leading Saebyeok out of the maze notices Saebyeok's hesitation, turning to her. They say and do nothing.
"Thanks…"
Jiyeong's voice trembles. She's holding down the urge to cry, and Saebyeok does, too.
It's hard… it's the hardest thing in the world to do.
Everything in her eyes feels like burning fire, even with the tears. Burning as hot as Saebyeok's grandparents and her older brother did when the North Korean soldiers took their dead bodies, heaving them carelessly into the road with the other plague victims.
"…for playing with me."
A breathy laugh escapes Jiyeong, and… so badly… Saebyeok wants to turn around. To curse her out, to weep, to fight back.
She can't.
They can't escape this.
What sounds like a gun-click echoes in Saebyeok's hearing. But… no discharge.
What?
What is happening?
Saebyeok's guard hurries past her, and she finally turns.
Jiyeong, alive and clearly confused, stares open-mouthed at the two guards joining up.
Her guard examines his weapon, discovering it… jammed? Is that what is happening right now?
Saebyeok's jaw tenses up, and she lunges.
No more hesitation.
She traps her arms around her guard's neck from behind, yanking them against Saebyeok's front, yanking out their gun. It presses into the soft side of their jaw. There's no bulletproof armor, Saebyeok notices. Rage floods her, compelling Saebyeok's finger to trigger-pull.
The loud, cacophonous noise rings in her ears.
Her guard dies, collapsing out of Saebyeok's arms and onto the ground with a THUMP!.
Jiyeong and the other guard still.
PLAYER 240, ELIMINATED.
"Shit," Jiyeong mutters, the tears on her awestruck expression shining. "Oh… shit."
A fiercely frowning Saebyeok aims the gun at Jiyeong's guard who hasn't drop their own gun. Jiyeong forces them to kneel, sweeping their leg and shoving, using the determination like Saebyeok has been the entire time. The guard's mask pulls off.
No time. No time for negotiations or hostages.
Saebyeok nods to Jiyeong gathering together all of their marbles.
Eighteen.
Eighteen will be enough marbles to choke them to death, struggling and stifled for any air, when Jiyeong's fingers pinch tightly over their nose, holding, and when Saebyeok's hand not pointing the gun clamps on Jiyeong's guard's mouth, allowing no reprieve.
Nobody coming for them.
Are there cameras?
The guard, middle-aged with graying hair like Saebyeok remembers her father, is left lying on their back, turning pale in death.
Their dark eyes empty.
"Shit…"
"Be quiet," Saebyeok orders, grabbing onto Jiyeong's hand and dragging her out of sight.
They crouch down behind a brick-wall, overhearing another gunshot, panting.
She turns to Jiyeong, mentally deciding they'll take a set of unattended doors that she saw two other guards leave through—
Jiyeong leans in, touching the side of Saebyeok's face and making Saebyeok hesitate with widening eyes.
She covers Saebyeok's dry lips with hers.
Salt and spice and softness—it's what she tastes on Jiyeong's mouth.
Saebyeok has never felt the desperation of human warmth, the need for affection and reassurance, but her tears renew.
Her flushed cheeks wet.
"Let's go to Jeju Island," Jiyeong whispers, nuzzling the other woman's skin. Her eyelashes flutter. "I wanna see you in a bikini."
A quiet and laughing sob escapes Saebyeok's lips, reverberating the air between them.
They'll make it, or they'll die trying.
Whatever it takes.
Saebyeok's hand grips harder onto Jiyeong's blood-smeared fingers.
Whatever it takes.
*