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When it reached Gi-hun’s turn in the food line, he was surprised as the pink guard there held out a hand as if to stop him.
“Can I not take these?” he asked, gesturing to the food and tilting his head in confusion.
The guard made an ‘X’ across their chest and then said “Player 456, step aside, please.”
Confused, but not willing to make a big deal out of it because he really wasn’t that hungry, Gi-hun stepped out of line empty handed.
“Go there.” The guard then pointed to the far end of the table.
Gi-hun locked eyes with Jung-bae and In-ho who were behind him in line and they looked puzzled by the interaction too. When Jung-bae stepped forward, the guard did the same thing to him, preventing him from taking any food and then directed him to go stand by Gi-hun. The two of them watched as In-ho approached the table only to receive the same treatment.
Having been singled out for some strange reason made them the center of attention for the other players who were whispering amongst themselves.
Three other players were told to come over by them too, including Thanos.
“What’s going on here?” Jung-bae asked. “Why are we not allowed to eat? Is this part of the next game somehow?” he looked at Gi-hun for answers.
“No,” Gi-hun shook his head. “I don’t know what this is.”
“Come this way,” a guard indicated for them to come forward to follow him and they did. Another guard filled in behind them as they made their way out of the door.
The small group walked until they came to an area with many doors, all guarded by at least one henchman. It was there that the guard in front of them came to a halt and nodded to another guard who opened the blue door.
“Step inside, Player 456.” The lead guard said.
“Just me?” Gi-hun frowned. “What about the others?”
“They are none of your concern. Now step inside.”
He opened his mouth to argue more but was met with a jab of a machine gun so he opted to keep his mouth shut as they were clearly not up for idle chit chat.
“Don’t worry about us!” Jung-bae mouthed at him and In-ho gave him a friendly nod.
Regretfully he entered the room and two guards followed him. Inside the room were two chairs in the middle of the room facing each other. Lining the rest of the room were tables; tables lined with various dishes, all freshly prepared and entirely different from what they were being fed on a daily basis. It looked like fine dining from his perspective.
“Sit down.” A guard pointed to the chair facing the right side of the room.
Gi-hun complied and then was slightly miffed as they tied his hands behind his back. The other guard focused on wheeling over a table of food closer to Gi-hun, almost within reach to him if his hands were not tied. Then that guard left the room while the other guard stood inside near the door.
He tried to think of what the situation might be but he was honestly puzzled by it all. “What’s going on?” he asked the guard, though he knew he was likely not to receive an answer. The guard stayed silent and he sighed, trying to get comfortable while testing his bonds to see if he could escape.
Then the door opened again and Gi-hun was shocked to see the person who walked in. It was the Front Man and he walked right over to the other seat, pulling it slightly closer to Gi-hun before he sat down.
“You?! What are you doing here?” Gi-hun demanded. “What is this? Why did you take me here? Where are the others?”
“How are you enjoying being here again?” The Front Man ignored his questions to pose one of his own. “I see you are making friends like before.”
“It’s not going to be like before.”
“No?”
“No.”
“You needn’t be worried about your friends. I only had them removed so the other players wouldn’t think you were receiving special treatment.”
“Special treatment…?”
“I have been informed that you have not been receiving enough sustenance despite the meals provided to you.” The Front Man’s disguised voice appeared to take on a serious tone to it as he leaned in closer.
“What’s that got to do with anything?” Gi-hun demanded indignantly.
“A poor appetite will not help you in the games ahead. It is important to me that all players keep up their strength.”
“No, what’s important to you is that people die.”
“I can see how you might think that… but it’s simply not the truth.” The Front Man lied. “Now I know you must be hungry by now…”
“I’m really not.” Gi-hun didn’t like where this seemed to be heading. With his arms restrained, how was he supposed to be eating? Unless…
The mask looked like it was smirking. “I’ll be the judge of that.”
And to Gi-hun’s horror, the Front Man pressed an ear to his stomach to listen. His stomach of course betrayed him because no matter how hard he tried to convince himself, he was hungry, but it was hard to eat in this place. He wasn’t about to sit quietly and let the man be weird towards him like that. With his leg, he planted a foot to his enemy’s chest and kicked him backwards, causing him to awkwardly fall to the floor.
In an instant, the guard rushed to his boss' aid but the Front Man waved him away. For about 30 seconds, he paused on the floor, hand resting on one of his knees to just look at Gi-hun who shifted nervously under the intensity of his gaze.
He was expecting retaliation. It would be easy to hurt him back, seeing as he was bound to a chair.
Instead, the Front Man started laughing in genuine amusement. “I deserved that, not being careful around you.” he got to his feet, dusting himself off and then nodded to his henchman. “Tie his legs up too.”
Once that was over with, the Front Man settled back down in his chair, his body language showed that he was still amused by what had happened. This ticked Gi-hun off. Everything was a game to this man.
“Now where were we…” his enemy looked around at the display of food and Gi-hun followed his gaze to the various plates of bulgogi. He selected what looked like ojingeo bulgogi (squid).
“This first.” The Front Man said sweetly.
“How am I supposed to eat that while being restrained?” Gi-hun asked.
“I’m going to feed it to you.”
Gi-hun gawked at him, his worst fears confirmed. How humiliating! He shook his head, indicating no way.
“Leave us.” The other man said to the guard. The guard hesitated at first but then left. With a fork, which was probably used for its superior stabbing ability over chopsticks, the Front Man speared a fine hunk of the bulgogi and offered it up to Gi-hun. “Open up.”
Gi-hun refused, turning his head away.
“Do I need to shoot one of your friends?” The Front Man’s voice was suddenly ice cold. It was scary how fast his moods seemed to change. “I find it in your best interest to comply with me.”
Gi-hun clenched his jaw, but then did as the Front Man asked. What other choice did he have?
Once his mouth was open, the fork was shoved inside. He had to admit that the bulgogi was good as he chewed it but he didn’t have much time to enjoy the flavor because the Front Man behaved as if they were sorting items on an assembly line, quickly moving onto the next step as fast as possible. It didn’t take long for his first meal to be finished off and the Front Man laid it aside to pick another bulgogi, this time dak bulgogi (chicken).
“Can you slow down?” Gi-hun asked while chewing. “Are you trying to choke me?”
The Front Man said nothing which Gi-hun took as an obvious no to his first question and an undecided answer to his second question.
When that dish was finished, beef galbi was chosen. Gi-hun wasn’t a big fan of beef anymore after eating steak the last time he played the game but he had to eat it because the Front Man was making him.
His stomach was starting to feel uncomfortable with so much food being shoved into it and so fast. He didn’t understand why the Front Man was so intent on feeding him and why it had to be so much. He hoped that he didn’t have to eat everything in the room. Not only did that seem impossible, it also seemed dangerous.
The Front Man paused to allow him a drink of water. “You look so different from when you were here before. Your face is so gaunt… surely you are not eating enough on your own.” The man observed, sounding disapproving. “That’s not healthy.”
“Who are you trying to convince that you care about my health? Me or yourself?” Gi-hun reacted bitterly.
“Aish, what more must I do to show you?”
“Stop the games.”
“Ah. I walked right into that one. The impossible task.” The Front Man sighed. “Unfortunately that is not something I can do for you.”
“Then clearly you don’t care enough about me.” Gi-hun huffed, highly aware that it was starting to sound like they were having a lovers spat from the direction of the conversation.
When the Front Man didn’t say anything, Gi-hun couldn’t help but mock “Did I hurt your feelings?”
The fork was shoved into his mouth so roughly that it cut his lip and clattered uncomfortably against his teeth. “Mmph!” he uttered in shock, clearly having hit a nerve, but he didn’t have much cause for celebration there as the Front Man was back to force feeding him, and a lot more forcefully too.
He barely had time to taste the food before it was rushed down his gullet. By now he had lost count of how many dishes he had eaten, he just knew he was being fed saengchi gui (pheasant) and gamjatang (potato stew).
On his last bite, he gagged, nearly spitting out what he had in his mouth but the Front Man covered his mouth, forcing him to swallow it all down.
His stomach was straining against his shirt and the uncomfortable feeling had been replaced by pain. He was beginning to feel sick, but the Front Man was relentless.
As the Front Man moved onto dessert, he pleaded “No more. I can’t take any more food.”
“Yes, you can.”
“I can’t. My stomach hurts. I’m not hungry anymore.”
“You’re finished when I say you’re finished.” The Front Man said coolly.
“Are you trying to make me sick?!” Gi-hun demanded angrily.
“I’m trying to make sure you’re well fed.” The answer was simple enough. “Now eat up.” he offered the fork again.
He swallowed down his revulsion and took a bite. This time he was allowed to chew at his own pace. Which was slow and deliberate as he didn’t want to swallow.
Gi-hun groaned as his stomach groaned too. He hung his head in defeat as the Front Man reached for another plate.
He had to find an angle. He couldn’t take much more of this.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, barely able to get the words out.
The man in front of him paused. “You’re sorry for what?”
“I’m now convinced that you care about my health.” Gi-hun answered lamely.
“How convincing.” The sneer was evident in the Front Man’s voice. He held the fork in a threatening manner.
Gi-hun was sweating bullets. “Why else would you be feeding me if you didn’t care?” Unless you’re just feeding me for some sick and perverted reason?!
“That is true.” The Front Man agreed. “I could have just let you starve. But here I am being generous.”
“Generous… yeah.” he said through gritted teeth. “Too generous. I have no more appetite.”
“Hm,” The Front Man seemed thoughtful and then he reached out and put a hand on Gi-hun’s full stomach. His touch sent shivers down Gi-hun’s spine and not in a good way. Then without warning or hesitation, the man pressed down on his stomach, saying “Does this hurt?”
“Yes!” Gi-hun squirmed in his chair, gasping. His eyes watered from the pain.
“Then I agree. It is time to stop.”
Finally!, Gi-hun cheered inwardly. “May I go back now?”
“No,” The Front Man said bluntly. “Not yet.”
“Why not?” he tried not to let his frustration come through.
“I cannot allow you to go back in such discomfort.” The man replied.
“I’m fine, really, no need to worry about me.”
The Front Man pressed down on his stomach again to make him wince. “My point stands.” He stood up and opened the door, talking quickly to the guards outside, who then to Gi-hun’s bewilderment, pushed a plush couch inside of the room. The guards then came over to Gi-hun, untying him from the chair but then still keeping his arms tied behind his back.
“Lay down.” The Front Man directed as he pointed to the couch.
Gi-hun complied, not sure he was liking where this was going…
The other man then dragged his chair over to the couch to sit near Gi-hun. Without permission, he unzipped Gi-hun’s jacket and then lifted up his shirt so he could put both gloved hands on Gi-hun’s aching stomach. He then started to gently rub circles across Gi-hun’s skin.
At first the action really startled and unnerved him, but then some of his pain started to subside already. Did the Front Man really care about him in some kind of fucked up way?
“How does that feel?”
“Nice… really nice.” Gi-hun admitted.
“Excellent.” The Front Man said with a pleased smile (or so Gi-hun guessed).
———
By the time Gi-hun was allowed back, it was nearly lights out. He was still quite full but having had time to relax and digest had helped him become more comfortable.
“Gi-hun!” Jung-bae gestured over at him. “You’re back!”
“Yeah, I am.” Gi-hun nodded. “What happened with you two?” he directed the question both at Jung-bae and In-ho.
“They split us all up into separate rooms like they did with you but we, everyone except you and Young-Il, came back a lot sooner.” Jung-bae said.
“Really?” Gi-hun was puzzled about that. “Did they feed you too?”
“Yes,” In-ho answered. “Something about not eating well?”
“Which is not correct.” Jung-bae interjected. “I think it was some kind of mind game having to do with the next game.”
“Maybe. I don’t really know what that was.” Gi-hun lied, crossing his arms across his chest. “I don’t know what they could have possibly gotten from that.”
“No idea at all?” In-ho was eyeing him with an odd, almost accusatory expression, but when Gi-hun locked eyes with him, wondering, his eyes softened and Gi-hun supposed he had been imagining it.
“None.” he shrugged. “I guess we’ll either find out or we won’t.”
The others nodded, not knowing that Gi-hun was the center of everything again.