Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Eight years ago, Gi-hun lost everything.

Sae-byeok, Sang-woo, his mom, Ga-yeong, Jung-bae…

One by one, they all slipped away from him. Not just because of the games either. The longer he sits in his own self hatred and pity, the more he understands it was his fault.

No matter how much Gi-hun fought and pleaded and tore and scratched and begged, nothing ever changed. Everyone in his life is gone because of him. Most of them died because of his own selfishness, his refusal to listen.

Maybe if Gi-hun was smarter, had strategized better, those people would still be alive even today. They would go to bars and drink their days away, letting the world pass them by as life tried to tear them down. But at least with them, the horrible detriments of life would fade away. Or maybe they would be a muffled sound, persistent and clearly there, but much easier to ignore. That’s how it had felt when he went out with Jung-bae, after all. It was like no matter what life threw at him, as long as his best friend was by his side, he could survive.

Of course, he doesn’t have Jung-bae anymore.

He doesn’t have anyone.

Not anyone he can trust, anyways.

Gi-hun is never not plagued by the horrors of his past. Every night, he sees them.

Sometimes, he has softer dreams. Ones that are pure fantasies of what could have been. Maybe he’s having dinner with Sang-woo and Sae-byeok, laughing as if they had all been friends for years. He would see her smile in a way that Gi-hun’s not sure he’s ever actually seen before. She would hug him and talk in such a distressingly different way, like she was wearing her heart on her sleeve. Sang-woo would be much the same. He would thank him and joke with Sae-byeok like he wasn’t the one who sliced her neck open.

Some nights he sees Ga-yeong playing with Cheol, faces so bright with pure joy. He grimaces as he watches them play ddakji, but they look so happy that he can’t bare but to take that away from them. They still look like they’re ten, every time he dreams of them. Those dreams came with the horrifying realization that he doesn’t know what his daughter looks like anymore.

Sometimes, he’s laying his head on ‘Young-il’s’ shoulder, staring at an open lake, feeling content and comfortable in a way he hasn’t in over a decade.

But they’re not always lovely little lies that appear in his sleep. He doesn’t remember his night terrors nearly as much, but he always remembers the fear, the mourning, the blood he can feel in between his fingers as he jerks back into consciousness. He remembers his loved ones, the players all standing around him, begging him to save them. To take responsibility.

He’s haunted by the things he has caused and what he has allowed to happen.

Gi-hun’s a horrible man. He should continue to try and stop the games, to contact Jun-ho and continue they’re five year old endeavor. He left everything behind for this, after all. What good were the lives sacrificed and the daughter he abandoned if not to complete his mission?

But Gi-hun is tired.

He’s so very tired. It’s much easier to collapse against In-ho, to melt against him as the weight of the world crashes down on them.

‘It’s only one week out of the year’, he rationalizes to himself. It happens like clockwork. Once a year, he justifies the horrific actions that must take place. ‘Only one month out of the year to set up preparations’. Year after year, he tries to convince himself that its fine. That In-ho is right. It’s easier to lie to himself.

At the very least, his only comfort is that two things have stayed very consistent over the past eight years.

One: In-ho has him. In-ho loves him. If there’s anyone he’s safe with, it’s In-ho.

And two;

Ga-yeong is far, far away from Korea.

△ 〇 ☐

The cafeteria is overwhelmingly loud. Really, Ga-yeong isn’t sure what she expected, but it wasn’t this. Her friends back in America said it was normal to eat by yourself in college, that no one will even spare her a glance when she goes to the dining halls. She trusted them, especially the ones who had graduated only a year prior to her.

Clearly none of them knew what they were talking about!

Ga-yeong sighs as she slowly makes her way past all the filled tables with her to-go bag. Everyone’s joking with their new found friendships, all seemingly so close despite them only having been in classes for two weeks.

She doesn’t fully remember the last time she felt so out of place, but what she does remember is how horrible it felt. And oh, is it so similar to how things feel now.

Moving to America was objectively difficult for her, even her parents noticed. She had to say goodbye to her friends, her home, her father and poor grandmother. When they first arrived, she didn’t even realize she would feel so out of place surrounded by her American classmates. That is until she was sitting in the classroom, her peers speaking a language she couldn’t properly understand. It took a while for her to make friends when she was still learning.

She made it work, but it took a while.

Now, standing in the middle of Seoul National University, she thought things would start to feel normal again. But she was wrong.

She somehow feels more out of place than ever.

A familiar ache in Ga-yeongs chest makes her speed up her movements. She slams open the cafeteria doors with little to no disregard to anyone it could have slammed into. She doesn’t hear anyone complain about getting hit with a large door, so she decides she’s in the clear and continues to stomp off.

Ga-yeong plops herself down on a bench, waiting for the on-campus bus to arrive. She can’t believe she convinced herself to go to the Jahayon cafeteria when it’s so disgustingly far away from the residence halls. In her defense, she still can’t wrap her head around just how huge the campus is. Some of the colleges she toured in America aren’t even half the size of SNU! How was she supposed to know she signed up to be a cross country star? Who looks at college campus maps before they arrive on campus!?

With nothing else to do while she waits for the shuttle, Ga-yeong pulls out her phone and begins looking through her notifications. She has an annoying amount of texts from her parents, of course. They were incredibly worried about letting her move back to Korea all on her own, especially with all the baggage her biological father had left for her here. But really, she just thinks they’re being way too overprotective. Sure, they’re all the way in America, but she’s not her little sisters! She actually grew up in Korea!

That’s part of the reason she came back. That, and her father. She wants to speak to him again.

A new notification popping up distracts Ga-yeong from her spiraling thoughts. Something in her lightens as her high school friends begin to message in their group chat. It’s only 6:00 for most of them, meanwhile at SNU, the suns already set. She feels a smug sort of satisfaction watching her friends begin to wake up for their 7 A.M. classes while she gets to go to bed in a few hours.

While everyone has spread out to their own college experiences across America, or in Ga-yeong’s case, the world, they have done their best to keep in contact during such a huge change period.

She scrolls through the texts with her friends and smiles. She should definitely call them soon. Maybe that will stop her from feeling so lonely.

“Ga-yeong??” A familiar, feminine voice calls out.

Ga-yeong looks up from her phone, taking a moment to recognize the fact she’s being called out at all. Only her family really calls her by that name. Back in America, everyone calls her ‘Eve’. It was so much easier than having to teach every new person she met how to pronounce her name. She’s had to get used to strangers calling her by her actual name again.“Oh, Ji-yu,” She offers the girl a polite smile.

Ji-yu lets out an exaggerated sigh of relief as she moves to sit herself right next to Ga-yeong, far too close for comfort. “Oh thank goodness it’s you! I was worried I was going to be alone for the rest of the day. Why did you wander off?”

Ga-yeong suppresses a grimace as she attempts to subtly inch away from her roommate. Unfortunately, she was sitting at the very edge of the bench. “Uh.. sorry, Ji-yu. I thought you were hanging out with your friends?” It’s not like Ji-yu didn’t have her entirely too large friend group even though the semester just started. She barely sees the other girl in their shared room. When she does, its either just to sleep, or to hang out with some random boy she picked up.

Ji-yu sheepishly shrugs. “Yeah, well, you know how it is,” The brunette dismisses and brushes past the topic quickly. “Hey, you’re heading back to the dorms, right?” She asks. Ga-yeong slowly nods, making Ji-yu grin wider.

“Great! Can you drop off my bag then?”

Ga-yeong opens her mouth to speak, but Ji-yu just tosses her bookbag onto her lap and hops off the bench with all the energy in the world. “Thanks girl, your the best roommate in the world!!” The taller girl grins before running off into the cafeteria.

For a good while, Ga-yeong just sits there as she processes that interaction. Only once the shuttle bus finally arrives does Ga-yeong sigh in annoyance.

She brings Ji-yu’s bag back anyways.


-

The shuttle was much quicker than walking, and before she knew it, Ga-yeong was dropping both of the bags and collapsing on her uncomfortable mattress. She grumbles in annoyance as she curls up in her blankets and lays face first on her pillows. “You’d think the top school in Korea would splurge a little bit on mattresses…” She whines.

Ga-yeong supposes complaining is a tad bit selfish. Back in America, her dad is making far more money than they did in Korea, allowing them to splurge on the most comfortable mattress or the better quality sheets. It’s not like everyone had the luxury she did. Even though she hated it as a kid, moving to America was the best decision her family had ever made.

But then Ga-yeong thinks back to her biological father- the one her mom divorced and they left behind- and she can’t help but feel guilty. Guilty and angry and worried, all at the same time, because they had money to spare, but he didn’t. Grandma died in her sleep, or so she was told, and Grandma was all her father had. Her father was in millions of won in debt, while she was living a comfortable life in a whole other country.

She understands now why her Father rarely called for a year or two after they moved.

What she doesn’t understand is why he hasn’t called them in seven whole years. Back then, angry wasn’t even how she would describe how she felt. She was furious that her father let her get her hopes up again. A part of her doubted he even bought a plane ticket, let alone even truly considered visiting her.

But the older she gets, the more she understands. Her father was always drowning in debt- the last number her mom knew was over 300 million won- so how could she really expect him to visit? He was probably consistently working after Grandma died to keep himself alive, and even as a kid, Ga-yeong understood he got into a lot of fights because of his debts.

Ga-yeong sighs and rolls onto her side. She sluggishly gets her phone from her pocket and goes to her camera roll.

Even with all the anger she felt, she still loved and missed her father.

She stares at the photos for a long time, her heart aching from the sight. She loves her mom and dad, she loved America, but Gi-hun was also her dad, and no matter what her parents say, she’ll always miss him.

Maybe that’s partially why they were worried about her studying in Korea. They knew what she was going to do.

Ga-yeong stops as her phone suddenly announces an incoming video-call from one of her friends. She smiles again and answers. “Isabella!” She grins upon seeing her blond-haired friend.

Like usual, her friend doesn’t even pause for pleasantries. “Oh my god, you will not believe what just happened in class-” Ga-yeong listens contently, grinning as her friend begins to rant about some strange confrontation with her professor and her peers. She’s glad she’s known Isabella for so long, she’s not sure she would be able to keep up with her fast English otherwise.

Out of all her friends, Isabella has been the one to keep in contact with her the most. She never realized how close she was with her until then.

“That’s crazy,” Ga-yeong eventually comments in English. “That’s what you get for going to a public university.”

“Technically, Delhi is not a university. It’s a college.” Isabella shrugs, leaning back against her desk chair. “But either way, not everyone is smart enough to go to a fancy university like you.”

Ga-yeong pouts. “I don’t know, Isabella, SNU isn’t all that great either. The upperclassmen complain that they get so much work, they never have time to themself. And god, the campus is horrible!! There's probably over a thousand buildings!!” She groans. Just the thought of trying to get to her classes next week sound horrific. “Delhi doesn’t even compare to how big SNU is.”

Isabella purses her lips in disagreement, but she decides to drop the subject. She sits back up, leaving her phone propped up by something. “Speaking of, have you started the hunt yet?”

Ga-yeong blinks. “The hunt?”

“The hunt for your dad!” Isabella lets out a huff of frustration as she crosses her arms over her chest. “Come on, wasn’t that half the reason you went to Seoul?” She half processes

Ga-yeong’s expression drops. She begins to run her fingers through her hair with her freehand. “I… haven’t started yet. I don’t know what I’ll say to him when I see him again.” She sighs, looking away from her phone. “I have his address. I can go visit him whenever.”

“Then do it.” Isabella says, as blunt as ever.

Ga-yeong stays quiet, still looking away from the phone screen. When it becomes clear she wont respond, Isabella sighs. “Eve-” Ah, she hasn’t heard her ‘western name’ in a while. “Look, I get it. Contacting a deadbeat parent is hard, but that’s not something anyone is able to properly prepare for. You won’t ever be ‘ready’, but you can do it. When my ‘mom’ visited me, it was all awkward and weird, but if you know you need to do it, do it soon. Or else this is going to weigh on your mind for forever when you have more important shit to deal with.”

Ga-yeong frowns more. Isabella is probably right. She’s been thinking about her father since she arrived in South Korea. She’s supposed to be getting ahead of her assignments, paying attention in class, and for the most part, she has. But sometimes, her mind begins to slip, her thoughts run endlessly, and she finds herself missing her silly, kind father. All of her confusion and questions that have grown over the years grow more and more rampant until they overtake every thought in her head.

And that’s how she’s ended up forgetting a quiz was earlier this week. Already. Second week in.

Ga-yeong lets her phone fall on the bed as she moves to cover her face and groan. “Do I have to?” She whines.

She feels lighter when Isabella begins to laugh on the other end. “You’ve been wanting this for years! Yes, you have to. If you don’t, I’ll go over to SNU and hunt both of you down myself!”

Ga-yeong laughs and moves to lift up her phone again. “Alright, alright, fine.” She smiles at Isabella. “I don’t have class on the weekends, so… maybe tomorrow I’ll go seek my father out. Or the day after.”

She looks back at the screen to see Isabella halfway through her makeup routine. Probably a good idea to start now, seeing as it can take more than an hour for Isabella to do her makeup. It never seems like wasted time. “Do it tomorrow so you don’t put it off. Tomorrow morning, catch him early on in the day.”

Ga-yeong nods, albeit reluctantly. “Yeah, alright, I’ll do it tomorrow.”

Isabella picks up her phone with a content smile on her face. “Alright girl, I’m so proud of you! Call me if anything happens. I don’t care if its 3 A.M. over here, I’ll beat a deadbeat dads ass!”

Just the thought of Isabella waking up in the middle of the night just to fight her dad makes Ga-yeong giggle. “Sure sure, I’ll update you when its a more reasonable hour over there.”

Isabella nods. “You better! I’ll call you when I’m up. Go to sleep now, its like, midnight where you are.”

“It’s only eight??”

“Close enough! Go to bed, Eve!”

Ga-yeong giggles. “Goodnight, Izzy.”

They hang up after that, leaving Ga-yeong in a much better mood than she was in before. It’s nerve wrecking, knowing that she’s going to seek out her father tomorrow, but there’s a smaller part of her that is excited. Maybe her father really does have a good excuse. Maybe he tried to make it work but failed to. Maybe things are better than she hoped.

△ 〇 ☐

Ga-yeong gets breakfast at one of the cafeteria’s before she immediately hops onto the closest bus shuttle. She ate her food on the long, boring bus ride without really processing the flavors. Usually she’d be ecstatic to have authentic Korean food again, but right now, she could barely swallow it down.

Throughout the entire two hour ride to Ssangmun-dong, Ga-yeong finds herself growing more and more restless. Just like in class, her thoughts run wild with pure worry. She finds her leg bounces up and down in place to no end, just in an attempt to studly get the antsy energy ruminating out.

What if her father doesn’t want her?

Sure, Ga-yeong still has her mom and step-dad, but it’s different. This means something different. Reconnecting with her father was something she’s wanted for years. She knows her mom and dad love her, but she can’t say the same about Gi-hun. This could ruin her.

Ga-yeong’s heartrate spikes as the shuttle arrives at her stop. She slowly stands, watching as a few older people begin to shuffle out their seats and off the bus. She follows behind them, each step she makes slow and cautious, as if her father will jump out one of the seats and shoot her without a moment of hesitation.

When she steps off the bus, she finds her legs are as weak as cooked pasta and her hands are trembling so violently she can barely hold her phone. Maybe Isabella was wrong. Maybe Ga-yeong isn’t able to do this. Maybe Gi-hun will slam the door on her face, not wanting anything to do with her. Maybe the truth won’t be worth it.

Ga-yeong isn’t sure what she’d do in that situation.

But she walks on anyways. Following her phone’s map app, she slowly makes her way through her fathers neighborhood.

It’s not the best neighborhood, not by a longshot. it’s very clear most of the people that live here are like her father. Poor, probably in poverty, and potentially in debt. She doesn’t remember his town looking this bad, though she supposes she shouldn’t be surprised. She was a little girl who glamorized everything relating to her father, including his collapsing home. None of that would have mattered if her father just kept her close.

She can’t stop her mind from racing in the silence.

Then, eventually, she arrives at her fathers front doorstep.

Ga-yeong allows herself a moment to breathe, reading through the reassuring words her friends had sent her while she slept. She tries to reread them, but the words begin to blur as the familiar burn of forming tears appears in her eyes. How the hell is she already panicking!?

She squeezes her eyes shut, focusing on her breathing, the sound of the wind, the sound of birds and children playing. She forcibly pulls herself together as she chokes back a sob. Her heart is still pounding so loud she’s sure the whole neighborhood can hear, she can already feel her pathetic tears falling, but she makes a fist and knocks on the door a bit too violently, just to get it over with.

Ga-yeong holds her breath as she waits. For a while, the only sound is the thrumming beat of her heart.

Then, she hearts the quietest of noises on the others side of the door. Shuffling, movement, something. For a moment, Ga-yeong curses her dad for taking so damn long.

Finally, finallyfinally- her pounding heart freezes when the door is swung open and-

Ga-yeong freezes.

The person standing in front of her is a man far older than Gi-hun would be. His skin is saggy and his hair is balding and pure white.

Her father doesn’t live here anymore.

Ga-yeong leaves Ssangmun-dong with far more questions than answers.

Chapter Text

“-So, with all that said, my conclusion is that my father is dead.”

Ga-yeong can’t help but feel a little bit guilty watching Isabella squint down at her phone. Her explanation was frantic, badly suppressed panic snuck out of her voice, while Isabella struggles to keep up. Her friend blinks slowly, rubs her eyes and begins to sit up. “So… you went to your fathers house.. and he wasn’t there?” She surmises.

“Yeah!” Ga-yeong exclaims with a tad too much excitement. She clears her throat, doing her best to avoid eye contact from her peers on campus. Too many people are outside all at once, though she supposes it makes sense for weekends. “I even went around to the neighbors, and guess what? Only one of them recognized my fathers name, and she hadn’t seen him in years!” She explains in English.

Watching Isabella force herself awake, Ga-yeong feels pinpricks of guilt begin to seep into her conscious. Yeah, her friend said to call her if anything happened, and she desperately wanted- no- needed to tell someone what she had found out, but her poor friend looks so exhausted. It has to be past midnight in America. “I’m sorry, do you want to go back to sleep?”

Ga-yeong considers calling her parents instead and trying to get their opinions, but instantly shoots down the thought in her own head. Her parents would be concerned, yeah, but she’s not sure they understand how important this is to her. Maybe they would, but the risk is too high for comfort.

Isabella closes her eyes for a moment as she shakes her head. “No, no, this is important. Just give me a second.”

Ga-yeong does as asked and waits patiently, idly walking on the sidewalk and only occasionally tearing her eyes away from her friend to make sure shes not bumping into anyone.

Eventually, Isabella disappears from the phone screen, but the sound of fabric shuffling around proves she’s still up. “Okay. Alright.” She croaks, her voice rougher than usual. “I’m going to go to the bathroom, splash some water on my face… and then you can keep talking.”

Ga-yeong frowns but nods. “If you’re sure.”

She hears Isabella mumble something incomprehensible on the phone before the lights turn on in the dorm, allowing her to see the blank, dirty ceiling. Moments later, the sound of the a door opening and closing proves she’s now virtually alone.

The outside air feels much more crisp than it did just moments before. While winter has been over, perhaps the wind is making the outside air far colder than it should be.

She already understood how alone she was, but now she’s feeling it ten times stronger than before, her fathers disappearance being the main cause. After realizing her father was no longer in Ssangmun-dong and finding next to no proof he had ever lived there, she quickly understood her father was no longer living in this neighborhood.

Which is odd, considering there is no way he could have afforded to move out.

Ga-yeong had made her way back to SNU in a daze, more on autopilot than anything. She had spent the entire bus ride trying to wrap her head around the influx of information, or perhaps the lack of information, and what that could mean for her father. Sure, it’s been eight years, but can one man really crawl himself out of such a large pile of debt with no one helping him? It just didn’t seem feasible.

But when what happened to him?

Her first striking, immediate worry, is that Gi-hun is dead. That her father died sometime after he was supposed to come visit. The more she thinks about it, the more realistic the thought gets. What else could have happened to him? Nothing else fit.

The horror sets in as the seconds tick by. Seong Gi-hun is dead.

“Okay, I’m back!”

Ga-yeong jumps at the sudden English yelled in her ears. She adjusts the volume on her phone and then her earbuds, before lifting her phone back up. “Finally awake?” She smiles shakily, trying to push her worry out of her mind for now.

Isabella does seem far more awake now, if not a bit tired cause of the slightly smudged, old makeup on her face. She goes over to her desk and props her phone up against something, like usual. Somehow, the face of her dearest friend causes her pounding heart to slow. “Yup! Anyways, just to make sure I caught everything-” She starts, “You’re dad isn’t living in the last address you had for him, right? You asked around, no one knew anything, and you eventually gave up and went home. So, he probably moved away-”

“Nope,” Ga-yeong interrupts her friend before she can get too far with her ridiculous theory. “Not possible, remember?”

Isabella slowly nods. “Right… well, we shouldn’t fully rule it out.” She argues. Ga-yeong watches her friend move her hair out of her face, finding herself agreeing. “He could be living with someone or couch surfing? Uh, there’s also the risk of him being, like, homeless.”

Ga-yeong swallows thickly. Those may be possibilities, but her worries appear at the forefront of her mind. “… He could be dead.” She bluntly points out.

Isabella frowns, her arms falling down to her side. “Eve…” She hesitates. “We can’t jump to the worst case scenario.”

“Even if its the most likely scenario?”

Ga-yeong feels guilty again, but she doesn’t try to stop herself from speaking the truth. Cause it has to be the truth. It makes no sense if it wasn’t.

But Isabella’s hesitation morphs into some sort of firm resolution. She crosses her arms. “Check.”

Ga-yeong pauses in the middle of the sidewalk, her legs barely able to keep her standing upright. “… Check?”

“Yup. Check. Look for obituaries or any public death records online. I might not know how funerals and shit works in South Korea, but if worse comes to worst, you can probably contact local police departments to see if they have any records.” Isabella suggests. “If your dad is dead, that’s how you’ll find out. We can start there, and hope that what you find is nothing.”

Ga-yeong takes a second to recognize that the tentative calm she was feeling moments before has become completely destroyed. When she and Isabella were joking about hunting down her father, she hadn’t expected she would actually have to seek him out in this way. Hunting down a man who could easily be dead wasn’t at all what she signed up for. All she wanted was her father back.

“He might be dead.” Ga-yeong forces herself to say despite the tightening of her throat. She forces herself to continue walking, one step at a time. Stopping in the middle of the sidewalk isn’t a good idea. “He’s most likely dead. My father- he got into a lot of trouble often. Probably still does. Loan sharks, bar fights, my parents- if he’s not in Ssangmun-dong, he’s dead.”

“Or he’s alive.” Isabella argues. “We just went over that he still had options. Even if he is homeless, there are still things like homeless shelters- those exist in Korea, right..? Not- not the point. Maybe he got a better job and is managing to stay afloat. A lot can happen in eight years, Eve.”

Ga-yeong grimaces. “I don’t want to find out he’s dead.”

Isabella huffs in frustration. “Then I’ll search for you.”

Ga-yeong squints down at the phone screen. “You?”

“Yup.” Isabella agrees easily. She stays firm, clearly not willing to drop the topic despite how much they should. “Just give me the characters I have to copy and paste and I’ll look. I can use google translate to see what I can find.”

Ga-yeong is silent again. She looks away from her phone to focus more on walking. She doesn’t know why she always get so quiet when it comes to finding her dad. She wants to argue more, but Isabella wont drop it. “You’re going to tear yourself up over this if you don’t try to look, Eve. You can’t mourn someone who might not even be dead!”

Ga-yeong wants to. Deciding that he’s dead and moving on with her life is probably the best option for her at this point. She’s sure theres only one answer to her fathers sudden disappearance, and it’s not one she wants to see the proof of herself. Not when she remembers how violent things always got in regards to Gi-hun. The day he was supposed to leave for America, he cut himself off suddenly, just like the days he would come visit with more bruises than anyone should have.

It’s only realistic to assume he died. Why should she hope otherwise? Getting her hopes up at this point is unrealistic.

Her father always pushed and pushed right up until he died. Whether that’s from loan sharks, a bar fight, lack of food, or the elements didn’t matter. What matters is that, unless he found a miracle, he was gone. That is something she should just accept.

But what if her father did find a miracle??

That’s the one, small chance that’s stopping her from accepting his death once and for all. Because what if Isabella is right? Maybe he did manage to build himself up from less than nothing and is thriving.

Maybe he has a new family.

A new job.

A new home.

New children.

And that thought, shamefully, might scare her more than Gi-hun being dead does.

Ga-yeong’s glassy eyes dart around the area until she eventually finds the blurry outline of an empty bench. She shuffles her way over to it, rubbing at her eyes and keeping her phone down so her friend doesn’t see how pathetic she’s getting.

She sighs as she sits herself down on the bench. “I’m going to search and-… and see if I can find a death certificate.” She mumbles softly.

“Alright…” Isabella frowns, but Ga-yeong swipes away from their call to thankfully no longer be subjected to her friends worried gaze. “I’m here for you.”

Ga-yeong’s hands tremble as her fingers dart across the keyboard. She hasn’t written, nor typed, in Korean for a good few years. At least, not consistently. Her parents prefer phone calls over texting. So typing out what she’s trying to say takes an uncomfortable amount of time for the anticipation building up.

Not only that, but her hands will barely move.

She doesn’t want to know.

But eventually, she manages to type ‘Seong Gi-hun Obituary’ on the search bar.

She feels her heart stop as she sees one. She unconsciously holds her breath as she clicks on the link and reads through it.

She exhales with a shameful amount of relief.

The photo attached isn’t him. Just another, much older man who shares the same name as her father.

Besides that, the search comes up empty.

Ga-yeong searches a few more varieties of the same thing, but the results stay the same. People who share the same name as her father, none actually him.

“Nothing.” Ga-yeong eventually mumbles out. She takes a deep breath, feeling something loosen in her chest. “I can’t find anything saying he’s dead online.”

Ga-yeong clicks back onto the video call to see Isabella deflate on her wooden desk chair, letting out a loud groan. “Oh thank god.. ugh, Eve, tell me faster next time!” She whines. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

A weak laugh escapes Ga-yeong’s throat despite her nerves. “I was giving myself a heart attack! I thought he was dead!”

Isabella clicks her tongue, but her grin is clear as day. “Well, now we know he’s probably not!” She says. “Now that you’re not digging your fathers grave, we can figure out what to do next. Which should probably be the police.”

Ga-yeong thinks for a second, leaning back against the bench. “Honestly… I think I’m going to do that later.” She says softly. “Shockingly, I’m very drained.”

Isabella’s laughter lightens up the aching in her chest. “That sounds like a plan. Make sure you take care of yourself, got it?” She demands, sleepily smiling at the screen. “I should go back to sleep, I have work in the morning.”

Ga-yeong nods. “Sorry for keeping you up.” She says sheepishly, but Isabella just brushes her off.

“Nope, no apologies girl. You needed me, so here I am.” She lifts up the phone and grins at it. “I’ll just make sure you never get a wink of sleep when you come back to America!”

Isabella hangs up immediately after the light threat, leaving Ga-yeong smiling fondly at her blank phone screen. She’s definitely going to keep her up all night long when she’s back home, but it will be worth it.

After staying put on the bench, processing, she eventually convinces herself to get up. She considers going to one of the many dining halls on campus, but eventually decides against it, not exactly in the mood to wait eight years to go on two more bus shuttles. Instead, she decides to begin her walk back to the dorm halls.

Usually a horrible idea, but the walk shouldn’t be too long where she is, and the fresh air feels nice on her skin.

Her roommate probably isn’t in their shared dorm, meaning she can just eat her snacks without being begged to share. Not as healthy as an actual meal, but after today, indulging in some ramyun sounds incredible. Especially when Ji-yu isn’t there.

You can really tell Ji-yu is an only child.

Ga-yeong finally allows herself to enjoy the warmth of the sun shining down on her skin. The light breeze is frigid still, but everything around her doesn’t feel as cold. It’s like, all of a sudden, she can see bright light of hope in everything around her. Sure, she doesn’t know where her father is, but he’s alive, and that knowledge is much more than she had just moments ago.

There is still the chance that she abandoned her on purpose, but like always, she pushes that thought away. That’s not a rabbit hole she wants to fall down when she’s so damn relieved.

Ga-yeong is grinning by the time she arrives outside her dorm. She grins as she unlocks the door, opening it to-

“Oh, Ga-yeong!!”

The girl’s smile drops as she immediately slams the door shut, her face bright red. “Jesus, Ji-yu!!” She yells in English on instinct, but quickly switches back. “Didn’t I tell you to warn me if you had a someone over!? I don’t need to see you getting it on with some boy!” She leans her full bodyweight against the door, almost fearful.

A loud, offended gasp comes from the other side of the door, and footsteps immediately stop over. Ga-yeong’s fears are proven correct when her roommate begins trying push the door open while yelling back, “Ga-yeong!! What do you take me for!? I don’t sleep around!” She exclaims, as if offended by the proclamation.

“Could have fooled me!” Ga-yeong yells back, keeping her back firmly against the door. She slumps a bit in relief when Ji-yu stops trying to open the door. “There’s some boy on your bed! That’s proof enough!” She can’t even find it in herself to quiet her voice for their poor neighbors, who definitely can hear the commotion. 

“He’s helping me with homework, you asshole!” Ga-yeong yelps as Ji-yu suddenly slams her whole body weight against the door, causing her to fall on the floor.

The black haired girl glares down at Ga-yeong, her own face just as red. “And to think I was doing you a favor!”

Ga-yeong rolls her eyes as she gets up off the floor. “You’ve done me plenty of favors.” She taunts, dusting off her pants.

She turns around to walk somewhere away from this incident, but Ji-yu grabs her shoulder to stop her. “Ga-yeong, listen to me!” She says firmly, before lowering her voice to a surprisingly quiet tone. Huh, Ga-yeong didn’t know her roommate was capable of being so quiet. “This boy? Not my type. But he seems more like yours.”

“What.”

Ji-yu’s expression does a complete 180 from before as she grins. “Not to tall, not muscular but not lanky, nerdy type rather than a sports bro- he’s perfect for you!”

“… I somehow doubt that.” Ga-yeong glances away.

Ji-yu pouts and lets go of her roommates shoulder to instead grab her arm. “Come on, just introduce yourself at least!”

Ga-yeong glares at her. She yanks her arm away from the girl and stomps her way into her room. Without a second thought, she walks right past the boy with a concerned expression on his face and instead grabs her bookbag. She focuses her attention on the boy. “Seong Ga-yeong.”

She doesn’t care to watch the boy’s eyes widen. Instead, she just slings her bag around her shoulders and storms out of the room. “Happy?” She asks as she passes Ji-yu.

The other girl’s glaring at her again. “No, I’m not happy! What the hell was that!?”

Ga-yeong stops to harshly poke Ji-yu’s shoulder. “Don’t try to set me up with some random boys just cause you don’t find them attractive.” She hisses. “I don’t want your damn leftovers.”

She doesn’t wait another moment to turn on her heel and storm off, leaving the hall practically fuming.

Only after she’s cooled down a bit does she feel embarrassed by her behavior. The poor guy didn’t deserve for her to treat him like that.

△ 〇 ☐

While Gi-hun still takes up a lot of Ga-yeong’s mind, she hasn’t made any progress with finding him. After all, she’s at Seoul National University! The workload is much more intense than she anticipated, and it’s already begun to overwhelm her.

She’s looked into a few more methods of finding her dad, but hasn’t actually executed any except one, which was to look him up on social media. Unfortunately, all of the popular social medias that old people like don’t have her father on there at all, making her come up empty.

Just to be sure that her father wasn’t dead, she searched if there were any plan malfunctions or crashes the day he was supposed to meet her. Thankfully, there were none.

But so far, there is no sign that her father even exists.

Ga-yeong sighs as she copies down the next equation in her notebook. When she’s not sparing precious minuets of her life trying to ponder any new way to go searching for her dad, Ga-yeong has been staying in the library to get work done. She doesn’t particularly like the long walk to the library, but as it turns out, she now has no other choice. Ji-yu is still pissed at her despite the incident being more than two weeks ago, and she’s been showing her distaste by having her rotation of friends constantly hanging out in their shared room rather than anywhere else on campus.

And whats worse, she’s now constantly bringing around the boy she tried to set her up with.

She’d be more pissed at him, but really, the passing glances they’ve stolen of each other just seems sad. The poor guy looks more uncomfortable in this situation than Ji-yu realizes.

However, that kid is not Ga-yeongs problem. Ji-yu will probably get over her frustration eventually, she just has to wait it out. The more pressing issues on her mind are her statistics homework and finding out where her father is.

Just as she’s about to put in the numbers on her calculator, a soft, “Uhm, excuse me,” broke her from her attempt at concentrating.

Ga-yeong looks over to see the very boy she was just thinking about standing in front of her. “Oh, uh, hi?”

The boy offers her a shy smile. “Do you mind if I sit here? I need to talk to you about something.”

A sinking dread appears in Ga-yeong’s stomach in seconds. “Look…” It’s not as if this guy isn’t attractive. Objectively, he is. And he doesn’t seem like an asshole, but for whatever reason, he’s just not her type. She sighs and closes her laptop. “I don’t know what Ji-yu told you, but I’m not interested in going on a date or something.”

Almost instantaneously, the boys face gets bright red. He waves his hands around desperately, as if to swat away even the thought. “Wh- no! No, no, no!” He exclaims. “That’s- that’s not at all what I was going to ask you!!” He stammers.

Ga-yeong tilts her head curiously, her lips quirking up in amusement. The boy seems to practically curl up on himself at just the suggestion. This time, she has to stop herself from grinning. “Ah, so you don’t think I’m cute then? I see how it is…” She sighs with a false sense of disappointment.

This immediately makes things worse. “That’s not what I said either!! Ga-yeong-ssi, please just let me talk to you!” He exclaims, his voice almost getting squeaky and high pitched. Almost too loud for the library.

Ga-yeong laughs, too amused to feel bad for the poor kid. Luckily her amusement shocks the boy enough to stop his sputtering. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! You just got so embarrassed so easily!” She watches as the boy deflates. “Go ahead, sit. I don’t mind.”

The boy eventually slumps into the chair, his head tilted down with still red cheeks. He almost looks like a kicked puppy, especially since he doesn’t go back to trying to talk.

Ga-yeong’s expression falls. Maybe she went too far. “Hey, we can’t talk if you stay silent like that! Didn’t you have something you wanted to say?” She asks, this time doing her best to smile softly. The boy lifts his head slightly, but hesitates a beat too long for her tastes, so Ga-yeong continues. “Fine, I’ll start. Like I told you before, I’m Seong Ga-yeong. And please, you don’t need to use honorifics with me, we’re the same age.”

She tilts her head expectantly, which seems to snap him back to reality. The boy clears his throat and sits up. “R-right. I’m Kang Cheol.” He says politely.

The boy- Cheol- leans closer, resting his arms casually against the table. “Seong Ga-yeong… wow. It’s really you, huh?” He mumbles.

Ga-yeong inches back, discomfort seeping into her frown. “Uh… why are you talking like that? Do I know you?”

Cheol pauses and leans back, sheepishly looking away. “Ah, no, you don’t. But I was just- well-…”

The boy looks up at Ga-yeong, his big, pooling brown eyes remind her starkly of a fawn. Then, finally, Cheol asks, “Is there any chance your dad is Seong Gi-hun?”

And then time stops. The world disappears around her.

The books, the quiet chatter, the low humming of the vents, all of that fizzles out into nothingness. The only thing that Ga-yeong sees is Cheol sitting in front of her, his smile present but hesitant. His hands toy with the end of his sleeve, two fingers flipping the fabric up and down- he’s nervous too.

The sudden name drop of the man he’s been searching for during her entire time in South Korea is so jarring, it makes her lose all of the rational thoughts she had just moments prior.

Cheol somehow manages to smile more at the silence. “I’ll take that as a yes, then?”

Ga-yeong manages to slowly nod, though her movements feel stiff and clunkly, just like when she left Ssangmun-dong. Her throat feels almost too tight for words to come out, but she takes a deep breath and forces herself to speak. When she does, she’s only able to mutter a quiet, “How did you know?”

Somehow, this strange boy she had been avoiding for weeks has become the strongest lead she’s found. It doesn’t make sense. A million different questions run through her mind, but none of them she even has time to grasp onto before the next one appears, making them near impossible to ask outloud.

Grinning wider, Cheol visibly relaxes despite Ga-yeong’s likely obvious panic. “I knew your dad,” The boy says softly. “He practically saved my life.”

And then Ga-yeong finds herself breaking.

Chapter Text

Cheol was twelve when he finally admitted his sister was gone.

He wasn’t sure exactly what happened to Sae-byeok, but he knew she wasn’t coming back after disappearing for so long. It hurt, knowing he was abandoned by her. He feared it since the beginning, but Sae-byeok was so firm in her promise. A part of him really started to believe she’d get their mom back from North Korea. But despite how serious she was, despite how she had never lied before, she broke the only promise that truly meant something to him.

The other boys were right.

Cheol struggled for a long time after that. He was quiet, isolating himself, and overall just kept to himself a lot more than the other boys at the childrens home. The photo of his older sister he cherished so dearly became his most prized possession.

He stared at the photo for hours everyday, asking questions inside his mind he knew his sister could never answer. He thought he would be stuck in that orphanage, alone and scared with nowhere to go. The other kids said that’s what happened to boys like him.

But then, an older man with bright red hair walked into his room. A mysterious stranger by the name of Seong Gi-hun smiled down at him. He knew his name. He knew Sae-byeok.

The stranger looked at him like he understood.

Cheol remembers so clearly holding onto his thin sweater, hands twitching as he tried so hard not to be scared or hopeful when he asked, “Mister, You knew my sister? So, do you know where she is?” He remembers the way the red-haired man’s smile faltered. His eyes broke contact with Cheol’s.

He was sure, then, that his sister was resting with their dad. She wasn’t coming back.

Gi-hun was unnaturally quiet for an adult. As they rode on public transport, Cheol was able to take note of the way he spoke- not soft spoken, but just not talkative. He didn’t talk unless he was checking on Cheol, or if there was something he needed to respond to. But at the time, it didn’t really bother him. He wasn’t in a very chatty mood, and the quiet was well needed. It was grounding, in a way. The older man was friends with Sae-byeok, so the silence felt more like proof of the hurt the two shared. Something no one else would really understand.

The man brought him to a small fish vendor in Ssangmun-dong, where an even older lady was patiently waiting for them. She radiated a caring warmth that made Cheol want to curl into himself and hide. She was far to familiar to his mom than he would have liked. The familiarity felt comforting, like a warm hug, yet blinding all at once.

The mysterious, generous man, left a suitcase that was not Cheol’s with the lady before he had left. A suitcase full of more cash than Cheol will ever see again in his life.

Cheol and Grandma both agreed a few years later that Gi-hun is like some sort of urban legend or creature. He appears at the most random, sometimes convenient of times, helps them financially and through labor, and then disappears again whenever he sees fit.

The man really is a confusing guy, but Cheol will always find himself greatful, no matter how strange he is. Maybe he will never know what happened to his sister, but he would have never been able to keep going without his gracious help.

Grandma seems to agree. Whenever the topic was brought up, she would go on and on about how much of a brat Gi-hun used to be. It was shocking to hear, honestly. Cheol grew up practically idolizing this man, but the way Grandma would describe his past never truly made sense.

She said it was like a switch went off inside his brain when his mom died. All of him changed. He’s never been the same.

Cheol finds the story hard to believe, despite the fact Gi-hun admitted to the claims whenever brought up. The Seong Gi-hun he knows isn’t a loud grinning idiot, a man who gambles and steals, a selfish beggar with no redeeming qualities whats-so-ever.

The Seong Gi-hun he knows is quiet and selfless, cold to the people he doesn’t know and warm like the sun to people he loves, always looking behind his back like a threat will pop out of the earth at any moment.

He’s certainly not mean. Cold, like how ice cream gets too hard to scoop, like how it hurts his tongue the first few seconds. But then ice cream melts from the warmth, and a myriad of flavors explode on his tongue.

Gi-hun is kind.

Grandma says, even back then, he tried to be, in his own way. It’s something ‘Sang-woo’ always loved about him.

Sang-woo, Grandma’s son, disappeared a year before she adopted Cheol. Having another person sitting at the dinner table with her seemed to help a lot more than he can really understand. He can’t help but want to follow in his mystery adoptive-kinda-brothers footsteps (besides the whole ‘getting hunted by the police and going missing’ parts) and strived to do his best in school so he could go to Seoul National University.

Grandma celebrated when Cheol got a high score on the placement exam, and threw a whole party when Cheol confirmed he was accepted into SNU.

Gi-hun managed to make time to stop by, despite how busy he seems to be. It was the first time Gi-hun ever mentioned his daughter in front of Cheol.

Seong Ga-yeong.

He didn’t think he would actually end up seeing her, but when Ji-yu’s roommate came storming in, he realized the familiar name was too big of a coincidence to just ignore. So, he sought her out, originally through Ji-yu, but when it became clear that wasn’t working, he found the girl studying in the library instead. More out of luck than anything, but who was he to deny fate? So, Cheol worked up the confidence to talk to her.

Apart of him was so curious what Gi-hun’s daughter would be like. The man is already incredible, so any children he has must be as generous and as kind as him. Sure, their first impressions weren’t the best, but Ji-yu was also a very overwhelming personality to be around, so her frustration seemed reasonable. He wondered if he could know more about the man who practically saved his life through her. He wondered if someone who is bound to be as incredible as her would even want to be friends with him.

He really, truly, didn’t expect the girl to burst into silent tears.

What is he supposed to do in that situation!?

△ 〇 ☐

Ga-yeong’s face is just slightly warm with embarrassment as she watches Cheol dig into a plate of gimbap.

The poor kid’s face looked so panicked when she bursted into tears, that she immediately began laughing at the same time. Apparently, laughing while sobbing is a mix that causes concerned looks to be glanced your way in the library, and Ga-yeong did not care for that attention.

They haven’t exactly picked up where they left off in their conversation either. Instead, they both scrambled to get out of the library, and Cheol agreed when Ga-yeong suggested for them to get food.

The silence has been kind of awkward. Ga-yeong considered breaking it on the bus ride to the dining hall. She thought about asking all of those questions bouncing around in her head at the same time, but when she began to tear up at just the thought of asking them, she realized it was a bad idea. She wasn’t nearly as put together as she thought she was.

So, unfortunate conversation over two plates of gimbap it is.

Ga-yeong takes a sip of her water as the boy eats, her eyes never leaving his face. His cheeks are puffed out like a chipmunk- okay, yeah, the boy certainly is cute, she’ll give Ji-yu that. Still not her type.

She sighs as she puts the cup down and rests her arms on the table, not paying any attention to the food in front of her. “So,” She starts softly, not trusting her voice to stay steady. Luckily, she gets the boys attention anyways, his eyes darting over to hers like he’s been waiting for this. “How do you know my dad? What do you mean ‘he saved your life’?”

Cheol swallows the food in his mouth before he grins sheepishly. “Oh, well, I met him seven years ago.” Ga-yeongs eyes widen, “He took me from the orphanage and brought me to Grandma so she could raise me.”

Her hands move to stay holding the cup instead, the cold ice in the cup keeping her steady. “Why?”

Cheol’s smile turns softer. Something more fond. “He was friends with my older sister.” He explains. “She dissapeared one day. I’m not sure why. I think Gi-hun-nim knows, but he hasn’t told me.”

Ga-yeong is silent for another moment. That moment drags on more than she’s comfortable with, and even though Cheol doesn’t seem upset, she decides too continue asking questions. “How often do you-…” No, not that question, that’s too aggressive. “- When did you see him last?”

Cheol pauses, his bushy eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “Not that long ago. It was back when I was accepted into SNU.” The boy frowns, his focus now entirely on Ga-yeong. “Why? Didn’t he… celebrate your acceptance too?”

Ga-yeong averts her gaze, unable to meet such bright, hopeful eyes head on. Not with the jealousy pooling up in her gut. “I’ve lived in America with my mom and dad- my step dad- since I was ten.” She explains softly. “I thought my dad was… dead or something. Haven’t heard from him in over seven years.”

Cheol goes quiet, his confusion now so obvious on his face. “He… really? Not at all?”

Ga-yeong shoots Cheol a glare. “Why would I lie about that?” She snaps, her hands gripping onto the glass tighter. “It’s not like I wanted him to ignore me! Finding him was the main reason I wanted to come back to Korea at all!”

She pauses when she realized just how loud she got. She slumps down in her seat, looking away from the shocked eyes Cheol wore. She’s angry. Gi-hun has been alive and well this whole time- well enough to help another kid at least. One that’s not her. The fear of her father having a ‘mystery family’ is much more likely the longer he hears this kid talk. Does he love Cheol more than her?

But that’s not Cheol’s fault.

“Sorry,” She sighs, staring at the gimbap like it will solve all her problems. The silence between them is even more tense. “I’m just… I’m confused.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Cheol softly nod. “I’m confused too,” He mumbles. “I mean, Gi-hun-nim spoke so highly of you.”

Ga-yeong freezes. “… What?”

She hesitantly looks up at Cheol, who slowly nods again. “He was showing us photos from your moms social media. Your graduation photos, your last birthday- he kept going on about how happy he was for you. He never said too much, but..” He shrugs sheepishly. “I thought he was closer with you, considering all of that.”

Ga-yeong stares at Cheol for a moment before huffing out an unamused laugh. “God, I’m so confused.” She mumbles. “So he wanted to come see me, but then never contacted me again. He is alive, not in Ssangmun-dong despite how poor he is, yet managed to get out and to help you?”

She hides her face in her hands, her eyes tearing up in frustration. “None of this makes sense..” She grumbles.

Momentary laps of silence seem to be a common theme for the two of them as Ga-yeong sits and seethes with the flurry of emotions in her brain. For a moment, she expects the boy to stand up and leave her to wallow in self pity. Instead, Cheol suddenly sits up and pushes Ga-yeong’s food closer to her.

She lifts her head up from her head to blink her wet eyes up at the boy. His expression stays firm. “Eat.”

“… What?”

“Eat.” Cheol repeats. “If you do, I’ll tell you everything I know.”

Ga-yeong stares at Cheol like he grew an extra pair of eyes. “Uh, why do I have to eat first?”

“Because you need to eat.” The boy explains as if its the most obvious thing in the world. “I’ll only talk when you start eating.”

After a moment, Ga-yeong finds herself sighing and giving in, slowly eating her gimbap. She would normally argue more, but considering that the food she’s eating is what she ordered, and theirs not really any harm that comes from eating for information, Ga-yeong decides this isn’t necessarily a bad trade.

After she swallows her first bite, Cheol’s expression softens as he begins talking. “I don’t know a whole lot, so I’m sorry if this isn’t that helpful. But what I do know is that Gi-hun keeps a lot of his personal life quiet. Grandma says he’s ‘going through some things’, but he’s been like this since I’ve known him.” He explains. “He only visits every few months- once every three months? Probably less. He used to leave after only a few hours, but Grandma has slowly convinced him to stay longer. At most, he stays with us for a few days.”

Ga-yeong does her best to pay attention as she idly chews on her food, trying to not miss a word.

Cheol picks up his glass of water and swirls it around. “From what I remember… I think he lives around here, in the heart of Seoul.”

The girl’s eyes widen. “Seoul?” She pauses and swallows the food in her mouth, her cheeks warming in embarrassment. She ignores that for now. “But- how can he afford to live in the city? Living in the heart of Seoul is so expensive!”

Cheol chuckles sheepishly. “What do you mean? If anyone can afford to live in Seoul, it would be your dad.”

“Bullshit.” Ga-yeong huffs. “Cheol, my dad could hardly afford to get me tteokbokki for my birthday. There’s no way he could afford almost fifty million won.”

“Damn, a lot must have changed in eight years then, huh?” Cheol awkwardly brushes his hair behind his ear. “You’re dad is constantly offering me and grandma money.”

Ga-yeong blinks slowly, still not fully understanding. “How?” She questions, “What could he be doing now to afford gifting you inexplicable amounts of money.”

Cheol taps the pads of his fingers together while staring at the motions instead of Ga-yeong. “I don’t know. I think he might be some sort of assistant at a major company? He’s someone important. All I know about his work is how annoying it is for him to ‘please his clients’.” He explains softly. “I know it’s serious work though. He says it’s mostly confidential cause his clients are mostly wealthy foreign business owners.”

Ga-yeong rests her cheek in her hand, glaring down at the plate of half-gone gimbap. “He hasn’t had a stable job since I was like, five.” She mumbles, still reeling from the new information. “And now he’s working with at a major company with a bunch of rich ‘clients’ with confidential information. It just doesn’t make sense.”

She sighs as her freehand drops down to take another bit of her food. “I feel like my heads gonna explode…”

Cheol lets out a nervous breath as he says, “Well… maybe you can come home with me over break,” He quietly suggests. “To ask Granny.”

Ga-yeong’s head jerks up. “Really?”

Cheol stays silent for a moment, searching Ga-yeong’s expression, before his own eyes lighten. “Yeah,” The boy smiles. “She loves having guests over, and you’re Gi-hun-nim’s daughter, she’ll definitely love you!”

“Granny would know more about Gi-hun-nim anyways.” He adds.

Ga-yeong smiles back, relief rushing into her chest. She nods. “That… yeah, that sounds good.” She sighs. “Thank you, Cheol.”

The boy’s cheeks are painted red as he grins back.

△ 〇 ☐

The walk to Cheol’s home was strangely quiet. While it had only been a week since their conversation in the library, Ga-yeong had seen the boy multiple times after, and he seemed pretty joyful then. But for whatever reason, he seems deep in thought, maybe even uncomfortable. He even almost missing their stop on the subway!

She wonders if the boy is worried about what they’ll find out. Apart of her forgot he probably has some emotional stakes in this too.

Is it selfish to ask so much help of him?

She doesn’t get to ponder that for too long, as after a fifteen minuet walk from the subway, they arrived at Cheol’s front doorstep.

Cheol’s grandma quickly ushered them inside without even waiting for introductions, as if she had been waiting all day just for them to arrive. At the table was also three cups of warm tea already waiting for them. Somehow, the kind gesture already makes her calm down.

Cheol’s grandmother smiles as she looks between them. “Oh Cheol, It’s so nice to see you back home, sweetheart,” Her voice is soft and bright at the same time. “And bringing a friend with you! You haven’t brought a girl home in so long-”

Ga-yeong blushes brightly and clears her throat, suddenly interrupting the nice old lady. Guilt eats up at her conscience, but she ignores it. “Thank you so much for letting me into your home. I’m Seong Ga-yeong.”

She bows as best as she can while still sitting down, and when she sits back up, she notices the Grandma’s expression now shifted to one of shock. “Seong Ga-yeong?” She repeats, glancing over at Cheol. The boy shakily smiles and nods. “Oh my goodness, It’s been so long-! Gi-hun-ssi never mentioned you were coming back to Korea!” She grins and surprisingly quickly leans over to squid Ga-yeong’s cheeks between her hands, as if she were a chubby baby. “Ah, I remember when you were such a tiny little girl! You know, you’re father had to ask me how to change you’re diapers after-”

“So, Granny!” Cheol’s voice is loud and firm as she puts a hand on Ga-yeong’s shoulder. Relief spreads over her as the older lady lets go of her warm face and sits back. God, she hasn’t been this embarrassed in years. “That’s actually why Ga-yeong is here.”

Cheol’s grandma looks between them in confusion, so Ga-yeong speaks up this time. “I actually… I haven’t heard from Gi-hun in over seven years.” She explains softly. “I was hoping… well, you’re the only person that might have any idea where he could be, or have any explanation of why he left.”

Ga-yeong isn’t sure what she expected when she got here, but she could feel her heart drop the moment the grandma’s expression turned sour with confusion.

“I thought… did that man really not call you after you moved?” The old lady asks.

Ga-yeong sighs and shakes her head, exhaustion creeping up into her stomach. “Nope. Not after he was supposed to visit me, which he didn’t do.” She takes a deep breath the moment she notices the irritation creeping out of her voice. It’s not their faults Gi-hun left, but having to explain herself over and over to the people who think her father is such a nice guy leaves a bitter taste on her tongue. “I don’t know where he went, where he is, how he got money to help Cheol, or anything else. He just disappeared one day.”

Cheol’s Grandma looked down in shame, and quickly her guilt feels worsened, but she can’t dwell on it before the lady starts talking. “Gi-hun-ssi… he’s been very secretive ever since his poor mom passed. She was such a nice lady, one of my dearest friends, and she tried so hard to take care of your father…” The way her brows furrow and her eyes stay down, focused on the cup of tea in her hands, reminds her of the last look her dad had given her at the airport. Right before she left to America. It’s something she doesn’t fully understand. “I think he blamed himself for it, but there was nothing he could have done. Poor thing couldn’t look me in the eye…”

Ga-yeong takes a deep breath and glances over at Cheol. His slight nod is permission enough.

“Do you know where he lives now?”

“No, I don’t. He keeps everything to himself now in days, I don’t even have his phone number. I think he might behaving a midlife crisis… I’m not sure anyone knows where he lives.” A pause. “Well, except maybe the strange man that follows him everyone. I don’t like the way he looks at Cheol, but Gi-hun-ssi seems comfortable with him.”

“Do you know what his job is?”

“No, he’s never told me. Sales, maybe?”

“Didn’t my grandma die because he couldn’t afford her surgery? Where did the money come from so soon after that then?”

“I… I don’t know where the money came from. I wanted to ask, he had so much debt constantly, I didn’t think he had any to spare. But he always avoided the question when I asked.”

“Okay, well… do you know how he got his job? He hasn’t worked properly since I was a baby.”

“… I don’t know. He said it was through ‘connections’ but besides Sang-woo, I don’t have even a slightest idea of who else he could know. Maybe the strange man?”

After the fourth ‘I don’t know’ in a row, it was clear they weren’t going to get any answers from Cheol’s grandma. Even she started to get sheepish as she started to realize how little she knew about Gi-hun.

Cheol and Ga-yeong left his grandma’s house in much lower spirits than before.

The walk of shame back to the subway is slow, neither of them all that excited to get back to campus. Eventually, Cheol breaks the silence by mumbling, “I was worried that would happen.”

Ga-yeong spares a glance at Cheol. The poor guy looks to be in even worse spirits then he had on the way here. “The more I thought about it, the more confused I got. Grandma would talk about Gi-hun a lot, so if I couldn’t answer your questions, why would she?” He avoids Ga-yeong’s gaze, instead looking straight down at the sidewalk. “I don’t know whats going on with your dad, but it’s like he purposefully made it impossible to follow him. I never should have suggested this.”

Ga-yeong hesitates before she pets an arm around Cheol’s shoulders. “Hey, don’t say that. If anything… well, it was at least worth a shot. Now our suspicions are confirmed.” She argues softly. As Cheol’s shoulders relax, she finds herself surprised that the boy is just slightly shorter than her.

She shakes her head slightly to focus. “But that just makes me more confused.” She mumbles. “Why does he feel the need to hide? He’s not just avoiding me anymore, he’s avoiding everyone. Even the people he cares about. Is he hiding from the law or something?”

Cheol grimaces. He stops walking suddenly, making Ga-yeong awkwardly trip a bit before she steadies herself. “Maybe…” He looks up at Ga-yeong, eyes wide and lost. “Do you think we should go to the police? Report a missing person?”

Ga-yeong hesitates. If her dad really is hiding from the law, would this put a target on his back? But another part of her decides to ignore that worry.

Gi-hun isn’t the type to commit crimes. He’s not dangerous or cruel, so even if he did get a surprising amount of money in a suspicious way… there has to be a good explanation for it.

So she nods. “Yeah. That’s a good idea, Cheol.”

Chapter Text

While Ga-yeong has had horrible interactions with American police officers, she’s pretty sure nothing a police officer can do will piss her off more. If they had been somber on the way to the station, they were practically livid once they stormed out.

Ga-yeong’s arms are crossed, her hands digging into the fabric of her sweatshirt. Cheol doesn’t look much better, judging by his furrowed brows and clenched fists.

She breaks the silence first by grumbling, “I didn’t know the police here would be so useless.” Apart of her knew there was a chance, but the extent was so harsh, it seemed almost unreasonable. “’He’s a grown man’ my ass. Grown men can go missing too! Why should we not be concerned!?”

She gnaws on the inside of her cheek, despite the initial sharp pain. She doesn’t want to yell in the middle of the public, and she can already feel herself getting antsy and hear her voice getting louder. It wouldn’t be fair to Cheol to put that attention on the skittish man.

Luckily, Cheol is just as mad. Without making eye contact, he scoffs. “I can’t believe what he said to you.” His voice shakes, simmering with anger. “He had no right to say such a thing.”

Ga-yeong’s jaw clenches. It doesn’t take a genius to know what Cheol was referring to.

When it became increasingly clear that they weren’t even going to be allowed to make a proper police report, Ga-yeong distastefully started getting snippy. Maybe not the most mature way to go about this, but in her defense, today has been difficult enough already without the police officer deciding to shove her concerns under the rug. And, at the very least, the police officers response was no more kind than she was.

“Parents abandon their kids all the time, you’re gonna have to get over it. If he didn’t want to be in your life before, he sure as hell doesn’t want a brat like you now!”

Ga-yeong was so caught off guard, a response couldn’t even be yanked out of her. Surprisingly, Cheol found his wits before she could and got mad for her. She kind of forgot he even had the capacity to get angry.

She takes a deep breath. “It’s… whatever. It’s whatever.” She concludes, deciding that getting pissed isn’t going to do anything useful. Besides, being so angry is exhausting. “Dad visits you often, right?”

“Not often,” Cheol reminds her. “Once every three months at most. That’s barely anything.”

Ga-yeong shakes her head. “That’s less than a whole semester, and more than I’ve ever seen him.” She argues, bitterness slipping into her voice. She glares down in front of her while they walk down the subway stairs, as if its the cause of her fathers sudden disappearance.

She sighs softly as they begin walking through the hallway. “It’s fine, I promise. I waited seven years for answers, I can wait a few months.”

Cheol seems unsure, by the eventually accepts the answer and nods. “I get it.” He says softly. “I’d do the same for my sister.”

Ga-yeong hesitates, but stays silent despite the urge to ask. Is it really her place to? She dragged Cheol around to help her with an impossible mission when the man has his own questions he needs answered. It’s probably intruding to ask.

Luckily, Cheol adds, “I’ll let Grandma know to contact us immediately if he visits.”

And that was that.

The silence between them is mutually unbroken, after everything that has happened, it’s way too soon to talk casually. However, it’s surprisingly not an uncomfortable silence.

What is unfortunate is the subway train driving off by the time they get where they get there. The two just grumble under their breath as they sit down on one of the many benches.

Ga-yeong leans back and rests her head on the wall behind her. She closes her eyes as she focuses on her breathing, doing her best attempt to calm down from the annoyance. But subways aren’t the most relaxing place on earth.

Cheol’s voice makes Ga-yeong open her eyes. “You wanted to ask,” He says softly. When the girl tilts his head, he continues, “About my sister.”

Ga-yeong looks away immediately, instead focusing a bit too much on her lap. “… Sorry. I just- you haven’t brought her up much.”

She see’s the boy shrug from the corner of her eyes. “There’s not much to say. She disappeared around the same time your dad did, and they know each other, so…” He sighs. “They’re connected somehow. If you’re dad is tangled in all sort of strange mysteries, then so was my sister.”

“But if I waited eight years to find out what happened to her…”

Ga-yeong slowly nods as she catches on. “You can wait a few more months.” She concludes.

She turns her head to look at Cheol, the boy staring straight ahead at him with his hands intertwined. She inches closer to him. “Once dad comes back, we’ll demand him to answer our questions. Both of ours.”

Cheol’s grateful smile relaxes her shoulders.

They suddenly jump as a sharp, popping noise steals their attention. It’s loud, echoing in the subway, like a gunshot. Ga-yeong is up on her feet before she can even think, putting herself in front of Cheol to cover him.

Her eyes dart around- she flinches as the sharp noise hits her ears again. She jerks her head over and-

Blinks at the sight of a well dressed man slapping another, stout, man. In between them is a blue and red piece of paper.

Cheol stands up and shuffles next to her. “Are those two… playing ddakji?”

“Oh!” Ga-yeong perks up as she realizes. “God, I haven’t played that game in years! And I thought the subway was weirdly calm. This is more like it.” She chuckles, relief rushing through her.

Thankfully, the subway train arrives right after the realization. Ga-yeong moves to go to it, much calmer now that she knows what’s happening, with Cheol awkwardly following behind. “What do you mean?? How is two adults playing a violent version of a kids game on the subway normal!?”

Ga-yeong shrugs with a light smile. “Well, I initially thought someone was getting shot, so I’ll take two men playing a game.”

“Seriously??”

“I’ve seen worse on a subway.”

Cheol’s lips quirk up in amusement, but he quickly frowns at another sharp sound. He looks back to the two men. “I’m… going to make sure everything is okay. That man’s cheek looks bruised-”

“Don’t do that!?” Ga-yeong jerks forward and grabs Cheol’s shoulder. “We should not interfere with this sort of craziness. Not for a stranger!” She argues.

Cheol’s expression hardens as he pulls himself away from the girl. “Not everyone is lucky enough to have people looking out for them, Ga-yeong. Get on the subway if you want,” He scoffs. “I’m going to check on him.”

Ga-yeong glares at Cheol as he runs off. He looks back at the subway car she wishes she could go on before she groans and slowly trails behind the boy. She cares too much for him to leave him alone. The subway car drives off as she makes her decision.

“Hey!” Cheol yells out, gathering an unfortunate amount of attention, including the two men. “Why the hell are you slapping that guy!?”

The man with a bruising cheek looks much older than she expected, probably closer to her dads age. He’s heavier set with broad muscles, long hair tied back into a ponytail. His clothes look like they were on fire at some point- but that makes more sense when she realizes his gray jacket is a chef uniform. The way he glares at them, with pure hatred in his eyes, reminds her of the line cooks that used to yell at her when she was a dishwasher.

The man behind her is a harsh contrast to the chef. He has a perfectly tailored business suit on that doesn’t have even a single wrinkle on it. His hair, short and black, is perfectly combed back. And he looks calm. Too calm. His smile is overly polite, and his eyes blank.

A shiver runs up Ga-yeong’s spine when the man makes eye contact with her.

Luckily, the older man breaks up the terrifying moment by yelling, “You brats stay out of this! If I have to get slapped to get money, then so be it!”

The two kids glance back at each other, both clearly just as confused as the other. Cheol rubs the back of his neck. “Why would he give you money to get slapped?”

Ga-yeong flinches back as the businesses man steps forward. The grin on his face makes Ga-yeong grab his sleeve nervously. “What are your names?”

Cheol reaches back to grab her hand, thankfully noticing her nerves. “Uh.. Kang Cheol?”

Then the salesman looks over at her, making Ga-yeong’s muscles tense up. Something about this man seems incredibly dangerous, like a fox staring down at an injured rabbit. Maybe she’s just being dramatic. “… Ga-yeong. Seong Ga-yeong.”

She tightens her grip on Cheol’s hand as the man smirks from her introduction. “Give me one moment, wont you?” He asks, his voice sickly sweet.

The recruiter turns to the stressed man and pulls out a business card from his pocket. He says something quietly to him, too quiet for her to hear, before he hands it to her. She watches as the older man’s eyes widen, while the other just pats his chest and smiles.

The man hesitates, seemingly just as distrusting of the man as Ga-yeong is, but he eventually takes the business card and gives a short, polite bow, before nervously walking off.

Ga-yeong looks around and then- oh.

She realizes something horrific.

They’re alone.

Somehow, the subway station their in has almost completely cleared out, leaving the three of them alone.

With the recruiters back still turned to them, watching the man leave, Ga-yeong takes the opportunity to tug at her friends hand in the opposite direction. She doesn’t care about making the subway anymore. All of the alarms are going off in her head. All she knows is that they need to get far away from this man. There’s no world in which this wont end in them dying.

Cheol hesitates, just for a second, but it’s enough time for the man to turn around again.

Fuck.

The strange business man smiles again at them. Goosebumps appear on her skin. “Kang Cheol, Seong Ga-yeong,” He starts, “How about you two play a game with me.”

Ga-yeong squints at him. “A game?” She asks. “Whats the catch?”

The man picks up the two colored papers from the floor- one red, one blue. “I’m sure you’ve played ddakji before, yes? It’s just a simple children’s game, no catch. All you have to do is flip over the other players tile to win.” The explains. “If you win, I give you 100,000 won. If I win, you give me 100,000.”

Both students eyes widen at the mention of the amount of money, but Cheol quickly deflates during it. “I… I don’t think we have that much-”

Ga-yeong gasps loudly and interrupts Cheol. Letting go of his hand and stepping in front of him. “Is that what your doing? Are you making poor people gamble away the rest of their money by having them play children games against you!?” She hisses, glaring at him. “Whats with the slapping then? What does that have to do with it?”

The salesman simply grins wider, as if amused by Ga-yeong’s deduction. “You’re close.” He tilts his head. “Think about it. You got this far, after all.”

Ga-yeong’s eyes dart down to the floor as she thinks. She bites her cheek as she thinks.

Money for money, depending on who wins the game. If he was to slap the other player, it would have to be when they lose, right? It wouldn’t make sense for that tough man to take it for any other reason.

“Do you… slap them if they can’t pay up?” She murmurs, eyes nervously looking back up at the man.

“Bingo.” The recruiter chuckles.

Ga-yeong crosses her arms. “Jesus christ,” She breathes in english before quickly switching back to Korean, “That’s sick-”

Cheol cuts her off by loudly asking, “Can I play!?”

“Cheol!?”

She immediately yanks her elbow backwards to hit his side, the poor boy hissing in pain. “Ow! What the hell was that for?!”

Ga-yeong rolls her eyes. “Are you kidding me? Don’t get into gambling, Cheol, especially not with a shady weirdo like this guy.” She hisses before glaring straight into the recruiters eyes, despite how his gaze makes her want to cower. Intense isn’t the right word. “He’s probably just a front for some weird loan shark or pyramid scheme. What man goes around slapping people and giving them money?”

The salesman laughs, but it doesn’t sound like it’s in good faith. “I can assure you, I’m not a front for anything like that. I’m a friend, not your enemy.”

Ga-yeong quirks a brow. “And the business card?”

“I give the trash of the world the opportunity for a better life.” The man adds. A strange, sadistic glint in his eye makes the girl step back. “As I said, I’m not your enemy, Ga-yeong. I’m a friend.”

Her stomach twists uncomfortably.

The two stare at each other until Cheol steps next to Ga-yeong, his hand raised slightly like a middle schooler. “So, can we play?”

Ga-yeong’s glare is ignored as the recruiter turns his attention to Cheol. “You are your friend can play once, each.”

Despite herself, her glare softens when Cheol nudges Ga-yeong’s shoulder. “If we win, we can afford to get some fried chicken off campus.”

The hopeful smile from Cheol’s face makes some of her anger wear off. She sighs as she gives in. “Fine, but only because you deserve to have something nice after helping me all day.”

Cheol grins and lifts his hand, silently asking for the kids toy, but the recruiter doesn’t hand it right away. His attention is on her again. “What was the little boy here helping you with?”

Cheol makes an offended noise in front of her, his face shifting in confusion and almost disgust. She doesn’t blame him. “Is that important? Let him play the game.”

“Not until you answer.” The recruiter states, lifting the hand holding the ddakji up in the air, way out of reach. It only makes it obvious how much taller the man is.

Ga-yeong curses under her breath. Why is she so incredibly unlucky today? “Cheol is just trying to help me find my dad.”

“Oh?” The recruiter grins sharply. “Did you find him?”

The faux innocence in the recruiters voice was filled with a venom that makes the girl freeze up with a new rush of fear. Why does he seem so entertained by this knowledge. Does he know something? Or is he just a freaky sadist who gets off on others suffering? “No,” She grits out. “No, I didn’t.”

“Now, give him the ddakji.” She orders.

Finally, the recruiter chuckles. “Whatever you like, agassi,” He teases, dropping the red paper into Cheol’s hand without a word.

She exhales and steps back to give Cheol some room. The boy seems uncomfortable but focuses on the second tile that falls gently on the floor. He fixes his stance before he throws the ddakji against the first, getting it to flip over effortlessly.

He pumps his fists into the air and cheers. “Hell yeah!”

The recruiter, true to his word, hands the 100,000 won to Cheol, before gesturing to Ga-yeong.

She steps forward and picks up the opposite paper from the floor. She awkwardly positions herself, trying to remember how she played this game as a kid, as she throws the ddakji.

It doesn’t so much as pop up.

All that to lose is frustrating.

The recruiter laughs again, this time genuinely amused. Should she feel accomplished? Probably not, seeing as the recruiter takes his ddakji and slams it on the ground, flipping it with ease.

“You’re horrible at this game.” Cheol points out with a light, teasing smile. At least his doesn’t feel demonic.

Ga-yeong rolls her eyes, standing up straight to cross her hands. “I haven’t played the game in years.” She grumbles under her breath. “Americans don’t play ddakji.”

The recruiter tilts his head. “You lived in America? Well, at least you have an excuse.” He crouches down to pick up the folded papers and put them back in his briefcase. As he closes it up, he adds, “You’re father didn’t have an excuse like that, and he was horrible at ddakji.”

Ga-yeong pauses. Her mind reels at the sudden mention of her dad. “I-… excuse me?”

The man straightens up and faces Ga-yeong, focusing entirely on her. She can barely feel Cheol reach out to intertwine their fingers again. “Seong Gi-hun. Eight years ago, he was 250 million won in debt to banks, and over 160 more with loan sharks. He was addicted to gambling on horse racing and had a nasty smoking habit.” Somehow, it seems like the mans expression only softens as he keeps talking. Something oddly fond. “He lost custody of you in early july, when you were only seven years old, and saw you less and less.”

Everything unsettling about the man is placed on the back burner as he explains her dads life story. “Seven years ago, he stopped contacting you all together after he was supposed to visit you in America.” He tilts his head. “Is that correct?”

Cheol and Ga-yeong are frozen, nearly entranced, the man’s words captivating. Ga-yeong eventually chokes out, “How- how did you know all that?” This is the second time someone unsuspecting knows her father. She’s starting to wonder if all of Seoul is somehow connected to him.

The recruiter sighs, amused. “I told you, Ga-yeong. I’m not your enemy.”

His hand moves to his jacket pocket, pulling out a business card. He offers it to Ga-yeong, but lowers his voice to something more firm. “When you call this number, follow the instructions I give you, and then tell me your father’s name and date of birth as well. I’ll give you an address, where we can talk more, in private.” When Ga-yeong takes the business card in a daze, The Recruiter takes a step forward, getting a little too close for comfort, his voice lowering even quieter. “Arrive alone. I can’t help you with anything if you take the boy with you.”

As if planned, the man takes a step back right as the subway train arrives. He smiles the same, oddly sinister way, at the two of them. “Have a good evening, agassi, Cheol.” Before he walks up the stairs.

Slowly, Cheol manages to guide Ga-yeong onto the subway, and sits the two of them down. She moves to lean her head on the boys shoulder.

“At least we got on the third train…?”

Ga-yeong’s next thought is to wonder why he never followed through on slapping her. 

△ 〇 ☐

“Would you like to participate in the game? If you would like to participate, please state your full name and date of birth.”

“I-…? Seong Ga-yeong. June eighth, 2011. And… and my father is Seong Gi-hun, October thirty-first, 1974.”

“…”

“It’s nice to hear from you, Ga-yeong. Now write this down.”

“O-okay…”

“10-271 Banghak-dong, Dobong-gu, Seoul. 5:30 PM, September 1^st. Meet me there, and I’ll help you gain more information about your dad.”

“… Thank you.”

“See you then.”

Chapter Text

“Are you with me, or not?”

“I’m only with you so you don’t die!! I am heavily against this otherwise!”

Ga-yeong huffs out a laugh at her friend’s concern. She swipes away the little box showing her face and instead focuses on following her map app.

After searching for the address the strange man had given her, she realized its another two hour bus ride. Now, she’s not one to complain about distance, considering it can take up to an hour just to get from White Plains to Manhattan. It’s more just frustrating that every long ride leads her to a location that gives her practically no new intel.

That, and how this address seems to lead her to an old, run down love hotel.

Gross.

In any other instance, she would have never in a million years considered following a grown man’s cryptic messages about meeting him at a love hotels that closed down six years ago. Honestly, even now, she considered flaking. But this wasn’t just any other stranger claiming to know information on her dad. This man truly did.

So, following around the creepy rich man that slaps people for fun it is.

But Ga-yeong isn’t dumb, she wasn’t going to go to this place without telling anyone. She let Cheol know when she was going, where, and has also sent the boy her location in case anything goes horribly wrong. At least one person in Korea has to know whats happening. And while she searches the building, she’ll be on the phone with Isabella. That way, someone who knows her parents can contact them.

Just in case.

It’s not a pleasant thought to have to think about, it’s really one she’s avoiding whenever the ‘what if’s start playing in her mind, but it’s logical.

“So here’s the plan,” Ga-yeong starts in English. “When I get to the rendezvous point, I’m going to turn off my Bluetooth and mute you on my end, but you’ll still be on speaker so you can hear everything that the man says.”

Isabella lets out a long sigh. “Eve. My lovely, dearest friend of mine… This plan makes no sense.”

Ga-yeong pouts at her tone. “What do you mean? I thought it was pretty smart.”

“Eve,” The sound of Isabella sputtering for a moment only confuses the other girl more. Eventually, She continues by asking, “Why do I call you ‘Eve’ again?”

“Huh?” Ga-yeong frowns. “Because I got tired of seeing everyone fail to pronounce my name properly?” Technically, her full western name is ‘Evelyn’.

“And why did we struggle to pronounce your name?”

“Because you can’t speak Kore- Ohhhh…”

“Yeah.”

“That makes more sense.”

“Yeah!”

Ga-yeong clears her throat. “Well, I mean… screaming is a universal sign of distress.”

“Eve! Do you even hear yourself?!”

She sighs as she looks back down at her google maps. She’s almost there. “I don’t have many other choices, Izzy. I can go, potentially risk my life but potentially get more information, or I could risk nothing and gain nothing.” She explains. “It’s a risk I’m willing to take if it means not sitting on my ass and learning nothing.”

Isabella’s silence is enough to know she doesn’t agree, but she doesn’t expect her to either. “Look, it will be okay, Izzy. Like I said, Cheol has my location and is meeting me halfway once I’m done here. And uh… you can screen record! So if I die, you can give the evidence to the police!”

“It is too late at night for this shit. You’re lucky I love you too much to leave you alone.”

Ga-yeong smiles softly, her heart skipping a beat from those words. Suddenly much more energized, she turns down the volume all the way and puts her headphones back in the case. After turning the call to speaker, she stuffs her phone in her hoodie pocket and crosses the road.

With her poor friend probably having a heart attack, Ga-yeong frowns as she looks around in front of her. “Wow, this place is even worse in person.” The ‘Pink Motel’ looks sketchy. While it makes sense, seeing as this building hasn’t been in use for quite some time, it is still ominous. The glass is all fogged up with grime, and even the front door knob looks dusty.

Ga-yeong tries to peek through the glass (maybe its frosted and not just made up of pure grime), but she can’t see a thing. She crosses her arms in frustration. “Ugh, of course the sun is starting to set. I don’t think I’ll be able to see much with the lights off.”

A voice directly behind her says, “The lights being off usually means there are no open rooms.”

Ga-yeong feels like she jumped ten feet in the air from the sudden voice and unexpected English. Guess that wont work as a way to discreetly talk to Isabella.

She whips around to see the suspicious businessman with the same, sharp grin he had on before. He doesn’t seem any softer today than he was only a few weeks ago. He just seems amused by her jumpiness. “But that’s not the case this time.” he says, switching easily back to Korean.

Ga-yeong clears her throat before asking, “Uh… why not?”

The recruiter walks past her, and instead focuses on the front door. The man takes out bobby pins and begins messing with the lock on the door. “Because your father owned this building.”

Ga-yeong stares blankly at the man.

“What.”

She looks over at the doors and the overly cutesy ‘love’ theme of the place and grimaces. “Uh, why would my dad ever own a love hotel- Actually wait, no, y’know what? I’m not gonna ask why.” She shakes her head. “I really don’t want to know.”

She walks a bit closer to The Recruiter, trying to focus. “So, I’m just gonna ask why we’re here.”

A small ‘click’ noise is the only warning before the man pushes the doors open. “You wanted answers, didn’t you?” Without waiting for a response, The Recruiter walks into the building and holds the door open. “After you, agassi.”

Ga-yeong deadpans at the man. “… It’s really weird to invite me to a love hotel with you, you know?” A spark of amusement flutters in her chest when the man’s perpetual smile drops. “Does everyone with a business card get sent to meet you at a love hotel?”

“Huh.” The man blinks. “I didn’t realize how weird this seemed.”

Ga-yeong lets out a loud laugh, more out of shock than anything. “You didn’t!?” She asks, grinning. “Not once did you think it might seem a bit odd?”

His eyes brighten at Ga-yeong’s amusement. “Not at all! I was honestly banking more on you being scared that a mysterious stranger gave you an address to a run down building. I didn’t notice other interpretations.”

“Wait- you wanted me to be scared!?”

“Well don’t say it like that, you make it seem like I was being malicious.” The Recruiter practically pouts. Ga-yeong isn’t sure how else she should take that but as malicious. “Are you coming in, or not?”

She rolls her eyes, an amused smile still tugging at her lips. Maybe if she can focus on the objectively funny parts about this situation, she can push away her fear enough to focus. “Fine, fine, whatever.” She awkwardly shuffles past the man in his perfect business suit to see the motel. “You never answered my question. About the business cards. I was kind of serious, you know.”

The Recruiter shrugs with a lazy smile. “I don’t tend to bring the new recruits to love hotels, no.”

Ga-yeong chuckles, but her smile drops as she takes in the reception area in front of her. “Was this really a motel at one point? It looks horrible.” She mumbles to herself.

She pauses and looks back at the man. “Were you… serious about my dad owning this place? Please tell me you weren’t.” She pleads. “I don’t want to believe it, for many reasons, but I’ll focus on the knowledge that he’s just as unorganized now as he was eight years ago.”

The Recruiter snickers. “I was!” He announces happily. He lets the door close behind them as he walks forward, his dress shoes likely getting dirty from the gross rug below them. “You’re father is an interesting man, agassi! Poor thing technically still owns this building, even though he never used it for his intended purposes. He still hides a lot of things here…”

“What do you mean?”

The recruiter walks back up to her, making her take a few step back. The man reaches out to pet the top of her head anyways, like a dog or something. Though this is not really the reason she does so, she’s glad she has her hair up now. “You’ll find some interesting information your father left behind here, I’m sure. Why not have a look around?”

Ga-yeong swats his hand away and moves around the man to put some distance between them. “Why not just tell me what you know?” She goes over to an empty bookshelf, feeling her hand along the dusty surface. “My dad isn’t missing missing, but I still think I should be allowed to know about him.”

With a chuckle, the man says, “Wheres the fun in that?”

“Fun?” Ga-yeong shoots a glare at The Recruiter. “I’m looking for my missing dad, not trying to be Sherlock Holmes! I just want to know why the hell he’s avoided me for so long.”

The Recruiter tilts his head. “Is is so irrational to think he’s abandoned you?”

It feels like a knife twists in her heart.

She knows it’s not. Even the police officer said it’s the most likely option, but hearing it from someone who knows so much is different. She opens her mouth to respond, but all she manages to do is intake a sharp breath as her eyes water.

“Does… does my dad really want nothing to do with me?” Ga-yeong asks, her voice quiet and small. Wet, wide eyes look up at the man. She doesn’t pull away from him this time as he places a comforting(?) hand on her shoulder. “Seems… a bit cruel, y’know? To drag me all the way out here, just to tell me this.”

Somehow, the man is still smiling. Though it’s softer again. “You can always give up, you know.” The Recruiter suggests, gesturing towards the door. “Go back to the world you knew, finish your education, and then hurry back onto the first plane you can.”

Her eyes slowly drift over to the door.

“You should.” The Recruiter adds, something firm in his voice. “You’re fathers life is not one you should be involved with. No one would blame you for ending this mission.”

Ga-yeong balls her hands into fists, her expression hardening. It’s not nearly as effective when her eyes are already filled with tears, but she tries to will her grief away. “No… no. I need to find him.” She shrugs the man’s hand off her shoulder and stomps towards the front desk. “Whether he wants me to or not doesn’t matter. I need to find him.”

The Recruiter lets out a dramatic yet disappointed sigh. “Come on, agassi. If your father abandoned you, why go out of your way to find him?” He runs his fingers through his hair, his eyebrows furrowed.

Ga-yeong glares at the man. “Cause clearly, you brought me here for a reason. If all you wanted was to tell me that my father hates my guts and wants me dead, you could have told me the first time we met. And… even if it is true…”

“My father may have abandoned me, but I’m not him.” She goes behind the front desk and begins opening the many surrounding drawers. Oddly enough, most are empty, with the first one she opened having a bunch of room keys thrown in haphazardly. She glares at the lack of new information. “I am better. Whatever my father thinks will happen, wont. I will not give up on my family. On him. Not yet.”

When Ga-yeong lifts her head up, the Recruiters is only inches away from her face. She flinches back so hard, she falls on top of the spinny-chair behind her. Somehow, its worse that his usual smile is gone again.

“That’s a dangerous mindset to have, agassi,” The Recruiter says, voice dangerously soft. He climbs over the damn desk, not caring for the dust or old cups of pens that were resting on it. They all fall down on the floor with a loud clanking before the man stands before her. “Do you want to know what happened to the last person who tried to dig too deep?”

Not a second later, the man pulls out a gun. Ga-yeong gasps and curls up on the chair, pressing her back firmly against the cheap fabric. “W-why-”

She’s cut off, only her eyes widening in response when the man points the gun at her left shoulder. She trembles in the chair, body frozen. She doubts she could get away if she tried.

“The last person who involved himself, who dug too deep, got himself shot-” The man taps her shoulder with the muzzle of the pistol, making her flinch back with a broken whimper. “-Right here, in his shoulder. By his own brother no less.”

The man tilts his head. “Do you want this to happen to you?”

“N-no,” She chokes out. “No, I- I don’t-”

“Then you shouldn’t get involved.”

The pressure of the gun finally leaving her should makes her deflate in her seat. Somehow the rush of relief comes with a new feeling of dread as the man puts the gun back in a holster she didn’t know he even had.

As he walks back around the counter, normally this time, he says, “In any case, I feel like your search will be nothing more than a waste of time.” The man shrugs and points his thumb at the stairwell. “All of the hints you could really find are up there. And even then, your father didn’t have much to leave behind.”

Oh, so that’s what whiplash feels like.

Ga-yeong swallows down the lump in her throat, trying to calm her hyperventilating and the panic that’s internally begging her to leave. She instead stands on her shaking legs and slowly shuffles around the counter as well. “W… why are you trying to help me,” She flinches as the man looks back at her. “-And scare me away at the same time?”

The man grins. “I’m not. I don’t care what you do either way. But I would get in a lot of trouble if I didn’t ‘try’ to stop you from this suicide mission.” With Ga-yeong’s mind still reeling, the business man walks over to the exit. “Oh, and would you look at that. My time here is up. I have to get back to work before your fathers shoot me.”

“What-?”

She doesn’t get to voice her confusion, as the salesman keeps talking. “I’ll leave the door unlocked for you, it’s not like anyone uses this place anymore. It could be a little- hmm, whats it called… oh! A little hide out for you and your little friends!” He looks away from her to open the door, before he pauses again. “Right! Don’t touch anything in the weapon room- I’ll certainly also get in trouble for that- but anything else is free game!”

“Text me when your ready for step two.”

And just like that, the man is gone.

Ga-yeong waits a few seconds, just until she’s sure the man has gone away, before she leans against the counter to stop herself from entirely collapsing. With wavering gasps of air, she scrambles to get her phone out of her hoodie pocket and put her headphones back on.

She doesn’t look a the video part of the call, unsure if she can handle seeing her friends face. “… Eve?” Isabella mumbles. “Is… he gone?”

Ga-yeong nods before realizing her friend can’t see her. She clears her throat. “Uh… yeah.”

“You alive?”

“…”

Of course now it’s suddenly difficult to process the English words her friend is saying. Even worse, when she does get it, she’s suddenly struggling to speak English back. Eventually, she manages another “Yeah.”

“So… what happened.”

Ga-yeong shudders as her hand trails over to her shoulder. “Gun.”

“What!?”

She covers her eyes with her hands, leaving her phone on the counter she’s leaning on. “I-I don’t know- I- he pointed a gun at me. My shoulder.” She feels her body tremble as she recounts the events that just unfolded. “The um… the little latch thing. Uh- the thing that stops it from shooting? It- it wasn’t on.”

She can hear the horror in Isabella’s voice as she whispers, “How do you know that?”

“Dad- my stepdad.” She answers awkwardly. “He hunts deer.”

There’s silence between them before Isabella hisses, “Eve, you should leave, now. Like, now now!”

Ga-yeong opens her eyes and roughly wipes the forming tears away. “No. I- the man is gone. He said things- so I think I should keep looking.”

“Are you kidding me!? This isn’t worth it!”

Ga-yeong gets off of the counter and finally turns back on the video call, just to switch to the camera to show the room instead. “Izzy, listen,” She still avoids looking at her friend. “That weird dude said my dad owned this building. That anything important I can find is upstairs. I can’t just leave now.”

“Eve…” Ga-yeong ignores the stabbing guilt in her gut. She knows she can’t dwell on it. She begins walking towards the stairwell as her friend mumbles, “Eve, look, I know this is important to you, but shouldn’t you just wait? You risked your life, and for what? Cheol said your dad would come back to visit them soon. Waiting would be better than this.”

Ga-yeong sighs. “I’m not going to walk out of here, after a gun was pointed at me, with nothing new to come back with. And… I’m starting to think Cheol’s theory was right.” She mumbles. “I think my dad is related to some criminal activity. I mean, that weird guy told me not to touch anything in the ‘weapon room’. What the hell is that even supposed to mean?”

She gets to the second floor and begins trying to open random rooms. “I think that’s even more of a reason to stop! If you’re dad is a criminal, you shouldn’t let yourself get involved!” She exclaims. Ga-yeong huffs as none of the doors open. “What if he hurts you!?”

The thought is ridiculous in her head. “Dad wouldn’t hurt me.”

“You don’t know that, Eve! You haven’t seen him in years! God, I never should have supported this-”

The two of them grow quiet as a door finally opens. With her phone camera facing it, Ga-yeong pushes the door open, her hands shaking.

She frowns as she steps into the bedroom.

The first, most noticeable thing is the screens showing maybe about nine different security tapes, all probably live feeds. There’s three that show the outside of the building, and the rest are all inside. Unlike on the front counter, the desk in front of it has many different notebooks and crumpled up papers scattered around.

Further into the room is a mess. There’s a map of the subway stations hanging up on the wall, with other papers, maybe more maps, on the floor in front of it. The map hanging up there is marked up with exes, circles, and words.

The bed is all messed up, sheets unmade and with only two stiff looking pillows, on it.

Ga-yeong approaches the bed, ignoring the weird dried, copper smell in the room, and instead focusing on the photo by the nightstand.

She nearly drops her phone when she sees herself. It was a photo her dad had taken of the two of them when she was eight. She was hugging him tight, grinning widely, and so was he.

Ga-yeong hears a sharp intake of breath in her ears, snapping her out of her trance. “Isabella… do you get it now? This isn’t just about talking to my dad anymore.” She moves away from the bed and over to the desk. “My dad has been lying to everyone. Whose to say he’ll finally tell the truth when he comes back? I…”

She stares at the papers on the surface, not really reading them. “I should collect evidence. Figure out what my dad has been up to. What… what crimes have been going on. If I show the evidence to him, he’ll have to answer me.”

Sneaking a glance at Isabella makes her chest ache. “Eve- I get it, I do, but this is so dangerous. You’re not a detective, you should leave something like this to the cops.”

“And then what? Just let him get arrested.”

“I think that’s a reasonable plan?”

Ga-yeong bites the inside of her cheek as she places her phone down to scours through the papers. “But we don’t even know what he’s done, or why he did it. Maybe- maybe there’s a good reason! For the suspicious building or the inexplicable amounts of money, or- or the guy who pointed a gun at me… there has to be.” She has to focus. Focus on breathing normally. “Dad wasn’t a bad person. Not like that.”

“Weren’t you the one who said he would get into lots of fights?” Isabella points out. Ga-yeong’s hands tremble more. “Or that he would steal from your grandma to gamble?? Eve, I’m begging you to listen to yourself…”

Ga-yeong considers, for just a moment.

She moves to take off her headphones. “I have to go, Izzy. I- I need to focus. I’m sorry for keeping you awake. I’ll call you later.”

She doesn’t wait to listen to what her friend has to say. She just hangs up on her and uses her phone as a flashlight instead. Discomfort crawls up her spine, but she focuses on the task at hand.

The papers aren’t much, mostly a list of subway stations and their stops with an ‘X’ in red pen next to each of them, most dated two months or further after Gi-hun was supposed to visit her in America. The writing gets consistently more messy the more papers she looks through. Clearly something wasn’t going as intended. A lot of it has to do with the subway. Is it related to The Recruiter?

When looking through the drawers, she finds something new. A handful of legal documents, mostly about renting things. One of which is a deed that transferred ownership of the Pink Motel to one Seong Gi-hun. The date on the signature section is February 12^th, 2022. Close to the same date the other papers are labeled.

Ga-yeong takes a few of the stray papers and legal documents, folds them, and stuffs them in the pocket of her hoodie.

She stands up and looks around for anything else that seems out of the ordinary, eventually pausing when she sees a dried, black drops of liquid on the floor, leading to the door to the bathroom. Ga-yeong slowly follows it, trying to not think about what the cause of it could be.

She gawks at the amount of guns in the bathroom. There’s some hanging on the walls, in the toilet, in the bathtub, everywhere. There’s no way half of these are even legal to own in Korea. They had to have been illegally imported.

She found one crime.

Must be the weapon room.

Ga-yeong hesitantly looks over everything before glancing at a wall covered up with a curtain. There’s a strange draft coming through it, so she presses onward.

When she pushes the curtain aside, she’s somehow still surprised at the giant hole in the wall. It’s not neatly done at all- she has to raise her leg up high just to be able to make sure she doesn’t cut herself on shrapnel.

While her phones flashlight isn’t the brightest, its enough to see just how much damage has been done to this building. On this side of the building room’s walls has been torn down to lead into the other. Considering these guns are illegal in Korea, it’s probably some sort of makeshift shooting range.

Standing in the middle of this room, Ga-yeong can’t help but let out a shocked laugh. “Jesus christ…” She holds her head in her hands, covering her eyes with the heel of her palms. “What the hell have you been doing, Dad?”

Before she knows it, her weak laughter turns to sobs as tears begin to gather in her hands. Her knees, still feeling just as weak as when the gun was pointed at her, give out beneath her. She collapses to the floor, her body trembling with the leftover adrenaline that only just washed out of her system. The shock of whats happened, of what she’s learning, crashes down on her.

She wishes she was alone. She wishes she never befriended Cheol and started this stupid search. She wishes she toughed it out and stayed back in America, where she wouldn’t have to worry about her dad the crimes he’s committed.

She could have died here.

She could have died, without any answers, all cause some insane man thought threatening her would make her stop digging.

But Ga-yeong has heard this story before. Journalists will get too close to something too big, so the criminals will try to kill or bribe them to stop them from searching.

She’s close. She can’t stop now.

So, Ga-yeong forces herself up on her feet, sniffling and wiping her gross feeling face, as she continues her search.

There has to be more.

There has to.

△ 〇 ☐

“My love?”

The older man stays quiet, glaring at the kitchen like it cursed out his entire family.

“Sweetheart?”

He childishly turns his head away from the other man.

In-ho sighs. “Gi-hun, It’s not that big of a deal.”

His love crosses his arms as his glare sharpens. It’s an old and yet familiar expression, one he does his best to avoid causing. Thankfully, he’s not the cause of it this time. “It is a big deal.” Gi-hun finally huffs out.

“It could have been worse,” In-ho reminds him. He smirks. “Remember the last time? You almost burnt our house down.”

Gi-hun’s cheeks grow a slight tint of red. In-ho finds himself resisting the urge to kiss those cheeks until they’re full of color. “That doesn’t make this time any more embarrassing. It should not be that hard to make sundubu.”

In-ho gives in just enough to satisfy his urges. He leans closer to rest his head on his loves shoulder before kissing right by his jawline. “You’ll figure it out, Gi-hun.” He mumbles. “You always do.”

To his utter delight, his husbands face does get warmer. “Not always,” He easily leans into his husbands comfort, “Sometimes I never get better.”

In-ho sighs when he notices Gi-hun’s gaze avoiding his own. He moves away from his shoulder to instead walk around and in front of his love. He reaches out and cups Gi-hun’s cheek in his hand. “You will.” He watches as his husbands expression softens. “I know it.” He says with the utmost certainty.

In-ho leans in and kisses Gi-hun’s lips. Arms wrap around his shoulders and pull him in closer, until their bodies are flush against each others. It’s where they belong, perfectly intermingled until they become a single entity.

It’s times like this where he truly wonders just how long he’ll have to wait until he can truly make Gi-hun his husband. He wants to now, though he knows Gi-hun wants to wait until gay marriage is legal in Korea. It will feel more real that way.

But for now, having him is enough.

In-ho pulls away after a while, smiling softly in a way only Gi-hun truly sees anymore. “I ordered take out for us.” He mumbles once he slips away from his side.

He grins as Gi-hun sputters. “Wait- If you believed in me, then why did you order take out?”

In-ho shrugs as he grabs the bag of food from the mudroom. “I believe you’ll get it right eventually,” He walks back over to him with the food. “But I had no hope you’d get it right tonight.”

“You asshole!” In-ho laughs as Gi-hun lightly shoves him away. “Never mind, I don’t want any kisses or love from you at all, let alone support.” He stomps past the dinner table and to the couch, laying down on it as he glares up at the ceiling.

“Jagiya, come back!” In-ho places the bag of fried chicken on the table before following him to the couch. “Would you have preferred we starve?”

Gi-hun continues to glare at the couch like a child. “I would prefer you at least pretend you believe I could do it.”

“I do believe in you!” He sits down on the last seat on the couch since his stupidly tall husband is in the way. “I just knew it wouldn’t be today.”

Gi-hun continues to pretend to ignore him, even pulling out his phone to be more effective. In-ho moves, snatching it out of his hands as he moves to keep Gi-hun lightly pinned down on the couch instead. He ignores his husbands complaining and kisses him again to get his attention. “Stop pouting, jagiya. I love you and your horrible cooking.” He says when he pulls away, grinning.

Gi-hun glares at him, his lips quirking up in amusement. “Well, not everyone can be perfect.”

“Flattery gets you nowhere, my love.” In-ho suppresses a laugh.

“Same goes for you.”

The two stare into each others eyes for a beat longer before In-ho breaks. He drops his partners phone on the ground to prop himself up with both hands, that way as he leans down to pepper kisses all over his husbands face, he wont lose his balance.

“I love you, hyung,” In-ho mumbles as he presses one last kiss to his loves cheek.

Gi-hun sighs in content. “I love you too, In-ho.”

In-ho lays himself down on Gi-hun, resting his head right up against his chest.

He closes his eyes as the gentle rhythm of his husbands heartbeat enters his ears. He can’t stop the smile that creeps onto his face at just the sound alone.

To think that at any point, since the beginning, one wrong choice could have ruined everything. He could have said the wrong words to Il-nam, chose the wrong decisions when running the games- any little change could stopped this fantasy he’s built with Gi-hun. If Gi-hun had lost, he could have just been engulfed in flames, or not enter the games at all and be buried six feet below.

If anything had gone wrong, he would have never been able to enjoy such a simple pleasure as hearing his lover’s heartbeat. How can he not adore listening to it? It’s proof he’s alive. That they’re together.

Gi-hun’s hands run through his hair, and it only makes In-ho melt more. He would do anything for this man. Anything.

Like this, they don’t have anything to worry about. The dirty kitchen from Gi-hun’s horrid attempts at cooking and the cooling chicken on the table are worthless compared to this moment. Because Gi-hun is in his arms, and In-ho is in his husbands.

And it is warm.

And it is gentle.

And their hearts are beating as one.

It’s perfect.

Unfortunately, perfection is not something that can stay perfection. When Gi-hun lets out a sigh, the other knows the peace is about to be broken.

“The V.I.P’s called.” Gi-hun mumbles.

In-ho understands quickly. “That time of year already?”

His husband nods with a quiet hum in confirmation.

In-ho nestles himself into his husbands chest. He opens his eyes as his fingers begin to trace little shapes against Gi-hun’s waist. “We’ll start the preparations then. Wont be too hard.”

Gi-hun hums again. In-ho knows he doesn’t actually agree.

He traces a few small triangles. “Just one month total.” In-ho smiles encouragingly. “You can handle one month, can’t you?”

Gi-hun hesitates, his head turning to the side to look at the wall.

“You can.” He makes circles with his thumb as he closes his eyes again, giving Gi-hun the privacy to feel without his own calculating gaze overwhelming him. It was an issue in the past. He’s trying to rectify it. “You don’t like leaving me alone on that island anyways.”

Finally, a reaction. “Of course not…” Gi-hun scoffs. “I have to be there to keep you in line. I know the type of havoc you get up to without me there.” His voice wavers.

His poor husband.

In-ho hates this time of year, though not for the same reasons as Gi-hun. In-ho has… gotten used to the games. He doesn’t find nearly as much joy in it as the V.I.P.’s do, but he can’t deny that there is something that keeps him coming back. Something that makes him feel strong. Amused.

It’s easier to enjoy the games anyways. They’re not something they can stop, and as long as they take up the responsibility, no other unfortunate soul will have to fill their place.

And selfishly, In-ho has gotten too used to planning them with his husband. Too used to having someone caring and loving by his side while they plan the deaths of 455 unsuspecting players.

He needs Gi-hun beside him. He needs Gi-hun next to him on the island. The anxiety that runs rampant when he’s not is not helpful for his role.

In-ho traces squares. “The soldiers need their chief, Gi-hun,” He moves to kiss Gi-hun’s chest, only slightly annoyed by the fabric of his shirt getting in the way. “And so does the captain.”

Finally, he feels Gi-hun’s hand go back to running through his hair. “I’ll help you. You know I will.” He mumbles.

In-ho melts. “I know.”

Chapter Text

Gi-hun squints down at the table in front of them, all the papers, filled up binders, notebooks, and cards are all spread out on the surface. Normally, planning those damned games is a lot easier and more organized than this. Then again, normally In-ho is on top of it all, as the V.I.P.’s trust him a whole lot more than the man who tried to take down the games.

This year seems to be different though. During the last games, the rotation of V.I.P.’s they dealt with had been more willing to talk to him in the same way they would In-ho, for better or for worse. If nothing else, it helps take the weight off his husband’s shoulders.

With that apparent newfound trust came new responsibilities, including doing his best to organize all the information and documents given to him. This years games are ‘special’, after all.

Well, him and In-ho always do something new to keep the rich assholes entertained, but this is different than that.

“I thought having a new rotation of V.I.P.’s would make planning easier.” Gi-hun grumbles out. With his pen still in hand, he scratches off another idea he doesn’t like. “Shouldn’t their expectations be lower than our usual group?”

Right by his side is In-ho, chuckling at his naivety. A few years ago, that look in his partner’s eyes might piss him off. What right does he have to laugh at Gi-hun for a reasonable question? But he’s used to it now. He’s accepted he can never understand this part of his husbands world.

“You’d think, huh?” In-ho reaches for one of the binders, the only thing that is properly organized, and flips through it until he arrives at the information for their newest rotation of investors. Normally, any and all information is classified, but considering their the ones running the games, they’re required to have all the information on their clients. It’s easier to ensure the information wont get leaked when only two people have it. “But they have high expectations for us.”

Gi-hun rolls his eyes. He leans against his husbands side. “Do our usual rotations have low expectations for us? That’s kind of insulting.”

“Our usual know what to expect from these games, jagiya.” In-ho kisses Gi-hun’s cheek. “They created them with Oh Il-nam, he’s just the one who took up the responsibility of running them. That means they have a specific set of expectations, which is mostly just to live up to Il-nam.”

In-ho taps the other closed binder. That one holds information on their usual rotation. twelves investors in total, while six tends to be the amount that RSVP to watch the games.

He suppresses a grimace. Even just thinking about the V.I.P.s like they’re nothing more than business investors feels too tame. It leaves a bitter taste on his tongue.

“Our usual rotation has hand selected a new roster of like-minded individuals.” In-ho continues, ignorant to his husbands discomfort. “It’s as a gift for the late Il-nam. Most of those men are getting older, and just like how Il-nam left successors in his wake- us- they’re leaving more investors for us.”

Gi-hun feels his blood run cold at the thought. And yet In-ho just keeps going, flipping through the pages and speaking with a slight smile on his face. “If we manage to impress them, they’ll join our usual roster, which will spawn a new tradition of passing down the torch on both sides.”

His stomach churns at how pleased and hopeful In-ho sounds. “Are we really supposed to be trying to let these games continue after we pass?” He asks, his voice sharp with disdain. “Why should we want that? Why can’t these games end with us?”

In-ho’s smile falls as he turns his head towards Gi-hun.

Gi-hun truly does try his hardest not to think or bring up those horrid games when it’s not the season. To him, the weeks leading up to the games are nothing more than a burden. It’s something he’s forced to get through, something he has no choice but to deal with. He’s trapped on that island. He always has been. But knowing they’ll have to physically go back, again and again, is a torture he wouldn’t wish on anyone. Watching 455 people die, year after year, isn’t for the faint of heart.

Seeing the hope and light leave the survivors eyes is torture. So many times has he had to stop himself from reaching out, apologizing, giving advice of how to move on, anything that could help. But that’s not his job. He’s not allowed to do that.

So instead, they drop the survivor off at a random street with their winnings, while Gi-hun relives the horrific moments he wishes he could carve out of his brain. He hopes the survivors learn to move on better than he did.

In-ho clearly isn’t affected in the same way.

The way he just stares at Gi-hun speaks volumes. Of course he wants to keep the games going. He has since the beginning.

He just doesn’t understand why. How could someone as kind and gentle as his husband want this?

Gi-hun pulls away from In-ho in an instant. He can’t bare being held in the arms of his husband during moments like this. As he treks towards the doors to the patio, he’s reminded of everything he tries to not think of. Everything.

Sae-byeok’s slit throat, Sang-woo’s quiet whispers for his mom, Jung-bae gasping his name, ‘Young-il’s last words, and the way Dae-ho, Jun-hee, and Hyun-ju sobbed for their fallen friends.

Staying in In-ho’s arms is to betray them.

When he steps outside into the morning sun, he feels the light breeze brush against his skin in such a painfully gentle way. It’s something that he could never deserve. It’s too gentle.

Just like In-ho.

He grabs a cigarette from the box he leaves on the patio-table to take the edge off. It only reminds him of how his daughter would get upset when she smelt the tobacco on his clothes.

He gets as far as putting the cigarette in his mouth before he realizes there is no lighter outside. He huffs in annoyance when he realizes he must have left it inside. Out of stubbornness, he just hangs the cigarette in his mouth instead of going back inside.

He’s eyebrows furrow when he hears the door slide open and careful footsteps approach him. Then, the same lighter he was looking for clicks to life right next to him.

Gi-hun reluctantly leans in and lights the cigarette while its still in his mouth. He inhales the smoke, letting it rest in his lungs and ease the ache in his heart, before he finally exhales. He mumbles a quiet, “Thank you,” before he looks back out to the distance, now just a bit harder to make out with the gray smoke in the way. It’s too beautiful. Trees stretching out as far as the eye can see, white rose bushes lining the stairs down to the backyard, and a perfectly clear sky being the cherry on top. It’s certainly a sight to behold, and not something he ever thought he’d get to live next to. He never really could see himself moving out of Ssangmun-dong, let alone Seoul.

He stops himself from delving too deep into that thought process with another sharp drag of smoke. His skin feels itchy.

“Gi-hun,” He hears the low voice of his husband calling back to reality. When Gi-hun looks, he notices a significant empty space between them, a distance he’s not used to. They never usually allow themselves to be this far apart, and he can tell it’s near torture for In-ho just from how he’s clutching onto the fence. But he doesn’t move yet. “Maybe you should let me handle the preparations alone this year.”

Gi-hun’s eyes dart up to meet his. He takes the cigarette and puts it out by tossing it on the ground and practically stomping on it. “What? Why?”

In-ho sighs. “I don’t want to run them without you, I would only handle the preparations alone. I wouldn’t normally suggest this, but…” He trails off, his knit brows the only obvious tell of his emotions.

Gi-hun glares at him again and takes a step forward. “But what? You just don’t want to hear me telling you how it is? You don’t want to deal with my complaining? My-”

In-ho’s hands grasp Gi-hun’s shoulders, making his breath hitch in shock at the gentle yet firm touch. “I don’t want to see you so upset.” He emphasizes.

Gi-hun frowns and looks away, his heart pounding a bit faster now as he shuts up and listens. “I hate seeing how miserable you look when we have to start working. I hate how your too stubborn to give yourself breaks when you know how you get.”

He swallows the lump in his throat. “… I’m going to be upset no matter what.” Gi-hun argues. “You know I hate what these stupid games do to y- to us.”

With every damn day he spends on that island, it feels like he loses his husband more and more.

But how is he supposed to tell him that?

“I know.” In-ho’s voice is so very soft, just as painfully so as the wind had been. “That’s why you’re going to let me handle this. We’ll deal with the hard part together.”

Gi-hun shakes his head. “I can’t leave you with all that work.”

“Yes you can. You’ve already helped me a ton.”

He scoffs. “We’ve barely started. We still have to plan the games, the food, the special condition, transportation, recruit our guards-”

In-ho shakes his head, a smile slipping on his face. “Oh sweetheart, don’t kid yourself. The Recruiter’s have already gotten calls from more than enough past guards about coming back.” He explains. “And it’s thanks to you that we have guards so willing to come back. Did you know our retention rate has skyrocketed since you started working with me?”

“That’s not surprising.” Gi-hun deadpans at him. “You’re used to shooting anyone before asking questions.”

“And that would never have changed without you.” In-ho grins. His hands slide from Gi-hun’s shoulders to his arms, all the way until their hands intertwine. “And not just that. All the changes you’ve made to their working conditions have changed the atmosphere. You’ve taken a huge load off m shoulders just from the guard situation alone.”

Gi-hun sighs. He can’t help the way a smile forms on his face as his tense shoulders finally slump down. “What will I do while you’re working? It’s quiet around here without you.”

In-ho rolls his eyes. “Come on, jagiya, you have many options. You could go visit Sang-woo’s mom and Cheol, see how the kid is settling into college.”

“No,” Gi-hun immediately shakes his head. “God no. I’ll only be able to think about my games and Ga-yeong if I do that. That won’t help.”

In-ho frowns again, letting one of his hands go to instead cup Gi-hun’s cheek. “Why not the winners of 2024 then?” He suggests. “They love you.”

Gi-hun leans into the hand and closes his eyes. “They don’t like it when I’m around.”

“No, they don’t like it when I’m around.” In-ho shoots back. “They love you. Jun-hee is always trying to convince you to visit her and Do-seong more. And god forbid you don’t text back Hyun-ju fast enough, cause then she starts asking me all sorts of questions to make sure you’re okay. They don’t talk to me like that, only you.”

Gi-hun sighs as he opens his eyes again. “You’re trying really hard to get me to leave the house. Do you have something you need to tell me?” He jokes.

In-ho’s gentle grin is contagious. “Yes, I do. It’s that you need to keep that frown off your gorgeous face.”

“Flattery.” Gi-hun chuckles. “Alright. I’ll go visit Jun-hee and Do-seong.”

“Perfect.” In-ho pulls him close to peck him on the lips. “My perfect husband.”

Gi-hun’s cheeks warm despite the cool breeze. And as he stares at In-ho, his face lit up in gold from the setting sun, he finds that everything is okay. Even when the screams would normally echo in his mind, even when he knows he doesn’t deserve the peaceful life they’ve built for themselves, it’s easier to melt into it when In-ho is leading him.

The sudden buzzing of a phone in Gi-hun’s pocket breaks the moment. He huffs in amusement and reluctantly pulls away from In-ho. He frowns as he sees who its from.

He picks up the phone and puts it to his ear. “Hello?”

In-ho tilts his head curiously as Gi-hun listens to the person talk. His eyes suddenly grow wide.

“What do you mean someone broke into the Pink Motel?!”

△ 〇 ☐

“What do you mean someone burnt down the Pink Motel!?”

Ga-yeong exclaims, eyes wide with shock. She watches as the boy casually swings on the swingset after revealing the most insane piece of information she’s ever heard. “I don’t know. I saw it on the news.” He explains. “It looked worse than when you were there, the whole building is falling apart.”

She holds back the absurd laughter that bubbles up in her throat. She instead takes a deep breath to focus. “Was there any mention of the… weird shit I saw there?”

Cheol shrugs. “Kind of. They noticed the consistent sized holes in a few of the walls, but nothing like the photos you showed me. No mentions of the guns either.”

Ga-yeong frowns. “But that doesn’t make any sense! No one goes in that place, Ddakji guy had to pick the lock just to get in! And where would the guns have gone if not-…” Her eyes widen.

“Oh. Oh my god, Cheol!” She rushes up to Cheol’s side, grabbing his swing to stop him from moving. Unfortunately, that just causes him to slip off the seat and fall flat on his face. She doesn’t get a chance to continue explaining her realization thanks to a fit of laughter.

Cheol picks himself up and mock-glares at her. “Oh yeah, laugh it up! You did that on purpose.”

“Not true!” Ga-yeong walks over to him and dusts off his shirt from the dirt. “I thought you would land on your feet like a cat.”

“Now why in the world would you think that?” He snickers.

“You give off the energy.” Ga-yeong grins in accomplishment at the boy’s flushed face. “As I was saying, I think I found out what happened!”

Cheol blinks in surprise. “Just from the fire? I didn’t even show you the news report.”

Ga-yeong nods, her confidence only rising with every second. Her legs start moving, leading them to a random path in the park, while her friend follows. “Think about it, Cheol! Someone had to have seen me and Ddakji Man at the motel. Maybe he was being followed, or maybe it was through the cameras.” She ponders aloud. She sees Cheol nodding along out of the corner of her eye. “If they took the guns and burnt the building down, then what that means is that someone was trying to get rid of evidence.”

She can’t help the sigh of relief that escapes her. “They know we were there. They know. So what if-” She turns to look at Cheol. “-what if they are the ones who committed a crime against my father?”

Cheol tilts his head. “‘They’?”

“They! Meaning the people who burnt down dad’s motel! Keep up, Cheol.” Ga-yeong teasingly snaps her fingers in front of the boys face.

Cheol swats the girl’s hand away from his face, giggling at her antics. “Whatever you say, Sherlock Holmes. So they realized you were at the Pink Motel gathering evidence that could point to their crimes, and since no one wants to get caught, they burn down the motel, take the guns, and disappear into the night.” He summarizes. He stuffs his hands into his pants pockets. “Then whats next? Even if all the evidence isn’t gone, the police probably wont let you break back in.”

Ga-yeong nods, her face hardening. “That’s true. They didn’t burn down everything, I still have a bunch of documents back in my dorm, plus the photos I took. But most of it probably isn’t useful.” She says. “A lot of them are just papers with random dates and words on it. Theres a list of subway stations, months crossed off, days crossed off, wire transfer information, just all sorts of really odd stuff.”

Cheol nods along. “Well, that last thing could be helpful.”

“Maybe if I knew how to trace back a wire transfer.” She kicks a rock on their path and watches it roll down the hill all on its own. “But I think I need a court order for that.”

“So there goes that idea.” The boy sighs.

A comfortable silence settles between the two of them. It only breaks so Cheol could ask for Ga-yeong’s phone before they go back to relaxing as they walk along the path aimlessly.

After a while, Cheol elbows Ga-yeong.

Ga-yeong glares and elbows him back. “Rude.”

Cheol deadpans at her. “I was just trying to get your attention.”

“Oh,” She blushes. “Sorry.”

“You should be sorry!” Cheol smirks and hides the phone behind his back. “Maybe I shouldn’t show you what I found.”

“What!? Cheol!” Ga-yeong pouts as the boy laughs. “I’m sorry, okay! But in my defense, you could have said something before resorting to abuse!”

“You could have too!” Cheol giggles. “But, fair enough.”

He brings the phone between them and zooms into one of the photos. “See that?”

“The paper?” She takes her phone back to hold it steady. She squints at the screen when she begins to make out the blurry text. “A phone number? ‘Police Detective-’ what? But dad hated cops. Why would he have an officers phone number?”

Cheol playfully elbows her again. “You could be right, Ga-yeong! What if your dad is the one whose a victim of a crime, and the police were trying to protect him! Like uh… whats that western thing where if you see a crime and are in danger…?”

Ga-yeong perks up. “Witness Protection!” She exclaims in English. “Not just western, by the way.”

“Yeah, yeah! Witness whatever!” Despite the probably dark topic, the two students can’t help but grin brightly. “You’re dad could be involved with something like that.”

“Of course.” Ga-yeong laughs. “That’s why dad would have so many weapons. And- and be so secretive. The police are hiding him.”

Cheol looks back at the phone in Ga-yeong’s hand. “We should call the number then!” He suggests. “Explain the situation, see if they can get us in contact with your dad.”

Ga-yeong hesitates. She looks down at her phone and the number. “I… I don’t know…” She mumbles. “This could be it, but it wouldn’t explain everything. Like why the Ddakji guy was so flip-floppy with helping me, or the strange amount of money he has.”

Her hands tremor with nerves she hadn’t noticed before. “It doesn’t feel like the whole picture.”

A hand squeezes hers lightly. Her eyes meet Cheol’s. There’s a glint in his eyes, a look of pure trust and understanding that makes her feel breathless. “Then what do you want to do, Ga-yeong?” He asks. Not mockingly, not with distrust laced in between his words.

It takes her a moment to gather her wits about her again. “I… right. I think I want to contact that weird guy again. He told me to contact him for ‘part two’ or whatever. He has to know more information.”

“The guy who shot you?” Cheol frowns. “You can’t go alone. Not again.”

“Cheol-”

But his hand laced in hers squeezes for a moment. “No, Ga-yeong, please!” He exclaims. “I trust you. I trust your judgement. But- but he pointed a gun at you last time. Letting you go to that creepy building by yourself last time was a mistake. If you’re going somewhere that insane man leads you, then I want to be there in case something goes wrong!”

Ga-yeong lets out a fond breath. She nods. “Okay.” She says. “We’ll go together.”

△ 〇 ☐

Ga-yeong: I’m ready for ‘phase two’.

Ga-yeong: Please let me bring Cheol.

Ddakji Man: Bukhansan National Park, a week from today, find the bear.

Ddakji Man: You can bring the boy.

Ga-yeong: The bear?

Chapter Text

Bukhansan National Park ended up being one of the shorter rides they have taken! It seemed like it was going to be one of the more difficult ones at first, considering it’s one of the largest national parks in Korea, but that wasn’t the biggest issue, surprisingly. They must have missed some information while being so focused on getting their school work out of the way, but when they arrived, they found hundreds- maybe even thousands of people, all following a bunch of signs leading them to the apparent ‘Halloween Festival’ going on. Ga-yeong doesn’t remember Halloween being celebrated all that much when she was a kid. Apparently the holiday got more popular here.

This left the hardest part being to follow Ddakji guy’s instructions, which are the most bare bones, basic instructions anyone could give a person. ‘Find the bear.’ What could that even possibly mean? It was absolutely useless information, even when they arrived at the actual festival.

The only good thing is that they weren’t alone in some abandoned building again.

“This is so cool…” Ga-yeong mumbles as she takes another picture of the decorations. The organizers and vendors really do go all out for holidays. It’s a nice mix of creepy with all of the spiders, ghosts, and other evil little fake critters spread out everywhere. And in one of the clearings is a make-shift stage where a band is playing music. Not entirely music that fits the theme, its some light and pop-y kpop, but it’s still nice! Another part of her recognizes that the environment only is half the magic. The people in Halloween costumes really makes it.She sends the photos to her families group chat before lifting her head up to really focus on all the vendors and events.

She reaches out to hold Cheol’s hand to not lose him in the crowd- though at this point, holding onto the boy is just their usual routine. “I always forget how cool these public celebrations were.” She says as she stuffs her phone in her pocket. “We usually have to travel deep into the city to see these sorts of festivals and parades.”

Cheol nods in agreement. “The first time Granny brought me to one of these things, I was blown away. I ended up asking her to take me to every festival we found.” He chuckles. The boy looks ahead, but it’s clear he’s not paying full attention just from the fondness in his eyes. “And then I got obsessed with the student run stuff at SNU. We didn’t have stuff like this in my old town.”

“Really?” Ga-yeong comments. “Besides New York, I don’t think I have been anywhere outside of Seoul. Were you born somewhere more rural?”

Cheol squeezes her hand as his shoulders get slightly stiff. He very obviously avoids her gaze as he says, “Uh, well… if I tell you, this won’t like, change anything for us. Right?”

Ga-yeong rolls her eyes. “Oh please, Cheol. You’ve been one of the most kind and selfless people I’ve met here. You’re not my only friend here anymore, it’s not like I’m hanging out with you cause I have to. And you never had to help me with my bullshit.” She playfully bumps her side against his. “Where you were born doesn’t mean literally anything to me.”

Her friend’s pooling brown eyes end up looking like a warm, drizzled honey as they pass under a soft golden light, and in that moment, she can’t help but stare. For a while, she thought that Cheol wore his heart on his sleeve, but she’s beginning to realize just how untrue that is.

It’s all in his warm brown eyes.

She’s so distracted, that she feels herself startle when her friend starts to respond.

“Well…” Cheol smiles sheepishly. “I was born in North Korea.”

“Woah.” Her eyes widen. “Seriously?”

“Yup.” He focuses back on where they’re going, cause they were seriously just walking forward blindly. They’re lucky they didn’t run into anyone. “My dad died when we tried crossing the river to China. We snuck around there for… a few weeks? Months? Maybe it was just days. I’m not sure. But somewhere around then, mom got left behind. Sae-byeok… my sister and I, we were the only ones who made it to South Korea.”

Ga-yeong stares at Cheol for a moment longer before she also focuses on walking. She squeezes his hand. “Damn, now my family lore sounds embarrassingly lame.”

Cheol huffs out a laugh, the tension in his shoulders easing. “Aw, don’t put yourself down, Ga-yeong! You never know what you’ll uncover thanks to your dad.”

She sagely nods. “You’re right.” She says. “I already found guns.”

“See? I’m always right.”

“Woah, now I didn’t say all that.”

“Wh- you basically did.”

“Not true!”

Cheol opens his mouth to speak again but freezes, making Ga-yeong dump into him before she stops as well. In front of them is a very cutesy, cartoon-ish bear statue.

“Found the bear!” She grins.

Cheol deadpans. “We found the bear.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I said.”

“Is not.”

“Is too.”

Another voice cuts in between them from behind. “And you’re both late.”

They let go of the others hand to turn around and face The Recruiter again.

Ga-yeong crosses her arms, even as her heart begins to pound too heavily for her liking. “Late? You didn’t give us a time frame to get here.”

The Ddakji Man seems completely relaxed despite the much more public setting he has created. His hands are casually stuffed in his pocket, and he has these weird futuristic sunglasses resting on his forehead. Is he pretending to be in a disguise?

He shrugs. “Still late. I expected you at least a half hour ago.” He clicks his tongue. “Don’t you know it’s impolite to keep the adults waiting?”

Cheol scoffs this time. “We’re adults too? It’s not our fault the bus arrive twenty minuets late.” There’s a bitterness in his tone that Ga-yeong only remembers hearing at the police station. He must really not like this guy.

“Maybe. But that’s not what we’re here to discuss, is it?” The Recruiter smiles. “You’re ready for phase two?”

Ga-yeong shuffles closer to her friend. “I still don’t know what the even means.”

“Yeah, and!” Cheol steps slightly in front of her. “You still haven’t told us next to anything. Like why the Pink Motel burnt down only days after Ga-yeong went there?”

Ga-yeong perks up. “Yeah! Did you have something to do with it?”

The Ddakji man sighs, as if the two are exhausting and amusing him at the same time. “Are all kids so accusatory?” He nearly whines. “I’m not supposed to give you the answers, you know. I could get in trouble for that. I’m only supposed to guide you along.”

Cheol glares at the man. “That doesn’t even make any sense! Why are you dragging us around to these places if you’re just going to-”

He cuts himself off as Ga-yeong rests a hand on his shoulder, urging the boy back to her side. She’s suddenly glad the music and chatter around them is too loud for them to make any sort of scene. As understandable as Cheol’s anger is, it’s clear this is getting them nowhere. “Then guide as, mister.” She requests with a sudden softness in her voice that surprises even herself. Her heart pounds in her chest as she remembers the how that pressure felt on her shoulder, and the weapons that scattered the bathroom.

If the Ddakji Man wants this to be a game, then she has to learn to play by his rules. “What are we here to see?”

The man’s smile sharpens. “Follow me.”

The Recruiter leads them deeper into the festival, lightly humming instead of making any conversation with them. In fact, The Recruiter doesn’t even look behind him to make sure they’re following him. He probably would get upset at them if they got lost too.

Eventually, he leads them to a clearing without any vendors. Instead, there are stands with games and even groups huddled together in small clearings. He brings them close to a group of ten or so people, all huddled together in a circle, surrounding a board with sticks in the middle.

The Ddakji man looks over to the group, but very clearly is talking to her when he asks, “You said you grew up in America?”

Ga-yeong hesitates but nods. “When I was like, ten, yes.”

“Cheol,” The sudden attention on the boy makes him stand up straighter on instinct. “What do you think those people are doing?”

Cheol looks between The Recruiter and Ga-yeong, waiting until she gives him a slight nod before he takes a few steps closer. He lifts the heels of his feet to try and see past the hunched over adults without getting too close. He eventually turns back around. “Is that… Yut Nori?”

“Yut Nori?” Ga-yeong blinks. “I think I played that game a few times with my mom.”

Their attention is stolen when one half of the group cheers, some jumping up from their knees to hug each and celebrate with each other. It’s actually kind of heart warming to see.

Meanwhile, the other group grumbles in frustration, cursing under their breaths or quietly reassuring each other that they’ll win the next game. Ga-yeong smiles, easily amused by their reactions to losing (or winning) a simple kids game. It reminds her of her own family game nights.

“Interesting, isn’t it?” Ddakji man starts, shocking Ga-yeong enough for her smile to drop. “How excited these people get from a game. It’s childish how excited they get. But it makes you wonder how they’d act if the stakes were raised.”

Ga-yeong’s hand twitches to cover up her shoulder, but she doesn’t move besides turning her head to gaze at the man. She doesn’t want to hear more.

Neither of the students respond, but she does feel an embarrassing amount of relief when Cheol grabs her wrist.

The Ddakji man points at someone. A shockingly thin, older woman with a terribly short bob that is barely long enough to cover half her ears, that was probably dyed a few years ago based on her roots. “Park Soo-ah, her debt is 130 million won. She hasn’t had a stable job in 13 years and has a bad habit of buying lottery tickets.” Ga-yeong shudders as he listens to this man explain this poor woman’s life story. “I wonder how frustrated she would have gotten if she lost with millions of won on the line. How far would she go to win?”

He then points to different person, a younger man with his brown hair tied up in a typical man bun and cracked glasses on. He’s grinning and mocking the losing team. “Jang Yeon-woo, 155 million won in debt after taking out college loans from shady brokers. He’s been living in his deceased parents apartment and using their death as an excuse to not pay rent or hold a job. He loses any spare cash he has through Crypto and NFT scams.” He says. “He already is getting aggressive just from winning. How violent do you think he would get if he saw that school teacher win millions of won instead of him?”

He points to another one, but this time Ga-yeong speaks up before the man can go into more horrible details. “What is this?” She breathes, her voice shaking. “You… this is related to what you do in the subway, right? You do that- that weird ddakji game with people who are in debt. Like the chef, or… or my dad…”

The Ddakji man smiles. “Ju Min-sung, his debt is-”

“Stop! I don’t need to hear more of their personal, private information!” She exclaims. Her hands ball into fists. The pressure on her wrist is gone. “You recite their information just like you did my dad’s. How do you know so much about these people? About him?” She snaps. “You did that to him too, didn’t you? To all of them. The ddakji, the slapping, the money, you’re targeting desperate people for a reason. What are those business cards really for? What scam did you lead my dad into? Where is he!?”

The Ddakji man doesn’t see very phased by her yelling, even as she approaches him with tears beginning to form in her eyes. If anything, he almost seems proud.

He puts a strangely soft hand on her shoulder, the same one he pointed a gun at. Her breath hitches. “June 25^th, 2020. That was the day your father took my advice and called my employer.” He starts, “It’s simple. All he had to do was play a handful of games over the course of six days. If he won, all of the things he wanted in life would be right at the tips of his fingers.”

Ga-yeong and Cheol’s eyes widen at the actual answer. She wipes her eyes. That wasn’t long after her tenth birthday, and not long before Grandma’s funeral.

The Ddakji man smiles. “There is much that I enjoy leaving unsaid-”

“We can tell.” Cheol comments.

The Recruiter glares at him while Ga-yeong snickers. “-But,” The man continues, voice firmer. “One of the things I never say, is how you never do leave that place.”

His voice softens as he looks back at Ga-yeong. “Try as he might, there is no real escape. Your father will be dragged back there over and over again.”

Ga-yeong feels a pit form in her stomach. “What… what did you do to my dad..?” She fearfully whispers.

The Ddakji man squeezes her shoulder. “You’re dad would want to see you.” She feels her heart ache. “So you have to decide now. Do you want to see him? Do you want to find him and know the truth, agassi?”

Ga-yeong’s eyes dart around in confusion, trying to process what the man is saying. “I- yes. I do.” She forces herself to not hesitate. “I want to see him. I need to know what happened.”

The Recruiter lets go of her and reaches into his suit pocket to pull out two of the business cards. He hands it to the two of them. “I’m not supposed to do this, but who am I to stop a foolish venture like this? I’m sure it will be entertaining, if nothing else.” He smirks. “Just don’t snitch on me, and I wont snitch on you, hm?”

Ga-yeong’s hands shake as she holds onto the business card. “I don’t get it. What- what does this mean? Where will this take us?”

The Recruiter pats her head, making her dig her teeth into the side of her mouth. “You’re smarter than your father, agassi, but your so clearly his daughter. No matter if I were to advise you to run, just like him, I know you won’t. At least like this, your fathers won’t go insane if you’re killed like this.” He somehow giggles in amusement. “So you’ll listen to me carefully, yeah? When you get there, try to make yourself stand out as much as possible. If he doesn’t find you first, only then should you try searching for him. You’ll know the right time when you see it. Just be careful to make sure no one knows why you’re there.”

Ga-yeong shakes her head, her mind reeling. “I don’t understand. Are you helping me or not?”

“I’m making sure you don’t ruin this for the rest of us.” The Recruiter shrugs. “If anything happens to you, agassi, that’s on me. Now,”

He taps the card in her hand. “Follow the instructions on here if you’re really ready. You have two weeks to decide.” He then looks over at Cheol. “And make sure to protect her, won’t you? Our poor Ga-yeong can’t be getting hurt before the big day.”

The man steps back away from them and grins. “See you around, agassi.” He waves before he leaves casually, hands resting in his pockets.

Just like that, he’s gone.

It takes a while for Ga-yeong to get herself to calm down after The Recruiter leaves, even with Cheol helping her. When the ringing in her ears go away, she lets herself be lead over to a quieter part of the festival, which thankfully had a bench for them to rest at. The two stare at the cards in their hands, processing the absurdity of this situation.

Nakeseongdae-ro 15 gil, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 11:30 PM, November 5^th

Cheol sucks in a sharp breath before looking over at her. “You shouldn’t go, Ga-yeong.”

Ga-yeong’s eyes cautiously meet his before she has to tear her eyes away. He’s too clear with his emotions. “… You think?”

“Yeah.” Cheol flips the card over, staring at the shapes this time. “I mean, this is weird, don’t you think? And really suspicious. If- if your dad is trapped in some… weird game place, do you really think it’s a good idea to let yourself get trapped there? I mean, if he hasn’t been able to really leave, whose to say you could?”

Ga-yeong shakes her head. “He does leave, sometimes. He sees you, and your grandma. He had to have left if he stayed in that place for a week, cause he owned the Pink Motel.” She rationalizes.

Silence fall between them.

Cheol sighs. “You’re considering it.” It’s not a question. He probably doesn’t have to ask to figure that out. He’s not dumb.

“Yup.” She nods. “Even though I shouldn’t.”

Cheol pockets the card with another, more dramatic, sigh. He leans back against the bench and closes his eyes. There’s nothing else to say. They both understand. Ga-yeong want’s to go, to find out where her dad is. Cheol is skeptical, but trusts her judgment like he always does. Still, she feels bad the boy has to stress out about her decisions, just like how she felt bad for Isabella.

“You don’t have to follow me. If I do go, I mean.” Ga-yeong eventually mumbles. She hears Cheol hum in acknowledgment, urging her to continue. “You’re done a lot already, and we don’t know just how serious that guy was. I… this could be dangerous. I don’t want to drag you into danger just to find my dad. You have your own issues to deal with.”

“Mhm…” Cheol hums again, but it’s hard to tell if he is really comprehending what she’s said or not.

It’s almost funny how they are so easily able to take turns grieving.

Ga-yeong forces herself up off the bench before she lightly kicks Cheol’s leg. “Hey. Space-boy.” She smiles softly. She has to. If she thinks about this for too long, it will eat her up inside entirely. Instead she gestures to the joy and life surrounding them. “We can’t be all mopey while at a place like this.”

She offers the boy her hand to take, ignoring how hard it is.

But the ache in her chest lightens as Cheol’s eyes meet hers. She wants to see him smiling again, and that’s enough motivation to continue. “Let’s have some fun. We wont be able to do this sort of stuff forever.”

Finally, finally, Cheol’s eyes begin to light back up. He huffs out a laugh and takes Ga-yeong’s help in getting of the bench. “Sure.” The boy smiles. “Lets enjoy ourselves before we’re swamped with mid-term prep.”

Ga-yeong groans. “Oh god, don’t remind me! I still have two essays to write before then.”

Cheol laughs and wraps his arm around her shoulder. It’s funny how he struggles slightly, seeing as he’s shorter than her. “Then what are we waiting for? We need to move quickly!”

“You can’t rush fun!”

“Yes you can!”

Chapter Text

If there is one thing that Ga-yeong hates about college, it’s the lack of free time she has during exam week.

And look, there’s a lot to love about college. Ga-yeong loves the unique and incredible clubs she has seen and joined, she loves the classes she’s taking- even though they’re not actually focused on her major yet- and she loves the people. Every high school teacher that has ever said ‘this behavior wont be tolerated in college’ was lying through their teeth. As long as she isn’t annoying other people or being outright disrespectful, anything passes in college. No one is going to get on her back for missing assignments or being late.

But that’s the other thing she had to get used to. No one will tell you what to do in college. The consequences are hers and hers alone. And when you skip a class, you suddenly come to the realization that you can skip any class you want. Of course, she forces herself not to, but add the workload that she never wants to get done on top of that, and it can be way more difficult than high school ever was.

After the Halloween Festival Incident happened, Ga-yeong found herself overwhelmed with a near disrespectful amount of work she had to get done, both old and new. She found herself unable to even consider the offer The Ddakji Man had given her since she had to dive headfirst into her work.

There was no time to be anxious about what the consequences would be for not following through- not when she was too anxious about her late assignments. She was too paranoid about her horrible grades to let herself be paranoid over the man that slaps people in subway stations for money.

November 5^th would arrive faster than she would like, but she had no time to worry about what would happen or what would await her that day.

Being so busy resulted in other unintentional consequences too. Consequence number one, Cheol. She still did her best to spend time with the boy, but halfway through the week, she actually found herself avoiding him. It’s not like she didn’t want to be around him. That man is impossibly kind, sweet, stupidly patient with her- and it’s everything she just can’t handle right now. If he looked at her with those wide, cautious doe eyes that he always does, she worried she would make an impulsive decision that she wasn’t sure she even wanted to make.

At one point while studying, surrounded by friends she made in her classes (after befriending Cheol, she got over her melodramatic ‘feeling-like-an-outsider’ insecurity enough to try and make friends- it’s still not gone, unfortunately but she’s doing better) her mind started to wander in ways that she had been avoiding. But the end of the week was coming up, the deadline that the Ddakji man texted her to confirm she would go was approaching fast.

And she hated it.

She didn’t want to think about these things. She didn’t want to think about her dad, how desperate he must have been for money he didn’t have as his own mother was dying before his eyes. She didn’t want to think about Isabella, all the way in America, worrying about Ga-yeong just as much as she had been at the Pink Motel. She didn’t want to think about Cheol’s concerned gaze, and worse, how he looked at her like he would follow her to the ends of the earth.

She didn’t want to think about the gun that had pressed against her shoulder.

Fingers had snapped in front of her face, which thankfully managed to drag her out of her own head.

“Huh? What?” Ga-yeong’s head snapped up, her eyes wide in attention. She glanced around at her new friends, all six stared at her with concerned expressions.

Across from her, at the very end of the large circle table, sat a girl with long, dyed blond hair. She rested her cheek in the palm of her hand, seeming the least concerned out of all of them. “Damn girl, you were really out of it.” She chuckled. “I called your name over and over again, but you were too stuck in your own world to hear me.”

“Oh… sorry.” Ga-yeong’s face warmed significantly. Already embarrassing herself in front of her new friends had to be a new low. “My mind is just, well, all over the place, y’know?” She smiled sheepishly, hoping to ease their concern.

Another girl, this one next to her, nodded. “I get it. Mid-term tests should not be this stressful. Bin-na should be thankful only one of her professors gave her an exam.”

Bin-na, the blond haired girl, glared at the other one. Apparently, those two are roommates, if Ga-yeong remembered correctly. “That’s not fair, Jang-mi! It’s not my fault 90% of my grade comes from homework!”

Ga-yeong smiled in amusement, and it seemed she was not alone. The other girls at the table giggled at their antics as well. Finally, they could move on. “Yeah, I get it. Though, it’s not really tests that are on my mind.”

Or not. Because of course, she just had to say a bit too much before she could realize the attention would be back on her.

“Really? What else do you have to worry about?” Another girl asked. Her short, light pink hair reminded Ga-yeong of cotton candy.

“Oh, uhm… well…” She hesitates. Her hands began fidgeting with the pen she was holding as she tried to find a way to explain. It wouldn’t make sense to say the truth, and really, Ga-yeong did not feel like trauma dumping to a group of kind, pretty strangers. It was easier with Cheol, it didn’t feel so impossible with him. But not with these girls. So instead, she decided to beat around the bush. “Have you ever been… been so close to figuring out something that’s been so important to you for years? And now you finally have the opportunity that you secretly dreamed about, but everyone around you is telling you to do it, and logically you know it’s the stupidest shit you could do, but you really want to do it and figure the thing out?”

The group went silent again, making Ga-yeong’s cheeks burn with shame. That weird ramble probably did even less to help the situation. Thankfully, Jang-mi nods again before she could manage to choke out an apology. “I once was close to taming a horse. I almost died, but I had wanted to try since I was a kid. You know, like those princess movies? My parents were really mad that I ran off to do that.” She smiled so sweetly at Ga-yeong that it made her heart race in a way Isabella tended to cause. “But if it’s so important to you, you should do it. Just be careful and everything will be okay.”

It’s embarrassing how quickly Ga-yeong took that advice to heart. She probably shouldn’t have, it’s not like Jang-mi knew what was at stake. But then again, she doesn’t either. It’s a complete gamble. She could be fighting for her life or skipping across hills of flowers for all she knows!

Maybe it wont be as bad as she was worried about.

So the next day, Ga-yeong prepared for what was probably the inevitable.

First things first; she texted the Recruiter that she was absolutely for sure going. The Recruiter added a few more instructions to follow on top of what was already written on the business card. She reread both the text and the card probably fifty times over, making sure it was burned in her memory.

Next, she called her mom.

“Ga-yeong! How are you, my sweet little girl. I haven’t heard from you in forever.” Her mom exclaimed over the other line. “How are things? How is Korea? Are you settling in well? Making friends??”

Ga-yeong snuggled deeper into the sheets of her bed. With no roommate to bother her, it felt like the other good time to have this conversation. “I talked to you last week, mom.” She chuckles. “Sorry I haven’t called you since. Class has been crazy. Things are good though, Korea is great. I made a lot of friends.”

“Ah, that’s great, Ga-yeong! I hope you’re used to the food. Oh I miss being able to go down the street for authentic korean food. Instead I always have to convince your siblings that going to Korea Town is a necessary stop when we’re in the city. I don’t blame them for complaining, that’s all the way in Manhattan!” She complains aimlessly, like always. It’s a welcome tradition. “You should bring some food over from Korea once your second semester ends!”

She chuckled weakly at her mom’s enthusiasm. “I’m not sure I can excuse bringing so much food through the TSA.”

She bit her cheek as she tried to gather her nerves. “So uhm… Mom…. I found something.”

“Something? What, food?”

She grimaces. “No, no… I…” She trailed off, her eyebrows furrowing as she tried to figure out what to say. How does she explain that she went looking for Gi-hun behind her back? She explicitly told her not to because she knew Ga-yeong so desperately wanted to. Her mom would worry. For once, it would be the right amount of concern.

She’s not sure what divine being intervened, but Ga-yeong didn’t have more of a chance to make a fool of herself. She heard a crash come from the other line, and her mom just sighs. “I have to go, Ga-yeong. Your baby sister just fell off the couch.”

Ga-yeong blinks. “Wh- Mom, stop babying Mi-cha. She’s eight.”

“She’s still my baby-” Crying could be heard on the other line. “Alright, alright. Bye Ga-yeong, I love you!”

Ga-yeong frowned as she heard her mom hang up on her. “… love you too.” Somehow, it feels like she’s getting ready for her own execution.

After that, it was just a matter of finishing up the rest of her schoolwork, passing her damn mid-terms, and surviving the week. At some point, Cheol asked for the documents and all the photos she had of the Pink Motel, which she willingly handed of to him, not really caring to find out why he needed it. She trusted Cheol with anything regarding her dad at this point. Besides, someone needed to have it while she was gone.

She never did tell him she was leaving.

Finally, November 5^th rolled around, perhaps a little too fast for comfort. She knew it was only a week away, but being in the moment you had been anxiously looking forward to for so long isn’t as easy as she thought.

Ga-yeong followed The Recruiters instructions, arriving at the street on the card fifteen minuets before the set time. It was dark out, the light from the street lamps only helping a little, but not at all improving her mood. She can’t help but feel like the protagonist of a horror movie.

After what felt like hours, a white van pulls up right in front of her, stopping in the middle of the road to do so. The driver is lucky there are no other cars coming.

Ga-yeong swallows the pit in her stomach and walked closer. Just going over to the van was giving her the creeps, though it might be because of all those ads she would see as a kid in America. White vans with greasy, creepy men luring children away with candy is the only thing she can really think of.

When the window rolls down, Ga-yeong frowns even more at not being able to see the mans face. It looks like there is some sort of mask covering it. And then, a distorted and obviously modulated voice asks, “Namgung Ji-woo?”

Right, this is one of the first instructions The Recruiter gave her. Go with the lie, pretend like she’s the name of some other person. They won’t let her in if she doesn’t. “Thats- uh, thats me.” She mumbles, the lie coming easily. She can just pretend her nerves are from the cold and the weird situation they’re in.

“Password?”

It’s now or never. She could change her mind still. She could leave.

“The password is… Yut Nori.”

She doesn’t.

After a terrifying period of silence, the door to the van slides open. It’s all the invitation she’s given.

Ga-yeong mumbles a quiet “thanks,” as she shuffles herself inside the car. It’s empty. Ga-yeong doesn’t know if that is a good thing or not. She didn’t exactly expect other people, but a part of her was hoping she wouldn’t be trapped in solitude.

Then a hissing sound jerks her out of her thoughts. Her head jerks up to notice a white gas seeping out of something from the car ceiling.

“Oh.”

Oh god. She’s going to die here.

She’s out before she can even consider what to do next.

Chapter Text

Her head hurts.

That’s the first thing Ga-yeong recognizes. The second is a piercingly bright light shining through her eyelids, demanding that she pry them open. Despite that, she stubbornly squeezes her eyes shut to try and fend off the rays of light that persist. The third thing she notices is what sounds like cartoon-ish classical music playing from speakers. She’s not one to judge, but it’s certainly not something she would chose to listen to, especially so early in the morning.

Only then does she remember.

The shock makes her jerk up to a sitting position, only to immediately smack her forehead right against metal. She recoils and collapses back on the thin mattress. “Owww..” She whines, her poor forehead throbbing.

“Woah, are you alright?” A soft voice next to her startles her out of her own self loathing. “That sounded like it hurt.”

Ga-yeong opens her eyes to see a gorgeous girl in front of her- probably pretty enough to be a model if she was just a bit taller. With her long black hair, bangs, freckles, and pooling black eyes, she wouldn’t be surprised if she heard the woman was on the cover of a magazine.

Her face gets warm in embarrassment. “Y-yeah, I’m alright.” Carefully, she slides off the bed and steps onto what looks like a weird, metal staircase. “I shouldn’t have shot up so quickly.”

The pretty lady nods in understanding. “I get it. I was confused when I woke up too. If we were in an emergency, you probably reacted better than me.”

Ga-yeong smiles at her words, but that quickly falls as she looks around the room. Her head is still throbbing in all different places, and she’s still trying to fight off the sleepiness, but even with so many things stacked against her, she can still notice whats incredibly wrong. Firstly, there is a ton of people here, mostly those on the older side, and all of them seem just as confused as she is. And even stranger, they’re all wearing the exact same outfits.

Looking down, she notices so is she. She shudders at the thought of someone having changed her clothes while she was still passed out in that car.

“I know, weird right?” Ga-yeong looks back at the pretty lady who is twirling her hair around her forefinger. Her thick eyebrows are furrowed. “Last thing I remember is getting into a car before I passed out. Then I wake up here in weird clothes with numbers on them. I hope we aren’t like… trafficked or something.”

Ga-yeong grimaces. “I sure hope not…” But whats worse is that it’s not an unrealistic assumption to make. At the very least, they were all kidnapped. Whatever happens next is the biggest issue right now.

The lady tilts her head as she looks at Ga-yeong’s shirt. “Huh. Yours has the number 456 on it.”

Ga-yeong looks down at her own shirt, her hand gently tracing over the numbers. “I guess I must have been one of the last people to agree to go here.” Based on what The Recruiter said at least. She looks over at the pretty lady’s shirt. “Oh, you have 001.”

“001?” She looks down at her own shirt before groaning. “Damn, I don’t need everyone here realizing just how desperate I was for money.” She complains and zips up the jacket.

“Aw, don’t worry. If no one else here was on the same boat, they wouldn’t be here.” Ga-yeong offers her a sheepish smile. Even if that’s not true to her, it is true for everyone else here.

The lady stares at her for a moment, as if assessing her, before she allows herself to light chuckle. “I guess that’s true.”

She then looks over to what must be the front of the room. Ga-yeong follows her gaze, looking out to the rest of the room- though it looks more like a giant warehouse. They’re are beds towards the very back and across from them, all filled with people piling out. What must be the front of the room has an archway that leads to abnormally large double sliding doors. Above that, in view for all to see is a large screen.

“Number of Players: 456…” The lady reads aloud. “That means you were the last to join.”

Did the Ddakji man really save up one extra space just for her? “456 is such an odd number? Why not round up to 450? Or just 400 or 500?” Ga-yeong asks.

001 shrugs. She really needs to find out her name. “Maybe it’s a coincidence, and that just happens to be the amount of players willing to join. 456 is already a lot.”

“That’s true…” But based on what The Recruiter said, it doesn’t seem like a coincidence.

Ga-yeong doesn’t get to say anything else though. A harsh buzzing noise clashes with the music, shutting it off and leaving them in complete silence. Then the doors slide open, a group of people in bright pink jumpsuits and masks walk through the doors and onto the platform, separating them from the players. All of them are wearing the same mask with circles on them, except for the one in the middle, that’s wearing a square.

Odd. Whats with these people and their shapes? X’s, circles, triangles, squares- pair that with the pink jumpsuits and everything about this situation is almost childishly ridiculous.

She’s suddenly relieved that she’s so high up, it leaves her farther away from the weird men. Still, she inches back a little more, wanting as much distance from them as possible.

They all move in sync until they stop closer to the edge of the platform. Silence overtakes the warehouse, their attention locked onto the masked men. Finally, the only person with a square mask steps forward to address them.

“I would like to extend a hearty welcome to all of you,” The masked square’s voice is monotone, uncaring, yet easily projected across the large room. It’s also garbled weirdly, just like the person in the car was, but noticeably different. They’re all standing nearly perfectly still, like trained soldiers prepared for combat rather than an announcer. It’s unnerving. “Everyone here will participate in six different games over the next six days.”

Games? Like the Ddakji the Recruiter had them play?

“Those who win all six games will receive a handsome cash prize.”

Ga-yeong feels her heart ache. She knew it had to do with money. Of course it did. The promise to play simple games and win cash is unsurprisingly unrealistic, and yet they find people desperate enough to go. No wonder her dad was here. If all he had to do was play six games to win money, if this isn’t some elaborate scam, why wouldn’t he?

It has to be true. Her dad would still be in Ssangmun-dong if it wasn’t. But there also has to be more than that, considering the suspicious circumstances that brought them all here in the first place-

“How are we supposed to trust any of that?” A man on the floor with the crowd, with thin and short brown hair, yelled out. He glares at the group in pink. “You practically put a bag over my head and kidnapped me without even telling me what was going on!”

Yeah, that guy is thinking right. It is heavily suspicious. Others around them mumble words of agreement.

The pink square shows no visible signs of reacting. “We had to enforce these procedures to ensure the utmost security in bringing you here. You will be brought back once the games are complete.”

“What are with these outfits? And yours?” Another voice, which took a bit longer to find this time. She’s an older woman, further in the back. “Why can’t we see your face?”

“We do not disclose the faces or personal information of our staff to the participants. It is for the sake of fairness and secrecy. Please understand.”

The girl in front of her, 001, steps forward. “Forgive me for not believing you.” She snaps, her expression cold. “But you encouraged us all to be here with the promise of money, only to kidnap us and strip us of our belongings. After the kidnapping, knocking us out, and refusing to even show your face, it sounds more like an excuse than for ‘secrecy and fairness’. Why should we trust anything your saying?”

Ga-yeong perks up, thankful the girl is saying exactly what she was just thinking. It’s too suspicious to not have some sort of catch.

The guard is silent for a moment before they lift their hand to point a remote up. They look straight ahead as they hit a button. “Player 001, Oh Jung-hwa.”

The lights suddenly dim, and the screen above the guards begin playing a video.

A video of Jung-hwa playing ddakji against The Recruiter. “Age 19. Former lead singer of a kpop group known as ‘Nebu1a’. Has been kicked out for three years. Total debt, 423 million won.”

Ga-yeong watches as Jung-hwa shrinks back, her eyes darting straight onto the ground. Whether to avoid the humiliating video or the eyes on her, she can’t tell.

Then the guard moves on, and so does the video. It changes to the older woman getting slapped instead. “Player 424, Nam Yoo-mi. 760 million won in debt.”

“Player 442, Myung Guk-jin. 240 million won in debt.”

“Player 231, Jang Yeon-woo.603 million won in debt.”

“Player 329, Ju Min-sung. 500 millionin debt.”

“Player 205, Choi Hae-sung. 2 billion won in debt.”

Again and again, the man lists a new poor soul who ended up here and their total debt, and their video will subsequently find it’s way on the screen. Usually it includes them getting slapped after losing whatever game they were playing- some ddakji, some others she can’t see long enough to recognize.

Soon, the screen starts to change, making the videos smaller and switching between nearly twenty different videos at a time. What type of psychological warfare even is this?

Finally, the square guy continues. “All of you in this room have crippling debts and are now on a cliffs-edge.” He states, uncaring for the vidoes flashing above him. “When we first went to you, you did not trust us either. But as you know, we played a game, and gave you money as promised.”

“And so, you trusted us and volunteered to participate according to your own free will. Now you have one last chance to decide.”

The way the square speaks irks Ga-yeong to her very soul. Like her creepy ex-boyfriend whose dodging responsibility or blaming her for everything bad in their relationship. Maybe she’s just paranoid because of The Ddakji man’s words. The reason she’s truly here is different from the rest.

‘Just be careful to make sure no one knows why you’re there.’

That warning is etched into her brain. She hasn’t stopped thinking about it.

Why?

She wished she asked.

“Do you want to go back and live out your pathetic lives running from creditors? Or will you seize this last opportunity we are offering?”

Ga-yeong looks around.

She watches as the people around her, who just moments ago were staring at the masked men in suspicion, fall. How Jung-hwa clenches her jaw. The way 082’s eyes flicker with a reluctant sort of acceptance. She sees how 377 bites his lip and glares at the ground.

And how ever could she blame them?

(Is this how her dad looked when he was finally given hope?)

No matter how suspicious of a situation this may be, just the sliver of hope that they are right, that they could win money and go home, it must be enough to try.

Finally, a man that Ga-yeong recognizes raises his hand. He’s the chef they had seen in the subway. “Say we do play,” The man calls out. “How much would the prize money be anyways?”

Once again, the masked square clicks a button on the remote.

A bright, golden light shines from the ceiling in the very middle of the room. Lowering down from the sky is a see through piggyback, golden and gleaming like the suns morning rays. Even Ga-yeong finds herself staring in awe.

Just like everyone else.

It’s a strange, unfamiliar flutter in her chest that shocks her out of her trance. She’s not even desperate for money, she doesn’t need any of it. Not really. And yet, she still finds herself excited at the thought of it. She can feel the greed that lays dormant inside her. Like Icarus had taken over her body, she wanted to reach for it.

The masked man continues despite how obviously distracted people are. “The amount will be revealed to everyone after the first game. Those who do not wish to participate, please speak up now.”

It’s not a surprise that no one said a word.

Everything after that happens in a flash. The circle jumpsuit people bring in little stands to place contracts in and instructs everyone to get in lines behind the contracts. She feels paranoia itching at her skin, telling her not to sign, to run far, far away. But really, she doubts they would actually allow her to not participate now that they’re here.

It’s her last potential out. One that she’s not taking.

The anxiety of waiting gets to her. God it’s so quiet. Nobody knows anybody, no one knows what to say to anyone else. Everyone is a competitor, someone that’s in the way the piggy bank somewhere above their heads. As if they know that, no one says a word. Not to each other, and not to the guards that are watching their every move.

Player Consent Form

Clause 1: A player is not allowed to voluntarily quit the games.

Clause 2: A player who refuses to play will be eliminated.

Clause 3: The games may be terminated upon a majority vote.

Clause 4: Players may pass the ‘Secret Game’ to skip one game of their choosing, excluding the finale.

Ga-yeong skims through the form a few times before she becomes hyper aware of the guard staring at her. She swallows the lump in her throat and signs against her better judgment. She’s probably in more danger than anyone else here, she can’t make herself suspicious.

After she hands the form back to the circle guy, she goes back to where she had originally woken up and sits down on the metal staircase. Sadly, Jung-hwa is no where to be seen, which really sucks. It would have been nice to continue talking to the only person she’s spoken to that looks closer to her age. But she probably would have done the same thing if her information was put on blast like that.

Still, if she can’t find someone to talk to, she needs something to do while she waits. She looks down at the hair tie on her wrist.

She’s sure she had her hair up like she normally does when she had gotten in the car. Now it’s completely down, fallen over her shoulders in a way she would never normally have it. She never knows what to do with her hair besides putting it up. Is it weird that they took her hair down? Yes. But she’s at least glad they gave her back her hair tie, so that’s a win in her book.

She begins threading her fingers through her hair, wanting to look at least a little bit put together before the games start.

“Do you want any help with that?”

Ga-yeong looks down to see a tender looking older woman looking up at her. Her hair stands out a lot here, even though it was definitely bleached a long time ago, the blond is different. But what stands out more is how noticeably skinny and pale she is.

She clears her throat as she realizes she was staring. “Oh! No, I’m alright, ajumoni, I got it.” She smiles politely at the woman with 030 printed on her shirt.

But the older woman raises her eyebrows instead of smiling back. “Ajumoni? How old do you think I am?”

“Uh…” Ga-yeong freezes, her eyes darting around in a slight panic. “I-I’m sorry? I didn’t mean any disrespect. I was trying to be polite.”

“You think calling me old is polite?” She crosses her arms.

“No!” Ga-yeong jumps up to her feet and rushes down the stairs to stand on the floor where the lady is standing. She’s shorter than her. “Of course not! I thought- in America calling someone ‘ms’ or ‘mrs’ is meant to be polite. I-I thought I remember ajumoni being similar, but-”

“Wait,” The lady pauses, the annoyance melting from her face. “You’re American?”

Ga-yeong blinks. “Huh? Oh- uh, no. I was born in Korea, but I’ve lived in America since I was ten. I only moved back a few months ago.”

“Oh, what a relief,” The lady smiles. “I was born and raised there.”

“Really?”

“Mhm. I graduated at Georgetown University.” She says in English, as if that’s proof of anything. Though in her defense, it is convincing. She doesn’t have the thick accent she would expect from someone who learned English later in life, like her parents have.

Ga-yeong relaxes. “That’s so cool! Washington, right? I heard the state is beautiful.”

“It is! But-”

They’re cut off when the same loud buzzer from before rings throughout the warehouse. These masked people really have bad timing.

“The first game is about to begin. All players, follow the staffs instructions and proceed to the game hall.”

The guards begin to do exactly what the announcement says, directing everyone into two lines.

The two look at each other before they shuffle onto the line as well, Ga-yeong in front of the older lady.

She feels 030 tap her shoulder before quietly saying, “Hey, we should stick together for the games. You’re nimble and young, and I have more life experience.” She suggests. “If we work together, we could both win enough prize money to pay off our debts.”

Ga-yeong suppresses any reaction. She can’t help the guilt she feels despite the fact she hasn’t lied about a thing. Then again, isn’t just being here among these people lying?

Despite herself, she nods. “Why not?”

As both lines leave through two different side doors, Ga-yeong finds herself slowing down as she takes in whats past the walls of the warehouse.

It looks insane, and not even in a terrifying way this time. It’s just chaotic. There are walls and stairs in odd places, all painted light and bright colors, mostly pink, in a way that completely contridicts the bland gray box they were all stuffed into. Some of the stairs and walls don’t even make much sense to be where they are.

“This place looks like a maze you’d see in one of those liminal space horror games…” She grimaces.

“Look over there.” 030 points over to whats in front of them- walls used as dividers with screens and cameras on them.

“This is just so… so weird. This whole place.” Ga-yeong grumbles. How many times can something be described as ‘weird’ or ‘odd’ before her head explodes? But how else do you describe something like this?

She eventually steps up after the group before her moves. She shuffles into one of the middle dividers and swiftly moves to put her hair up. She finishes right as the overly cheery voice says, “Please look into the camera.” Great, a photo. Hopefully no one will notice she’s not supposed to be here from this… “Smile.”

She may be nervous, but she’s not one to let herself take a bad photo. So she smiles even with her reservations.

The clicking of the camera is heard. She moves on at the same time as everyone else for the next group.

What follows is mostly a blur of walking, walking, and even more damn walking. She and 030 could only talk so much before they were exhausted at just the amount of stairs they were forced to traverse. She never did like using the stupid Stair Master when she went to the gym, but now she’s starting to wish she did it more often. Are they going to have to walk like this everyday? No wonder the recruiter warned her against this place. It’s an endless torture device of stairs.

Thankfully, it seemed everyone was exhausted. Everyone is shuffling slowly after only a few minuets of this madness. This place was definitely designed by some scientist trying to figure out at what point the human mind snaps.

After what feels like years, they must have arrived at their destination, as they come across something new. Green doors that resemble fences swing open once the people in front get close enough.

“Thank fucking god. I was about to die.” Ga-yeong whines.

Ga-yeong’s forced to squint her eyes as they step into the game area. The sudden bright and natural light catches her off guard. She didn’t expect to see an open sky, not in a place like this. Still, walking through the sand, seeing a bright sunny day with clear sky’s and a cool breeze, it’s hard not to let herself relax, if only for a moment.

“Ah, this would be such a nice day to have a picnic, don’t you think?” 030 asks next to her. She looks over at the walls. “If only the grass and trees were real, this would be such a nice clearing. I wonder why they added that wallpaper.”

“A lake or a beach would be nice too.” Ga-yeong smiles soflty. “I used to go to Welch Lake during the summers with my family. My little sister almost drowned there once. Uh, you know New York City? It’s right across the river.”

030 chuckles. “I’ve always wanted to visit the city. Is it nice there?”

“It’s okay! Kind of like Seoul, but a bit more… hectic? And a lot of cool graffiti.” She shrugs sheepishly. “Never go to Times Square though, it’s jus a tourist thing to get advertised at really loudly.”

The two snicker for a moment before Ga-yeong focuses on whats ahead of them. She grimaces when she notices the horrific giant doll. “Oh god. I do not like that.” She points to the doll ahead of them, taking a few steps forward to see it better. “It looks like it’s about to come to life and kill us.”

“Not before I get that prize money.” 030 snarks.

Ga-yeong smiles, but it feels more strained than before. Not while she remembers the point of this. This can’t just be it.

She looks around the walls, and she does end up seeing what might be holes in the walls and a few cameras, but nothing that she can properly make out. Nothing that seems like an immediate threat.

Right as her doubts start piling on, a voice breaks her out of her thoughts. “Welcome to the first game. All players, please wait a moment on the field.” The voice says. “Let me repeat. All players, please wait a moment on the field.”

Ga-yeong rolls her eyes. “Did she think we couldn’t understand her the first time?”

The doors close behind everyone with a loud clank! The suddenness makes her heart pound, as if that sound alone has confirmed that her fate is sealed. “I don’t like this.” She mumbles before focusing on 030. “Be careful, okay? I…” She hesitates.

She has every reason to be scared, it’s not like anyone would call her over dramatic for that. And yet, she has no reason to truly think anything bad is going to happen. Yet she does. Her gut is screaming at her to run.

“It’s okay, we’re just playing some games, yeah?” 030 smiles. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

Ga-yeong bites her tongue.

“The first game is Red Light, Green Light.” The large doll of the little girl turns around entirely, before it’s arms bend at the joints, as if its covering its eyes. The organizers must have put a lot of work in to trying to emulate a real group of kids playing this game. “You can only move forward while the tagger shouts, ‘green light, red light’.”

“Red light, green light?” 030 mumbles under her breath. The murmuring of others ring out around them. Some confused, some annoyed. “I didn’t think we’d be playing kid games.”

The older lady then grabs Ga-yeong’s shoulder and shakes her to get her attention. “At least we also played a game just like this in America, hmm?”

“Yeah…”

“If your movement is detected afterward, you will be eliminated.”

Ga-yeong feels her blood run cold. “Eliminated?”

“Taken out of the game.” 030 summarizes, as if she’s confused at what such a simple word means. “Like ‘removed’, or uh, ‘disqualified’-”

“I know what ‘eliminated’ means.” Ga-yeong snaps. She doesn’t have it in her to feel guilty. Her hands are shaking.

Something is wrong.

“Let me repeat, you can move forward while the tagger shouts ‘Green light, red light’. If your movement is detected afterward, you will be eliminated.”

After a moment of silence, a timer on one of the walls appears, starting at five minuets. “Those who cross the finish line without getting caught in five minuets pass this round.”

Something is very wrong.

“Then let the game begin.”

The timer starts, and a childish voice comes from the speaker this time. “Green light…”

The doll ‘sings’ as everyone begins to move, some going faster than others. Ga-yeong forces herself to take cautious steps despite how much she wants to stay in place.

“Red light!”

The head of the doll turns back around, and everyone freezes.

Ga-yeong’s eyes dart around to the people all around her. Everyone is standing perfectly still, each other taking this seriously despite the initial childishness of the game. The potential to earn any amount of money keeps them focused. Right next to her is 030, who seems perfectly calm.

It’s not like they have any reason to panic, but the calm seems wrong.

The doll head turns back around, and the voice starts up. “Green light…”

030 huffs a laugh under her breath. “Look at that tall guys hair.” She jokes.

It’s probably an attempt at getting Ga-yeong to calm down. She wonders how insane she looks, tense and scared while playing a child’s game.

And to be fair, that man’s hair is insane. It’s obviously incredibly damaged from bleach, bright green and sticking up in a way that she just can’t see the vision for. She smiles sheepishly. “He looks like a pineapple.” And like one tug of it would turn his hair into a pile of dust.

“Red light!” She feels her heart stop as she freezes. She focuses back on the game. No more distractions.

Except, the man with damaged hair stumbles when the doll turns back around.

“Player 125. Eliminated.”

The man curses under his breath and stands up straight-

She’s reminded of the subway. Sitting with Cheol, hearing the loud pop that reminded her of gunshots. Back then, it was easier to reassure herself that wasn’t what happened.

But then she sees the man collapse to the ground like a rag doll.

Her breath hitches, eyes locked onto the man that’s on the ground. The entire room is dead silent, waiting for the man to get back up.

He doesn’t.

“Green light…”

Ga-yeong finds herself barely able to inch forward, still in disbelief. She knew it was too simple. She knew it.

Another lady crouches down in front of 125, an older woman- 424. “Hey are you o-”

“Red light!”

Silence.

Then the woman screams, jumping up off the ground and scrambling back.

Another shot. She collapses.

Everything changes in an instant. There’s screaming, running- desperation and fear more palpable than she’s ever heard in reality. It’s something she’s only heard on TV or from social media. Never in person.

And fuck, the gunshots.

Shot after shot causes more and more people to scream and run, which turns into more and more gunshots. Every new shot is worse then the last.

Did she get shot too? She doesn’t feel any pain, but the sound is so loud and overwhelming, ringing in her ears over and over again- or maybe it’s just repeating that often. It’s too real. Her rapid pounding heart is all too real. She’s never been this close to a shooting before. Most people aren’t. And yet here she is, frozen.

Frozen while everyone around her drops like flies. Everyone she sees that runs, desperate to escape, to go home, for the future that seemed promised to them only seconds ago, collapse like there was never any life inside of them at all.

Even the horror that should set in doesn’t. It’s muffled, and in its replacement is pure nothingness.

A shaking hand grabs onto Ga-yeong’s shoulder, and her heart leaps in fear- finally an emotion that makes sense- but even then, she can’t do anything. She can’t move to safety.

At a certain point she practically accepts whats coming. Her eyes squeeze shut, waiting for the shots to hit her too. Waiting for the hand on her shoulder to go limp along with everyone else.

A gunshot- one too close- makes her wonder if she died and is in some sort of limbo- one where she’s forced to listen to hundreds die right in front of her until the end times.

All she can do is wait as seconds pass like hours.

She’s seconds away from death and all she can do is stand there and wait for it.

One last shot rings out before everything is silent.

The hand on her shoulder forces her to recognize she’s alive.

“Let me repeat,”

She’ll hear that voice in her nightmares.

“You can move forward while the tagger shouts, ‘Green light, red light’. If your movement is detected afterward, you will be eliminated.”

Ga-yeong doesn’t open her eyes. She doesn’t have to, not to be able to know what she will see before her. The faces and screams of people who were just there- right in front of her mere moments ago. Their screams reverberate in her ears like they’re stuck there while the image of shot down players are branded into the flesh of her eyelids.

She doesn’t need to see. She already is.

“Let me repeat. You can move forward while the tagger shouts ‘Green light, red light’. If your movement is detected afterward, you will be eliminated.”

“Let the game begin.”

She used to love this game.

Games were one of the few ways she managed to make friends when she first moved to America, and red light green light was one of the first. It was similar enough to the Korean one she used to play that she didn’t need to be told the rules.

She was always good at red light green light. It was just a game.

“Green Light…”

Ga-yeong manages to pry her eyes open, despite the dread that came from such a simple action. She regrets it instantly. Lifeless bodies are scattered around her, and even though they should move, no one does. The trembling hand on her shoulder is more recognizable now too. It’s 030. Was she not caught moving?

She looks down. A body is right in front of her.

That’s when she recognizes the rapidly cooling liquid all over her face. Blood. Blood that isn’t her own.

“Red light!”

No one moves an inch.

She tenses, expecting the ringing of gunfire to take over.

“Green light...”

Someone walks past her, trembling and panicked but moving and so very alive.

001. Jung-hwa.

She catches Ga-yeong’s eye. “You have to keep moving,” She breathes. Her skin is glistening with sweat, her mouth moving and speaking more and more and fuck she’s alive- “We- we’ll die if we don’t make it.”

“Red light!”

Everyone freezes.

The desperation in Jung-hwa’s eyes makes Ga-yeong want to sob.

“Green light…”

Ga-yeong moves before she can even think about it.

How did she manage to unfreeze herself? Her body wasn’t responding to her, yet now, she’s walking forward with no issue. Was it Jung-hwa? Was it her words, or her eyes, or just the way she was moving and speaking and lived to do it?

Is she and Jung-hwa the only ones moving? She can’t tell. It still seems so silent. All she can see is Jung-hwa’s back and the sand and the doll they have to get closer to. It still seems so far away, like no matter how many steps she takes, it just gets further and further away. Winning is impossible. They’re going to kill them all.

“Red light!”

It’s hard to stop moving. Why is it hard? Her hands keep moving, and so do her legs, but they don’t propel her forward. They just tremble in place, especially her hands and- oh god is she moving too much??? Is this how she will die? Terrified and alone, with no one to know what happened? Will she never find out what happened to her dad? Will he ever know how long she spent looking for him? Will Cheol realize what happened? She can’t think properly and yet thinking is all she can do.

“Green light…”

She intakes a sharp breath as she walks forward. She stuffs her hands into her pockets- they were shaking, she can’t risk it, she could die here-

“Red light!”

Too fast. It catches her off guard.

She hears a gunshot. Then another. Another. Another.

“Green light…”

She chokes out a sob as she keeps moving. Tears fill her eyes, making it harder to see when she already couldn’t see. Will blurred vision be the reason she dies?

“Red light!”

-And oh god it’s so quiet. She hates silence. Why does silence even exist? It’s never silent in the city, never silent in Seoul or on campus, because it never should be. Silence means danger, it means something is lurking by to strike, to kill, theres always someone yelling or crying or-

A gunshot.

“Green light...”

She can feel her breath pick up. She can feel the way her body has tensed, as if it’s trying to turn to stone and anchor herself to the ground, to keep her still enough to keep breathing as fast as she is. But she’s breathing too heavily, too fast, isn’t she? She stares desperately ahead, the only thing she can see is the doll impossibly closer-

“Red light!”

-all she can recognize is how far away her goal is, how the timer keeps on ticking down and down, she can’t see how long they have but it can’t be much. Will they shoot her if she doesn’t make it? Isn’t that what the girl said? It’s like a test, one where you can hear the clock tick with every passing second. She can hear it- everything- too earily. She hears every gunshot like the bullet will go straight through her own skull. She hears every sharp intake of breath like its her own, like its her last. She hears the movement of the sand below them like she’s laying headfirst on the beach with her little siblings playing.

Her poor family.

“Green light…”

Her mother sounded so worried about her when she wanted to go back to Korea. She wonders if her mom knows. Did she know? How could she be so cruel to dad when he went through this.

Is this how hopeless her dad felt-

“Red light!”

-before grandma’s funeral? Did he have to go through this game and pray to a god he’d find a way to survive it? Did he sob and cry and beg like how she wants to? Did he fall to his knees to mourn those who were lost? How many did he see die? How many-

“Green light…”

-people did her dad look at, wanting to reach out a hand, only to see the blood already spilling out of their heads. Did he consider giving up like she is-

A scream.

Someone yelled out, right behind her.

“Red light!”

Ga-yeong’s eyes widen.

There’s no open fire to whoever was behind her. All to well she can hear breathing.

She blinks a few times.

The doll is close. Not as close as she would like, but close. She can see the cut off point, a red divider showing where the finish line is. How did she even get this far? She hasn’t been paying attention at all.

“Green light…”

Ga-yeong risks turning around and sees 030 collapses on the ground behind her, some poor souls dead body behind her. Did she trip

030 scrambles to get up, but as her foot hits the ground, she collapses with another cry. “M-my ankle.. my ankle-!”

“Red light!”

Ga-yeong swallows nervously. She stares at 030, the woman struggling to hold herself up by her arms, tears falling down her face as her breathing gets erratic.

And they both know.

If she can’t get up, she’s done for. They’ll kill her, and she’ll never live to see another day. She’ll never get to bask in the warmth of the sun again.

But she’s not dead yet.

And then 030 meets her eyes.

“Green light...”

Ga-yeong rushes forward despite everything in her telling her to turn the fuck around and leave. “It’s okay- it’s okay, lean on me, I’ll help you, I’ll help.” She’s rambling even with her voice being nothing more than a soft mumble. She crouches down beside her and wraps her arm around the woman’s shoulder before she gets 030 up to her feet. “Just lean against me, okay? One foot at a time-”

“Red light!”

They freeze completely, to the point that Ga-yeong even holds her breath. Just like her hands that can’t be in her pockets anymore, it’s too big of a risk. Any little movement will kill them both. They just have to keep going and survive.

“Green light…”

They keep going, but they’re slow. Painfully slow. And even though they’re so close she’s not sure the two of them will make it. Her heart beats out of her chest as she checks the clock again.

60 seconds.

59.

58.

57-

030’s weight is suddenly not nearly as much of an issue, which jerks her out of the second spiral she nearly collapsed to. Her eyes dart over to see- “Cheol…?”

“Red light!”

They freeze.

Cheol’s here.

He’s here.

His eyebrows are furrowed in concentration, sweat gleaming off of his face. 030’s arm is wrapped around her shoulder.

Ga-yeong feels sweat fall down her face, just like her newfound tears. She could scream.

She doesn’t.

“Green Light…”

No one says another word. They can’t get distracted, they’re so close now, just a few feet away-

“Red light!”

It’s impossible not to panic. Even when she realizes how easily she could have died from messing up the first time, it’s impossible not to. It’s not like in the movies. Those characters are always running through the danger with a cool montage and sick music- something to take the edge off, something entertaining. If there wasn’t music, if the characters didn’t look cool, it would feel like you were there.

“Green light...”

No one wants to experience it. Not like this. Not when the torturous silence seeks to overwhelm and rip her apart from the inside out. It’s horrifying, how fast her mind races when there’s nothing concrete to focus on.

She’s not sure she’ll ever be able to bask in a quiet lull of nothingness ever again. Not when all she can hear is the pops of gunfire.

“Red light!”

Ga-yeong can hear everything too clear. She can feel the way her breath picks up with the hyperventilation attempting to claw its way out of her lungs. It’s a death sentence she has to forcibly strangle back.

She reels it in by focusing on breathing.

Not her own, but of everyone else.

Cheol and 030’s ragged breath are so close to her, its the easiest to focus on. Then there is the labored breathes of every other contestant. It’s all she has. Listening is horrifying. She hears how they’re panicking too, how others are choking back cries and hysteric laughter, and if a gun shoots its far too real like this.

But breathing means their alive.

“Green light...”

So she listens to their every breath like they’re prayers.

Finally, finally, they’re almost there, with only seconds to spare. She looks over at Cheol, who meets her eyes at the exact same time, and its clear they’re thinking the same thing.

She whips her head towards the timer- only a few seconds left-

She launches them forward at the same time as Cheol, not sparing a second to overthink. They practically throw 030 with them across the finish line.

Ga-yeong stay’s collapsed on the floor, even as the game behind them continues and she feels 030 shuffle off of her. She stays.

“Ga-yeong…?” Cheol’s soft, painfully concerned voice breaks through the sickening silence.

She lifts her head up just enough to see the hand he offers her. She reluctantly accepts his help and forces herself onto her feet. After all that, she feels weirdly empty.

A soft buzzer goes off.

Time is up.

Ga-yeong’s breath hitches as she whips around, seeing maybe ten or so survivors standing still as can be.

But it doesn’t save them.

Ga-yeong squeezes her eyes shut as guns open fire. She clings onto Cheol’s side like her life depends on it.

Then it’s over.

When she opens her eyes, she sees the people who were alive only moment’s ago on the ground, covered inblood.

She feels dizzy.

Only now can she really take in the carnage that was caused. Blood and bodies all around litter the once clean and pristine field. And whats worse, piled up by the entrances, are more dead bodies. Too many. She feels her heart ache as she realizes there must be hundreds.

Hundreds who just wanted to get out of debt.

Hundreds who were promised a potential new start.

Hundreds who will never see another day.

She flinches on instinct as another noise echos throughout the lot, but this time, it’s more mechanical. She can only watch with dawning horror as the sky above them gets cut off by a ceiling sliding atop the opening, cutting off their only connection to the outside world.

It really its her right then. The Recruiter was right. This was a dangerous world she stepped into, one that was worse than any person should ever have to see. And yet, that realization is numbed by the shock that washes over her.

Silently, in her own head, she curses how eagerly she wanted to reach towards the sun.

Chapter Text

It’s so cold.

Ga-yeong leans against Cheol’s side, her head resting on his shoulder while the two huddle right at the edge of one of the beds. She’s not sure which, but somewhere farther away from the large metal doors. He’s rubbing circles into her back, the methodical motion helping her mind not race a mile a minuet. She wonders if it’s helping him too.

The cold warehouse is silent again, unsurprisingly, but it leaves her feeling oddly calm. Maybe it all just hasn’t hit her yet. Shock and all that stupid stuff.

But even with everything helping, the silence begins to eat away at her again. Gunshots, screams, labored breathing- it’s all things she doesn’t want to hear again.

So she looks up at the boy, taking in his tense expression. There’s small splatters of blood on his cheeks, just like her own, and his eyes look dull, like he’s staring far off into nothing while not being able to see it all at the same time. About as well as she could expect, then.

“Cheol?” She keeps her voice low. It would be understandable if he didn’t want to talk, she certainly isn’t in a talkative mood, and she doubts anyone else wants to hear their conversation when they’re also processing the deaths of so many people.

She doesn’t want to think about that.

Thankfully, Cheol glances down at her, which is all the response she needs to continue. “Why are you here?” She mumbles.

Cheol looks away again, his eyebrows furrowing as he collects his thoughts. For a moment, it looks like he wont respond, but then he murmurs a quiet, “I didn’t want to leave you here alone.”

She frowns, guilt clawing at her heart. “How… did you know I would be here?”

The boy scoffs, the smallest playful smile begins to grow on his face. “Please, Ga-yeong, you’re not hard to read.” He says bluntly, making Ga-yeong blush in embarrassment. “Last time I left you to do something on your own, that weird ddakji guy attacked you. I wasn’t going to let that happen again, so I’m here to protect you.”

Ga-yeong sucks in a sharp breath. “I’m sorry.” She mumbles, already unconsciously curling up more. “It’s my fault you’re here. My… my stubbornness to find answers is why we’re in this place. I didn’t mean to- to make you stuck here with me.”

Cheol sighs, his hand moving to wrap around Ga-yeong’s side and urge her closer. “We knew this would be dangerous. We were warned. I came here knowing that.” He clears his throat. “Granted, I guess we didn’t know people would die, but still. I chose to come here.”

Ga-yeong slowly lifts her head up to look at Cheol, is hair and eyes an illuminating honey color from the gold piggy-bank above them. It’s beyond her how she managed to find a friend like him.

But her focus is ripped away from his friend when the older lady, 030, shuffles over to them. It takes long enough that Cheol and Ga-yeong are able to separate themselves from each other enough to not be weird. She didn’t realize how deep in his personal space she got.

The moment makes her acutely aware that a good handful of people have started mumbling amongst themselves.

“Young man,” She says softly, looking over to the two of them. “And you, young lady. Thank you. You both saved my life.”

Ga-yeong relaxes and turns to smile at her friend. “Yeah, thanks, Cheol. We wouldn’t have made it out without you.”

Cheol blushes a bit at the sudden acknowledgment and shakes his head. “No- you don’t need to thank me at all. I just- I couldn’t sit there and watch.”

“Yeah, I know.” Ga-yeong rolls her eyes fondly. “You just can never seem to stand back when you think someone needs help, huh?”

She receives a glare thanks to that. “I’m going to take that as a compliment.”

“Do you to know each other?” 030 asks, looking between them. “From before… this place?”

Cheol nods. “Yeah, we do.” He smiles at Ga-yeong. Her heart breaks at how it’s so much smaller than his usual ones. “Me and Ga-yeong aren’t even really supposed to be here-”

Ga-yeong jerks her hand forward, slapping her hand to his mouth. “Cheol!” She hisses as quietly as she can manage through her panic. She’s suddenly very glad they’re not the only ones who have started talking among themselves.

030 frowns, looking between the two again. “What.. does that mean?”

Ga-yeong huffs and reluctantly moves her hand away from her confused friends. “I- just-” She sighs, trying to calm down her racing heart. “Try to forget Cheol said anything. We’re not supposed to tell anyone that.”

“Oh…” Cheol mumbles, his face paling. “Right. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Ga-yeong sheepishly smiles at 030 and gestures her closer, which she thankfully follows. “We don’t really know why, but that ddakji recruiter guy? He’s the one who brought us here, and he gave us some specific instructions. One of which is not to tell anyone we shouldn’t be here. So… let’s keep this between us, okay?”

030 smiles at Ga-yeong and does a ‘zipping up her lips’ motion, making Ga-yeong feel just a bit lighter.

The same harsh buzzer noise from before, along with the doors opening, breaks up their conversation. Ga-yeong and Cheol scramble to hide in the middle of the bed rather than just outside it, while 030 moves to hide near one of the metal bars. She watches as others do the same, doing everything they can to get as far away from the guards as possible.

The lights in the warehouse turn back on as the guards step forward. The one in the middle, the damn square, steps up and speaks once again. “Congratulations on making it through he first game.” The man says, as if nothing more happened. Like it was just a game. “Here are the results of the first game.”

The screen above him begins to change. It starts at 456, just like it has been since they first arrived. But then the number of players drops, the count going down and down faster than Ga-yeong could really keep count. She never thought she would be so scared of a few numbers.

After far too long, the count stops.

“Out of 456 players, 182 have been eliminated.” The guard says. “274 players have completed the first game.”

Her breathing gets unsteady just from those words alone. She dares to look away from the men in jumpsuits to look at Cheol, whose big round eyes are wide with horror. Without looking away, Cheol reaches his hand over to squeeze Ga-yeong’s. It’s comforting to feel when another person is heartlessly standing in front of them and casually explaining how many people have died. Are they really all just numbers to them?

Before the guard can even utter another word out, someone from further back in the crowd pushes through everyone to go to the front. “Please, sir, let us go!” The young man trembles, tears forming in his eyes. “I promise, I’ll repay all my debts, every last won, just please don’t kill me! Let me go home!” The man collapses to his knees as he begs.

Moments later, when all they can hear is his sobbing, a woman rushes forward by the other mans side. She gets on her hands and knees. “Me too! Please mister- please let me go! I have children I have to take care of! A five year old and an eight year old!”

It’s a strange, detached feeling that spawns in her chest as she watches everyone beg for their lives. Most of them are older, the same age that his father must have been when he was here. Was he thinking about her when he was here? Was he praying he wouldn’t die, remembering the daughter he still has to care for? The one that would be leaving him in only a few months? Did he fall to his knees and beg, or did he hide in the beds like she is?

It doesn’t feel real, no matter how much the dried blood on her face reminds her it is.

And soon, a quarter of the room is on the ground in front of the beds, on their knees and begging to be let go, for their lives to be spared for whatever values they hold. The guard clearly doesn’t care for any of it.

“There seems to be a misunderstanding,” The square guard says, still and uncaring. “We are not trying to hurt you or collect your debts. Let me remind you that we’re here to provide you with an opportunity.”

“An opportunity!?” Ga-yeong’s eyes dart over to across the room when she hears a voice she vaguely recognizes- it’s the chef from the subway, number 329. He survived, and isn’t bowing down to the heartless soldiers. “You make us play these stupid children games with the promise of money, only to shoot us in the head!! And you’re calling this an ‘opportunity’!? You bastard- let us go!”

“This is only a game, and one that you all agreed to play.”

Her skin crawls from the guards words.

A large, buff woman steps up. Number 401. “A game!? Fuck you! None of us knew we would be risking our damn lives!”

“The dead players were simply eliminated for losing the game. If you just follow the rules, you can leave this place safely and with the prize money we promised.”

Another man stands up from the floor, 009. “Screw your money! I don’t even believe it exists!” He yells, tears still streaming down his face. “I just want to go home!”

An elderly woman sobs from the floor, 348. “Please sir, we just want to go home… please…”

“Let us go!”

More and more people yell out to leave. It’s far too many for Ga-yeong to keep track of. Their begging becomes overwhelming for even her.

A gunshot rings out, leaving everyone scrambling back in fear. Ga-yeong covers Cheol and squeezes her eyes shut, preparing for the worst. No pain comes, besides the way her lungs constrict. The silence reminds her too much of Red Light Green Light.

“Consent form, clause 1. A player is not allowed to stop playing.”

She screws her eyes open to look around the room. Any false confidence they may have had is now completely shattered from the sound alone. All the guards have guns. That knowledge is enough to keep everyone at bay.

Her eyes dart around to try and find someone injured, but thankfully, everyone seems fine. It was a warning shot.

“Consent form, clause 2,” The guard continues. “A player who refuses to play will be eliminated.”

She sees other players lifting their heads, looking around at each other with the same desperation Ga-yeong has. She looks down at Cheol, who starts to move away from her protective hold. His eyes shine with tears she wishes she never saw.

Then, in the silence- “Consent form, clause 3!” A girl- no- Jung-hwa, suddenly stands up from the stairs and walks down them. Her hands are shaking, she can only tell cause of how close she was when she passed them. But otherwise, she looks entirely composed while glaring at the guards. “If all players agree to stop playing, the games are allowed to end. Correct?”

The guard is silent for a moment, maybe even caught off guard. Did he not expect someone to have read all of the player consent form? “You are correct.”

Jung-hwa exhales and turns to look around at the rest of the surviving players. “Then we should all take a vote. If we all vote to leave,” She looks back at the guard. “Then you let us go.”

Not missing a beat this time, the guard says, “As you wish. We will take a vote to decide on the termination of the game.” Those words alone make Ga-yeong- no, the entire room, sigh in relief. Will they really let us go if everyone just votes? That seems too easy. “But before the vote, please allow me to announce the prize money for the games as previously promised.”

No one has time to object before a golden light overtakes the room again. The piggy bank lowers into view, painfully slowly, as if purposefully trying to build up the anticipation.

Once it stops, something else lowers down, like a tube of some kind, but it’s hard to see from this angle. When did she shuffle off the bed and crane her neck up enough to view the scene before her?

Then it happens.

Stacks of won begin falling into the piggy bank.

One by one, what must be hundreds of millions of won begins to fall down. She stares up at it in shock, near horror, as more money then she’s ever seen in her life becomes in full view. Is that actual, real money? She may not be able to understand the true value of that much won in her head, all she can compare it to is USD which has a very different value, but even she knows that much is a lot.

It stops after far too long of waiting. “A total of 182 players have been eliminated during the first game. A players life is worth a hundred million won. Therefore, 18.2 billion won has been accumulated to the total winnings so far. If you wish to give up on the games, the 18.2 billion won will be sent to the families of the late players. 100 million won each.” The guard explains. “However, you will all return empty handed.”

Silence stretches out aimlessly. It’s like everyone is thinking the same thing and everyone knows they’re all thinking the same things.

Cheol squeezes her hand.

“Excuse me…” The two look over to 030, who is leaning against one of the metal beams to stand, one foot slightly elevated to not put pressure on her injury. “What… would the total prize money be, if we survived all the games?”

“Since there are 456 players, the total prize money is 45.6 billion won.”

Ga-yeong feels her heart pound faster and faster in her chest. She breaks away her focus from the false sun to the rest of the players, seeing the fixation festering inside their eyes. The reflection of the money in clear view of all of them.

She is starting to doubt this will be an easy vote.

△ 〇 ☐

“We will now begin the voting process. If you wish to continue playing, please press the blue button with the O. If you wish to stop playing, then please press the red button with the X instead.” The square guard says.

A stand holds the two buttons he just described in front of him. He stands in front of it ominously, meanwhile all of the players have been directed to stand on the right side of the room, on one side of a white line.

“After you finish voting, move to the other side of the white line and wait.”

Ga-yeong stays besides Cheol and 030. A few others are near them, like the chef and Jung-hwa, but unlike before, no one says a word. They just wait for more instruction.

“Voting will be done in the reverse order of the numbers on your chest.” The guard says. “Player 456, please cast your vote.”

Ga-yeong sucks in a sharp breath at suddenly being called out. She glances over at Cheol, who gives her a firm yet gentle nod of encouragement. It’s the best she’s going to get here.

She slowly shuffles through the crowd to get to the middle of the line before following it. Her legs feel heavy, like a lesser version of when she was going through Red Light Green Light. But this time, with all the attention on her. She tries not to shrink in on herself.

She tries to remember her dad- her step-dad’s instructions. She keeps her head held high and walks to put out a sort of confidence she doesn’t have. She wonders if Jung-hwa was feeling this too.

She gets in front of the buttons and hesitantly looks at the guard. She’s not sure why, it’s not like she could guess what the man is thinking through the mask, but apart of her hopes she’d see something. Some semblance of empathy, of humanity, but she doesn’t get that.

Just cold nothingness.

The false sun exudes no warmth in a place like this.

She exhales and clicks the red X, watching the tally go up by one on the screen.

She looks back at the group of people, all in completely different situations from her. She has a future, a chance to not need a place like this. She isn’t even supposed to be here.

If they’re anything like her dad, she can’t say the same for them.

She goes to the other side of the line, waiting.

“Player 455, please cast your vote.”

Ga-yeong stares at the man with all the others, watching him slowly walk up to the platform. He’s younger than a lot of the other men here, at most in his mid-thirties.

Her heart practically shatters when the man votes to stay. He averts his gaze from everyone as he goes to join her on the other side.

It goes on like this for what feels like hours. One person goes up after the other. They take a moment to consider, they vote, and they move to the slowly growing crowd.

“Player 442, please cast your vote.”

A short man with shorter brown hair goes up and votes to stay.

“Player 401, please cast your vote.”

The large buff lady from before with mid-length black hair votes to stay without much deliberation.

“Player 348, please cast your vote.”

An elderly lady with thin white hair goes up and votes to leave.

“Player 329, please cast your vote.”

The chef goes up and looks over at the group that’s already voted. He could have sworn the man met her eyes before he voted to leave.

It’s horribly close. Each vote cast leaves her more and more aware of how close to death she, and everyone else, is. It makes her aware of how desperate these people really are. She realizes how these people can’t seem to find enough value in their own or others lives above the money offered.

But then she things about her dad, how he got into fights and gambled day in and day out, all for the chance of being able to see her more before she moved to America, to pay his moms rent, she remembers how hard he fought and struggled for the right to live. Did her dad consider voting to stay? Was he willing to let hundreds die for the sake of potential money? Did he argue with himself over what the right option was?

She looks at every single person who votes to stay and remembers her father, who seemed to be willing to do anything for money, including lie and steal from his own mom.

She can’t stay angry, and that alone hurts. She can only pity them.

Player 067, apparently Cheol, goes up and votes to leave without a second hesitation, leaving them in the lead for just a second longer before the next person goes up and ruins that.

It’s a mess.

“Player 006, please cast your vote.”

Ga-yeong watches with baited breath as one of the last people go up. The man stares at the buttons, considering, before clicking the Blue O. She and many others groan and whisper in worry.

They’re losing. 135 people have voted to leave, while 137 people have voted to stay. What happens if it’s a tie? If these two just vote to leave, maybe a tie will let them-

“Player 004, please cast your vote.”

Nearly without hesitation, the woman walks up and votes to stay.

Ga-yeong feels Cheol jerk his arm over to hers, the boy holding onto her wrist with a sort of tension in his grip that she can easily empathize with.

“Player 001, please cast your vote.”

Jung-hwa walks up, following the straight line up to the buttons. She exhales, her expression still blank and unreadable. But it’s hopeless at this point. No matter what Jung-hwa voted, it wouldn’t matter. They’re staying.

She looks back up at the votes, then down at the buttons.

She votes to stay.

For some reason, the people around her cheer and celebrate, as if the previous deaths meant nothing, and like the deaths of others are only a necessary sacrifice.

The guard speaks up once everyone quiets down. “Out of 274 players, 139 voted to stay. By majority rules, the game will continue as planned.”

Ga-yeong feels her eyes water, even if she forces the tears not to fall. Her fate is almost certainly sealed. Cheol’s might be too. All because she was stubborn and decided to go to this place.

“No, please!” An older lady- 348, rushes out of the crowd to beg again. “Please, I have to take care of my grand-babies! They’re all alone with no one to care for them. I have to get back to them…” She sobs.

The square guard doesn’t falter, doesn’t show any semblance of empathy or even pity. “You will have another opportunity to vote again after the next game, if you wish. However, your choices now are final.”

The chef raises his hand again, also stepping out of the crowd. “What about clause 4?” He asks, “If we win the ‘secret game’ we can skip a round. How do we win?”

The room is silent as the guard explains.

△ 〇 ☐

So what if Gi-hun missed most of the voting process. Get off his back!

It’s not his job to babysit the players anyways, not entirely at least. Sure he is a Frontman with In-ho so watching the games is apart of his job description to make sure everything is going smoothly, but that’s not usually his main role. He’s more used to making sure everything is going well from behind the scenes with the guards and (very unfortunately) the VIP’s. However, with how important this years games are with the new VIP’s, In-ho has been focusing on them and the games the whole day. At least Gi-hun doesn’t have to think about those rich bastards for another few hours. Wouldn’t it be great if he didn’t have to think about them for an entire day?

A knock on the door inturrupts his thoughts. This is his and In-ho’s private quarters, usually no one is allowed back here without radioing them first. However, a certain guard has special privileges- at least when Gi-hun’s the one here. “Come in!”

He takes off his white Frontman mask, uncaring about the ‘identity secrecy’ rule. It doesn’t matter much for him. Even for the new guards who have never seen the 2020 or 2024 games, rumors were almost guaranteed to spread. He rather be honest then for lies to parade around this place.

A guard walks into the room, her status immedietely obvious just based on her uniform. Unlike the basic pink jumpsuits, Triangle Guard number 011 is in an all white jumpsuit with pink accents.

If In-ho is allowed to have a right hand, so is he.

No-eul takes off her mask the moment the door closes, placing it down on a little table next to the couch. “I thought there wasn’t going to be a special event this year because of the new VIP’s.” She comments casually. She places the bottle of soju she brought on the table and begins to pour him a glass without even asking. “What changed?”

Gi-hun smiles in thanks at No-eul and takes the glass. “I’m not sure, actually. In-ho told me that the manager set it up this time with a select few guards.” He explains, leaning back on the couch as No-eul pours herself a smaller glass. “It’s supposed to be one of those… ‘interactive games’ for the VIP’s to be more entertained and involved.”

No-eul rolls her eyes at the mention of the manager. Gi-hun has known her distaste for the man since he started working here, and honestly, he can’t really blame her. The man is worse than In-ho some days, and that’s saying a lot. He’s just that much more unbearable. “Of course.” She rolls her eyes as she takes a swig of the drink. “What’s the secret then? I missed the guards explanation.”

“Get this,” Gi-hun pats the seat next to her on the couch so No-eul can accompany him. She does as he continues. “You remember how we haven’t had an intruder since 2020?”

No-eul’s eyes widen only a fraction, but he sees it. Honestly, she’s been more expressive compared to when he first met her, and while it’s not much, it is significant. “Yes?”

Gi-hun gestures towards the screen. “Apparently the main ddakji recruiter found some people trying to get information on the games. They’re the ones who broke into the Pink Motel. For some reason, the recordings that would show the intruders were never recovered.” He explains. “Anyways, he worked with the manager to burn the old thing down so nothing more confidential is taken out of it. Now that the intruders are here, the promise is that if the players discover and kill the intruders, they get that free pass.”

No-eul is silent for a moment. “Damn. That’s one hell of the punishment.” She huffs. “So, whose the intruder?”

“No clue.”

No-eul blinks. “No clue?”

“The manager set it up, remember? I’m not sure if even In-ho knows. He wanted us to be able to participate too or something.” Gi-hun scoffs. “I don’t know, and I really am not interested in playing. As long as he has everything under control, I’ll leave it to them. I’m just here for In-ho.”

No-eul nods in understanding, but she seems hesitant. “I don’t trust him.” She mumbles. She looks over at Gi-hun. “If I may, along with my new role as your assistant, I would like to keep an eye on that situation.”

Gi-hun smiles. “Of course, permission granted. That would be a huge help to me.” He says. “I trust your judgment.”

They fall into silence for a moment, both sipping on their soju while watching the TV screen showing the warehouse. All the players have separated into their own groups and have begun talking among themselves, the usual.

Then No-eul lowers her drink and looks back at her boss. “So, how is Cheol?”

Gi-hun’s expression turns fond, though he can feel a hint of guilt shoot through his heart. “He’s good, last I heard. He should be at Seoul National University now, just like Sang-woo. I’m so proud of him.” He chuckles. “That lady has a bad habit of raising genius children.”

No-eul nods. “Good. I guess that means she’s a good parent.”

Gi-hun nods, a small smile. “Guess she is.”

No-eul puts her glass down on the side table closest to her. “What about you?”

He pauses. “Huh?” It takes him a second to process what the solider said. He chugs the rest of his soju before he leans back against the couch. He sighs. “I- I don’t know. Probably not. My ex-wife certainly didn’t even think I deserved to be called a father.”

No-eul hums. “You trust my judgment, right?”

Gi-hun suddenly regrets telling her that. If there was anyone who doesn’t fear telling him their blunt, honest, opinion, it would be No-eul. Still, he nods. “Yes.”

She leans back against the couch. “Then my opinion is that you need something separate from the games. Something to take you away from this island.” No-eul says firmly. “Everything in your life since 2020 has been related to this hell. This is the one place that destroys you most, yet your entire life is dedicated to it.”

“I- no it’s not? In-ho and I don’t focus on the games all year. I help babysit Jun-hee’s son and visit Cheol whenever I-”

No-eul shoots him a glare that shuts him up. “Is all of that not related to the games in one way or another. You wouldn’t have been in any of their lives if it wasn’t for the games. Especially not In-ho.” She stares into his eyes like she’s trying to see into his soul. “You lost everything that isn’t intertwined with the games. Anything you had before the games is gone, and the one thing you do have, you refuse to go back to.”

“There’s nothing to get back.” Gi-hun breaks eye contact, focusing on the glass in his hand instead. He twirls it slowly in his hand, watching the leftover soju move along the cup. There’s nothing else to focus on that isn’t the games. He doesn’t like focusing on that.

No-eul glares at him for a moment longer before she lets up and sighs. “… I’d give anything to see my kid again, you know?”

Gi-hun intakes a sharp breath before nodding.

“I know.”

No-eul lightly rests her hand on his shoulder. “You should see her,” His companion mumbles, voice surprisingly soft compared to how she usually is. “I think it would help.”

Gi-hun grimaces. “No. It would be… selfish. No matter if it helped or not.” He argues. “I’ve caused her enough pain by leaving her behind. She has a family, one that isn’t unreliable like me. And if I’m around her then… it risks her seeing whats going on behind the scenes. What’s happening here.”

The woman’s hand leaves his shoulder. “You’re incredibly stubborn.”

Gi-hun smiles sheepishly. “Doubt I could handle dating In-ho if I wasn’t.”

With a huff, No-eul gets up from the couch to grab her mask. Her new jumpsuit certainly makes her stand out, just like it should. “You know he doesn’t deserve you. I don’t know how you manage to stuck by him.” She dusts off her uniform before putting back on her triangle mask. With her new voice modulator, she adds, “You better not let yourself change for him. You being here has… improved things, yes, but you’re safety is important too. Don’t sacrifice yourself for us.”

Gi-hun frowns as he looks behind the couch and back at the guard. “My husband wouldn’t hurt me, No-eul.”

The blank mask of guard 011 peers back at him. “The Frontman didn’t hesitate to in 2024.”

And to that, Gi-hun had no response.

Chapter Text

“So… why are you two even here if not for the prize money?”

Ga-yeong leans against the metal bars of the staircases, shifting the weight of her body from one foot to the other.

It’s the perfect time to have this conversation. After the voting ended and the guards explained what the ‘Secret Game’ was, 030 understandably stared at her and Cheol with the same level of shock that they shared. For one horrifying moment, she expected 030 to attack them right then and there.

Thankfully, she didn’t. She stood silent and waited, just like they did, waiting until the best moment to ask. And with a good amount of people, including Cheol, all in the bathroom or separated into their own groups, this is likely the closest they’ll get to a private moment without risking everyone in this damn building from overhearing.

030 is sitting on one of the steps, keeping both of her legs stretched out in front of her. Her patience has been shockingly large considering the offer that the guards gave the rest of the people here, so Ga-yeong feels like shes owed at least an explanation, even if they did save her life.

Ga-yeong takes a moment to look around, ensuring one more time no one is listening in on them, before she focuses on the woman in front of her. She begins speaking in English for just another layer of anonymity. “We’ve been looking for my dad.” She watches as 030’s expression shifts, her eyebrows raising and her shoulders relaxing for just a moment. “We have been for a few months now, actually. Cheol knew him, but we had no way to contact him, so he was missing. We kept looking and found out he might be related to some sort of crimes??”

“Okay…” 030 nods along. “How did that lead you here​?”

Ga-yeong frowns. How much should she tell her? At what point does explaining become a dumb thing to do? “You know the Recruiter? The ddakji and slapping guy? He knew everything about my dad.” She explains, gesturing all around her. “Just like how he would list off everything he knew about everyone else here. So we thought he had to know where dad was. He said he was on our side.” He specified that many times, despite his behavior. That he wasn’t her enemy.

Her friend’s eyebrows furrow, but not in suspicion this time. “So he just sent you to… to this place!? With no further instructions??” She asks, her voice raising. “You could have died!”

“I know… he must have been banking on the chance we would live.” Ga-yeong grimaces at just the thought. She really could have walked in here and never even lived long enough to know Cheol was here too. “I mean, he did give us some instruction. He said not to tell anyone we’re- y’know- and then also to stand out as much as possible. Uh… something about going and searching for him myself if he doesn’t find me first?”

030 is silent for a moment longer. Then, she leans back with a sigh. “Your father… so he’s here?”

Ga-yeong nods. “Based on what The Ddakji man said, I he’s trapped here, somewhere in this building. I mean, this place is practically like a maze. There has to be more than just this place and the game rooms. Where would the guards go? Where do they cook our food?” She asks, more pondering aloud than really looking for an answer. She knows the older lady doesn’t have the answers. “He is here, somewhere. I just have to find out how to find him.”

“So, whats your plan?”

Ga-yeong stares at her for a moment before smiling sheepishly. “Well, granted that you don’t try to uh, kill me? I’ll stay as long as I’m forced to and work with Cheol to do the standing out part. I’m… I don’t know what comes after.”

The older woman grabs onto the metal beams to hoist herself up onto her feet. Her eyes are softer than usual. It feels weird to be the center of attention in such a way, where this lady is pitying her. “I’m not going to… to kill you, Ga-yeong.” She swears. “You- both of you- you’re just a couple of kids. You shouldn’t have to worry about something as cruel as that.”

She puts a soft hand on Ga-yeong’s shoulder, that she reluctantly allows. “We’re supposed to be working together, even if those rude guards want us to kill each other. What kind of teacher would I be if I let anyone hurt you?” She sighs fondly. “Ah, you remind me of all those little angels who took up more than they could chew. They really brightened up my world. I’ll keep you safe, just like I would protect them.”

Now, Ga-yeong’s not trying to be like, mean or anything, but for some reason that feels incredibly back-handed. Is she supposed to feel flattered at the comparison? What does she even say to that?

“Uh…” Her eyes look over 030’s droopy facial features for a moment, and although she can see no malice there, she’s still insulted. “Thanks?”

Before much else can be said between them, Ga-yeong look over to the end of the room when she hears the sound of the doors swinging open. Guards come in, along with the others in green player uniforms, all coming out in uniform lines and dispersing into their groups.

030’s hand grips her shoulder a little tighter, stealing her attention back. “Sweetie, listen, We’ll survive these games together. And we’ll find your dad.” She says with a smile on her face. “Our group is small, but if we could survive red light, green light, we can survive the rest of these games.”

Ga-yeong smiles sheepishly at the reassurance. At least having the support is nice, no matter how much it will actually mean in the long run. But if she had to guess, red light, green light was probably meant to ‘ease them into’ the games. The others will be harder, more people will die, there will be more of that horrific silence­-

A part of her wonders why 030 chose to stay despite it all.

She forces herself to drop the English to not seem suspicious. “Thank you, miss.” She bows slightly, not putting much effort into it. “We should go back to Cheol’s bed now.” It’s where they promised to meet up, after all.

Thankfully the older woman agreed easily. The two walk down the stairs and make their way back over to the meet up spot. They would have stayed to have the conversation, but there were too many people in that area to comfortably have the discussion, even after many left to go to the bathroom. But as they walk, Ga-yeong notices 030 limping.

Honestly, she hadn’t questioned how she tripped when they were in the game, she was too busy worrying about everything else to think about that, but now that she does begin to think about it, she realizes the woman did struggle to walk back to the warehouse too. “Are you okay?” She asks.

030 waves off her concerns almost immediately. “I’m fine! Perfectly fine! I think I just… might have twisted my ankle wrong when I fell.” She immediately sits herself on one of the beds when they get to the meeting place.

“Roll up your pants.” Ga-yeong orders, slightly glaring at her friend.

030 glares back. “Where are your manners?”

She rolls her eyes. “Will you please roll up your pants?”

The lady huffs but leans over to roll up her pant leg. When she does, Ga-yeong gets a perfect view of her friend’s red and slightly inflamed ankle.

Ga-yeong frowns and crouches down to get closer to it. It looks uncomfortable, especially with the perfectly fitting shoes this place gives them. She pokes the injury, watching as 030 recoils slightly. “Did that hurt?” She asks.

“Obviously??” 030 responds.

She hums. “Where did you fall from again?”

030 shudders, instantly looking away from the girl. “A body.” She chokes out, her voice suddenly wavering. “I think someones- arm? Leg? I- I don’t know.”

Ga-yeong swallows down her initial reaction and moves to sit herself back up on the staircase instead. “So, the bad news is that I think you sprained your ankle.” She explains with a frown. “The good news is that it doesn’t look horrible? I’ve seen worse from the girls in field hockey. Me and Cheol could help you walk to the next games so you can keep pressure off your foot, but for now you should keep it elevated with a pillow or something, okay?”

030 nods nervously. She looks down at her lap, her thin eyebrows pinched together as her mind very clearly wanders. Eventually she manages to quietly ask- “I… I should be fine in the next game, right?”

“Of course.” Ga-yeong answers without hesitation or even thinking. If she’s being honest, she doesn’t know. If the game is something physical again, like Red light, Green light, she has no way to know if she would be able to truly help her survive. Theres no way to know if she’ll be okay. But they have to believe it, whether it’s true or not. “Cheol and I will protect you if something goes wrong, I swear.”

The two stare at each other for a moment longer before 030 exhales and smiles, even though its shaky. “Okay. I trust you, Ga-yeong.”

Ga-yeong smiles back, a small part of her relieved their conversation has ended on a mostly positive note. Right as it ends, Cheol runs up the stairs with a huge grin on his face. “Ga-yeong! Guess who I found?”

Ga-yeong perks up at the sound of her friends voice, her eyes widening as she realizes whose following behind him. “Oh! That’s the chef from the subway, right?”

The Chef is honestly a little intimidating to her. From the few times they’ve seen them, his expression is always firm with disgust, like he’s upset at everything and everyone in the world. But weirdly enough, as he walks with Cheol and looks over at them, his expression seems softer.

The Chef focuses his attention on Ga-yeong as he stops a bit behind Cheol. “Are you alright?”

Ga-yeong blinks. “Huh?”

The Chef crouches down to be more on Ga-yeong’s level while she’s sitting, like one would do when talking to a young child. “You did a brave thing, saving that lady.” He tilts his head towards 030, but doesn’t take his eyes off her. “But are you alright?”

Cheol chuckles sheepishly. “He asked me the same question.” The boy points out.

The Chef’s expression turns to one more resembling a sneer. “You children shouldn’t have to be stuck in a hell like this.” It’s like he’s physically disgusted at the thought of them being here.

Ga-yeong smiles all the same. “I’m… I’m alright.”

The Chef looks Ga-yeong over like he’s checking for injuries for a moment before nodding. “Alright.” He sighs and stands back up, turning to look over at the false sun hanging up by the ceiling. “I want that prize money as much as the rest of them, but seeing you two here, and others like that blond boy and 001, I couldn’t in good conscience keep you all here. Then again, my vote didn’t mean shit when everyone else voted to stay.”

Ga-yeong opens her mouth to comfort the man, but another voice from above them interrupts her. “Stop calling us that.”

In seconds she’s on her feet, looking up to the familiar voice of Jung-hwa. The gorgeous girl with 001 plastered on her shirt, visible from her open jacket, glares at the chef. “We’re not children. We’re grown adults capable of making our own decisions and suffering the consequences of our own actions.” She argues. She moves from the bed and down the stairs, standing above all of them to look down at them, like she’s too cool to even be around them. Ga-yeong would believe it. “I voted to stay because I need the money for the same reasons any of you do. I’m sure Player 456, 067, and the ‘blond boy’ are here for the same reasons. Don’t baby us.”

Ga-yeong looks away from Jung-hwa’s harsh words. It’s fair though. It is annoying to be called a child by everyone, but she at least would expect the girl to be polite about it. But no, instead she jumped instantly to offense.

The Chef’s expression hardens again as he stands back up to face her. After a second of a strangely intense staring contest the two share, the man crosses his arms. “You’re young. Unlike the rest of us, you still have a chance to go back and fix things.” He argues. “Instead, you chose to doom yourself and keep everyone trapped in this hell.

Jung-hwa rolls her eyes. “Two others voted to stay before me. My vote wouldn’t have mattered, even if I did chose to leave.” She leans back with a sigh. “You heard the guards talk about my situation. I’m over 400 million won in debt. This place is my only choice. It’s here, or die outside instead.”

“Jesus…” The Chef curses under his breath. The silence that settles over the group is heavy, the tension even more-so. She tries not to meet anyone’s eyes despite still obviously paying full attention to the argument. “How the hell did you even get so much debt in the first place?”

Jung-hwa’s expression sharpens so quickly, it makes Ga-yeong’s heart begin to pound. “Do you want to tell us how you managed to wash your life down the drain too, or am I going to be the only one sharing the worst experiences of my life?”

The Chef looks about ready to argue again, but at this point, Ga-yeong’s had enough. She stands up quickly and faces the girl. “Jung-hwa,” Using the girl’s name shocks her enough to focus entirely on her. Her scowl eases up quickly. “Can you come with me to the bathroom? I don’t want to go alone.”

It’s not even a question of what she’s doing, it’s the most obvious ploy to get this conversation topic to end. But thankfully, Jung-hwa takes the bait after a moment. “Yeah, sure.” Her voice is still harsh, but it’s enough that she accepted.

It’s really hard to tell if The Chef is glaring or not, considering he always is, so Ga-yeong quickly drags Jung-hwa as far away from their little group as possible. For a moment she considers not actually going to the bathroom before realizing she really doesn’t want to go alone. It’s like going to a party late at night- you shouldn’t go anywhere without a trustworthy friend with you. While she doesn’t have a trustworthy friend that can follow her to the girls bathroom, Jung-hwa is probably the next best thing.

Once they’re almost to the guard standing by the doorway, Ga-yeong offers the girl a polite smile. “Sorry for making you come with me to the bathroom, but you seemed uncomfortable, so…” She trails off before shrugging.

Jung-hwa stares at Ga-yeong silently for a moment before looking ahead of them. The guard by the door doesn’t say anything, just opens the door and begins to lead them down the hall. “It’s fine,” She says as they step into the hallway. As the door closes behind them, she mumbles, “I wanted to talk to you privately anyways.”

“Huh?”

Jung-hwa doesn’t say anything more, presumably for the reason mentioned, and instead just follows the guard. From her silence, Ga-yeong decides not to talk either, even though what she said caused an uncomfortable stir in her gut. She manages to stay quiet long enough for them to get to the bathroom.

Once inside, Jung-hwa takes her jacket off and goes over to the sink, running it under warm water. Ga-yeong clears her throat and awkwardly approaches her. “So, uh, why did you want to talk to me anyways?”

Jung-hwa turns off the water, leaving the empty bathroom far too quiet. The only sound is the girls footsteps approaching, getting almost too close. “Why did you do it?”

Ga-yeong blinks, her face warming as she dumbly responds with a quiet, “Huh?”

“Save that woman.” Jung-hwa lifts the soaking sleeve of her jacket and rubs it against her cheek. For a second, she can’t understand why the girl is so close to her like this, before she remembers the dried blood that splattered on her face. She slowly realizes the girl is cleaning her face off. “You could have died if it wasn’t for that other boy.”

Ga-yeong swallows the lump in her throat, her cheeks only getting warmer. “W-what else was I supposed to do? Leave?” The lightheartedness in her tone wavers, but only because her brain is struggling to keep up in this situation. “She could have died. I- I couldn’t just leave her there when I could help.”

Jung-hwa hums softly, her eyes meeting Ga-yeong’s as her hand stills. If the damp cloth wasn’t in the way, she would basically be holding her cheek. And her eyes, those piercing, nearly black eyes soften just enough to not feel threatening. There’s something else there. Something besides the sharp judgment usually residing there. Or maybe Ga-yeong’s just staring too intensely into Jung-hwa’s- maybe the amount of blood rushing to her head is causing her to hallucinate.

“That was dumb. Do you really think it would have been a good idea to die in that way?” The girl murmurs, her lips quirking down the slightest bit. “You don’t know that lady. You could have died for someone who may not have deserved it.”

“Maybe,” But Ga-yeong thinks back to the moment on the subway with Cheol, the way he stepped in between The Chef and The Ddakji man. She should have taken her own advice and left 030 there. But she couldn’t. It wasn’t just the risk of bodily harm for a stranger. It was someone she connected with, even for a few moments, who could have died had she not acted. She wonders if that’s how Cheol felt on the subway. “But she’s a person. She deserves to live, just like you and I- or any one of us here- do.”

The two of them stay like that for a moment before Jung-hwa sighs. “You really are just as strange as him…” She murmurs before finally pulling away. Ga-yeong finally feels like she can breathe again as the girl goes back to the sink and turns back on the tap. She rips the sleeve of her jacket off (how strong is she to do that with zero issues?) and runs it under the water. “We can use this as a makeshift ‘ice-pack’ to wrap around 030’s sprain. It might help the swelling.” She suggests.

Ga-yeong clears her throat as she tries to will away the warmth in her cheeks. “Y-yeah, that’s uh- thank you.” She says. “But uh, are you allowed to destroy those?”

Jung-hwa shrugs. “Probably. I mean, I doubt they’ll reuse these. They expect most of them to get bullet holes and blood all over it.”

“That’s true…”

Jung-hwa approaches her again, though stays a normal distance apart. “I’d like to join you, if that’s okay.” She requests, averting her gaze from Ga-yeong’s eyes this time. “I don’t think theirs a better team I could trusts than yours.”

Ga-yeong perks up, a smile instantly appearing on her face. “Yeah! Yeah, of course that’s okay.” She puts a hand on Jung-hwa’s shoulder. “We’ll protect you too, don’t worry.”

The pretty girl meekly nods, as if ashamed to admit that she would need help at all. Holding the sleeve in one hand and the rest of her jacket under her armpit, she uses her free hand to toy with a strand of hair. “Are you ready to go back now?”

“Oh,” Ga-yeong pauses before letting go of her. “Just uh, give me a second.”

Ga-yeong speed walks to one of the stalls to take care of her business, but takes the time to look around the room. It’s pretty basic, besides the annoyingly cutesy pastel colors and just how expansive the bathroom is. Worse, there aren’t any showers, which is objectively disgusting. She’ll have to find a way to clean the grime off her eventually. Thank god the warehouse is large- had it been any smaller it would have been so obvious how much blood and sweat was stinking up the place.

As she washes and dries her hands, she looks back over to the stalls, then higher, towards the ceiling. There’s no cameras in the bathrooms, at least no obvious ones like in the hallways or every other room, but above a few of the stalls are giant vents.

Jung-hwa tilts her head when she notices her staring. “What are you thinking?” She asks.

Ga-yeong looks for a moment longer before shaking her head. “Not… much.” She says truthfully. It’s just interesting, something of note to keep in mind. She wonders if there would be a way to open the vents, to sneak into areas she wouldn’t normally be allowed to go in to try and find her dad. But she doesn’t say any of that out loud. It’s not like she’d have a way to follow through, or a back up plan, or any way to make sure she comes back without getting caught.

“Just… thinking. For future reference.” Is all she gives Jung-hwa before shaking her head and looking back at her. “It’s nothing.”

Jung-hwa is silent for a moment before nodding. “Okay. Let’s go back then.” She suggests. “I think I heard one of the guards say something about food.”

“Oh really?” Ga-yeong chuckles as the two walk out of the bathroom. “I somehow didn’t expect to get fed here.”

Jung-hwa scoffs, the slightest amused smile gracing her features. It looks nice on her. “If we weren’t fed for six days, I don’t think we’d have enough energy to play the dumb games.”

“True, true. Just-” She snickers, lowering her voice so the guard leading them away hopefully doesn’t hear. “-I just started imagining the guards in cute little aprons running around a kitchen like domestic housewives in old movies.”

Jung-hwa covers her mouth, her eyes crinkling slightly in the corner shows her amusement instead. “Oh my god,” The girl whispers. “And those big chef hats on top of their hoods.”

Ga-yeong holds her breath in a desperate attempt to not laugh before he adds on, “Wait wait wait, Jung-hwa, that wouldn’t work. How would they cook properly if the rats in their hats aren’t able to get to their hair?”

Jung-hwa takes a deep breath and lets her hand fall down to hold her jacket close to her chest. “No, your so right, they’d need their hoods off.” The gorgeous girl is smiling so wide now that there are noticeable dimples on her cheeks. “Or maybe they would use the hoods in replacement of their hair. How would that work-”

The two freeze as the guard looks turns their head just slightly to look back at them. While they have a mask on, somehow it feels like the circle staring back at them is unimpressed. Ga-yeong clears her throat and gives a polite half-bow. “Sorry.”

The guard doesn’t react past turning their back towards them and leading them back to the warehouse, but the two girls continue to weakly smile at each other through the rest of the short walk.

By the time they get back from the bathrooms, Jung-hwa’s smile has faded from her face, but the tense air around her has calmed significantly. And even better, it seems she was right. People are already lined up in front of a handful of circle guards, who are giving out plastic water bottles, tin bento boxes, and a plastic spork.

The lines are short, it seems most people have already gotten food, so Ga-yeong and Jung-hwa get on line first to receive their portions before they head back to the group.

Thing’s seem to have calmed down on their side too. When they get back, Cheol’s face is tinted red as he glares at The Chef, whose expression seems lighter, while 030 was giggling for whatever reason. Either way, things aren’t tense anymore, which is certainly for the best.

The two of them join the little semi-circle, Ga-yeong sitting next to Cheol and Jung-hwa. To the girl’s left is 030, so she quickly begins wrapping the damp fabric around the inflamed ankle.

Cheol opens up his bento box, smiling brightly at the contents. “Ahh, Ga-yeong, look at this! It’s chicken teriyaki! Granny used to make this sort of stuff all the time for me.” He leans over to Ga-yeong and shows the food to her, who smiles back at him.

The Chef huffs. “Well, it definitely doesn’t look all that bad,” He comments, looking at his own serving. It’s nearly identical to Cheol’s. “It is cold though, that’s not safe for chicken. I could make us better if we weren’t stuck in this place.”

“Really?” 030 hums, tilting her head. Jung-hwa finishes wrapping up her injury, so she begins picking at the food. “Is that why 456 over there called you a chef?”

“Yeah,” The Chef, and wow Ga-yeong really needs to learn these guys names, continues on by saying, “I took over my fathers Michelin-Starred restaurant a few years ago.”

“Woah…” Ga-yeong mumbles, her eyes wide with awe. “That’s so cool. My best friend knows some people in college who study culinary stuff.” Just the thought of her old friend makes her heart ache, but she tries not to think about it. Hopefully Isabella isn’t too worried about her.

“You can major in cooking in college?” 030 asks, looking at The Chef.

The Chef just shrugs. “I didn’t. Must be a new thing.”

“Culinary Arts is a major in a few schools.” Ga-yeong adds. “Uh, it’s usually in tech schools. But there is also, like, CIA.” She says the acronym in English, knowing only 030 could really understand it.

Jung-hwa’s eyes widen. “The Central Intelligence Agency teaches people to cook???”

“Wh- No!?” Ga-yeong blinks. “No, what? Why would they?”

“That’s what you just said??”

Ga-yeong chuckles. “No, CIA is a university in New York. The Culinary Institute of America.”

“Oh, I’ve heard of that place.” Cheol adds excitedly. “There’s one in Singapore! I considered applying before deciding of a different major.”

The Chef asks, “What major did you pick?” Before stuffing food into his mouth.

“Veterinary medicine.”

“Oh really?? That’s such a big jump from cooking.” 030 comments.

“Yup.” Cheol takes a bite out of the food before his face scrunches up in disgust. He swallows it but doesn’t seem happy about it. “Ugh, yeah, it isn’t that good since it’s cold. They couldn’t have warmed up the food a little bit?”

Ga-yeong pats Cheol’s shoulder in sympathy. “There there. We still should eat up, we need as much energy as possible for tomorrow.”

No one needs to bring up what will happen tomorrow, they all know, so she doesn’t say anything else. Everyone murmurs quiet agreements and begins eating, no matter how bad cold teriyaki chicken and rice is.

A few minuets later, Jung-hwa puts her bento box down next to her, washes it all down with water, before sighing. She’s the first one done. “We should come up with a plan.”

“A plan?” 030 repeats.

Jung-hwa nods. “For the next game.”

The Chef leans back against one of the steps, his posture tense again. “And how are we supposed to plan for something we have no clues about?”

But Jung-hwa just rolls her eyes like it’s a dumb question. She really doesn’t like The Chef, huh? “We should prepare for whatever scenarios we can come up with.” She argues.

Ga-yeong decides to intercept them so they don’t start butting heads again. They need to focus if they want to prepare for the game. “Well, we can make some assumptions.” Everyone’s eyes sudden focus on her, so she shoves past her nerves and continues. “In the subway, some of us played Ddakji with The Recruiter, and then here we played Red light, Green light. So I’d guess that means the next game we play would be another Korean kids game, right?”

“That makes sense!” Cheol nods in agreement. “But there’s so many games. Cats cradle, gonggi, tag, tug of war, marbles, yut nori… would dalgona count as a kids game?”

030 shrinks in on herself, her droopy eyes only looking more sad. “I don’t know any of those games.”

“You don’t?” Cheol asks.

“Cause you were born in America, right?” Ga-yeong doesn’t really need to ask. She only understands how to play a handful of those, and she at least grew up in South Korea for most of her adolescence. Still, she offers her friend a calm smile. “But that’s okay! We’ll teach you how to play as the games go along, alright?”

The older woman barely misses a beat before exhaling and nodding.

“If it’s a team game, we should stick together.” Jung-hwa adds. “We’ll find more people if we need them.”

“What if it’s pairs?” 030 asks.

Almost immediately, Cheol’s hand darts out to wrap around Ga-yeongs with a firm protectiveness. “I’m staying with Ga-yeong-ah!”

The group is silent for a moment before The Chef bursts out laughing. Cheol’s face gets bright red as The Chef exclaims, “Jesus, kid! At least try to be more subtle around her!”

Ga-yeong just blinks in confusion, more amused than anything. It’s not that big of a deal to her, Cheol holds her hand or rests against her all the time. It seems Cheol is just as confused, if not a bit embarrassed considering how red his cheeks get. “I already swore I’d stay by her…” He grumbles out. “I’m not leaving her.”

With an amused laugh, Ga-yeong intertwines their fingers and squeezes her friends hand. “It’s alright, Cheol. You’re my first choice anyways. I never planned on leaving you behind.”

It feels like such an accomplishment when a big smile grows on his face.

The moment is interrupted when Jung-hwa clears in throat, her gaze sharper than before. “Anyways, 030 can pair up with 329. He can protect her.”

The Chef clearly doesn’t like that idea, as he asks, “Then where would you go?”

“I’ll find someone reliable to pair up with. I’ll be fine.”

Ga-yeong frowns. She reaches out to grab Jung-hwa’s right hand with her own free one. “If it’s trios, me and Cheol will pair up with you, Jung-hwa.”

She keeps her voice firm, leaving absolutely no room for argument. She’s unsure if Jung-hwa would argue, but she looks between the two of them, then their hands, before agreeing easily. “Alright. If it’s trios, I’m with you two.

Jung-hwa moves her hand out of Ga-yeongs, instead holding it in her hand to fidget nervously. “And if it’s an independent game, like the first one, we should help each other.” She advises. “It will be easier for us to survive if we know we can rely on the others.”

Ga-yeong feels a put form in her stomach, just like when they talked in the bathroom. Yeah, this had to be how Cheol felt when she had stopped the boy in the subway. Back then, no ones life was on the line. Here, all the stakes have been raised to an insane degree, and the thought of helping no one and trying to help anyone she can both make her feel sick to her stomach.

“I… might not be much help.” 030’s words grab her attention.

The older lady is staring down at the drying fabric around her ankle, a clear sign of her disadvantage. Of course she wont be much help, at least if it’s something physical. She likely wont be able to walk properly, let alone run, in days. But that’s not the point. “It’s okay.” Ga-yeong softly assures her. “Just focus on getting better, okay?”

Ga-yeong looks down at the last of her food. The serving is small, and although it would probably be enough to keep her energized for the next game, she instead passes the rest of her food to 030. “Here. You’re skin and bones, miss.”

030 pushes the food away. “I couldn’t possibly… you need to eat too, dear. It’s not safe to skip meals in a place like this.”

But she insists, “No, trust me, it’s okay.” Ga-yeong musters up the most genuine smile she can despite her stomachs complaints. “I don’t have much of an appetite, and I don’t want the food to go to waste.”

With heavy reluctance, 030 does end up taking the food and digging in quickly. She feels lighter after handing it off, especially seeing how hungry the older woman was.

“Attention all players. Lights out is in 30 minuets.”

The woman’s voice from the announcement makes Ga-yeong shudder. How is anyone supposed to get a good amount of sleep in a place like this? Guards could come in at any moment and kill them all just cause they felt like it.

But that’s not the point of this place, is it?

Cheol squeezes Ga-yeong’s hand again. “I don’t like the thought of leaving you surrounded by strangers.” He mumbles. “Do we have to stay in the beds we woke up in?”

The Chef looks around. “Seems like it, kid. It looks like they took down a lot of the beds that were here before…” He explains.

Jung-hwa sighs. “Just like the food, there’s probably only enough for the amount of players left.” She leans forward to meet Cheol’s eyes. “It’s okay, 067. I woke up by her last time, I’ll keep her safe, alright?”

Cheol loosens his grip on her hand, but doesn’t let go. Ga-yeong could never blame him for the anxiety running rampant, everyone probably feels the same way. “I’m sure everything will be okay. The guards wont kill us at night.”

“How can you be so sure?” 030 asks.

“Why set up an elaborate scheme like this just to kill us all? That wouldn’t make sense.” Ga-yeong glares up at the closest camera she can find, behind her against the wall. “There’s a reason we’re here, whether that’s for a social experiment or entertainment… that doesn’t matter. What matters is they need us alive to play their stupid games, so they have to keep us alive.”

Silence settles over the group.

Ga-yeong knows deep down she’s right. More right than she’d like to admit.