Chapter Text
When Dae-ho woke up, the first thing he registered was how much pain he was in. Every breath he took seemed to burn his throat. Sitting up and tentatively lifting one hand to his neck, he flinched in pain, feeling the bruises that decorated a ring around it, swollen in places.
He was definitely right when he had guessed that being strangled was horrible.
The second thing he noticed was his old friends gathered round a bed below him. Looking down, he would’ve sighed in relief if he could. Gi-hun was alive. Unconscious, probably still hating him even more, but alive.
As he watched, Hyun-ju glanced upwards towards him and locked eyes for a second. Something akin to guilt, maybe pity, or even sadness crossed her face before she quickly looked away.
Sitting up more, he quickly counted who was there.
Good.
None of them had died. Yong-sik’s hands seemed to tremble as he sat there, but he was alive. Shit, had that boy killed someone? He was on the red team…
A new sound made him flinch again. A crying noise pierced the air, almost like a baby.
A baby?
Jun-hee?!
Looking over to the other side, sat junhee, shaking a bit as she held a baby.
Oh god.
Guem-ja was next to her, letting her lean on her shoulder. They where whispering, Jun-hee raising a hand to point at him. He hurriedly turned away, so theu wouldn’t think he was staring.
“Dae-ho?” She didn’t sound mad, tired maybe, exhausted from giving birth, but not mad.
“Dae-ho? Do you want to see her?”
Didn’t she hate him?
He slowly climbed down, steadying himself with the bed frame and tentatively sitting next to them on the floor.
“…we know what happened. I-“ she paused, seeing the look of terror on his face, continuing as the older woman nodded at her, “…I don’t blame you.. most of us don’t”
He nodded
“…you should blame me…” his voice came out raspy, painful to use, like knives in his throat.
“You’re starting to sound like my idiot son,” She smiled, and looked at him. “Try not to use your voice. There’s going to be another vote soon.”
He turned to look at the baby, who was wrapped in her mothers jacket. He did have to admit, she was cute.
Why didn’t they blame him? He was cowardly, he was weak, he survived, sure. But what use was that? So he can keep lying?
The more he thought about it the more he realised how the group had split.
And he didn’t need to ask why.
Assuming what Jun-hee had said was true, Gi-hun had to be alive enough to tell them what happened. Had he described his pathetic pleas for life? Or how he had shouted at him, casting the blame off of himself? Transferring the guilt to someone who had only tried to help?
After around ten minutes of the three of them sitting together and talking in quiet voices- or not at all in his case- he learnt a few things.
1- the guards had stopped Gi-huns attempt, probably some sick way of torturing him
2- Dae-ho was then carried out by his attempted murderer, who placed him on a bed before promptly passing out himself
3- they were likely to win the next vote and go home
4- Yong-sik had ended up killing someone and didn’t seem to be taking it well
When asked why she wasn’t with him, he then found out that he had tried to attack jun-hee and her baby, before being shoved back by his mother and killing an unconscious player at the last moment, but she had insisted that if Jun-hee didn’t want him around her baby, he wouldn’t be allowed near.
Another wave of guilt washed over him as he sat there, looking down at the floor.
Tensing again as he hears footsteps behind him, Hyun-ju stood over them.
“Dae-ho,” she said carefully, “can I speak with you?”
He wasn’t sure how much more he could take, but slowly nodded and stood up, following her to a more secluded corner of the big room.
She sat back against the wall, her bloodstained uniform adding to the feeling that he was about to be hit. He hesitantly sat next to her, not looking her in the eyes.
“The others weren’t told this, but Gi-hun thought I should know, I guess he thought I might be able to understand,” she looked over, her eyes almost burning through him.
“We joined the games for the same reason?”
Shit.
No.
No.
Adrenaline rushed through him, if he wasn’t shaking before he was now, his hands sweaty as he wiped them on the floor. He had- god, what else had he gave away in his rambling, begging, and crying?
“Only I know about that. The others were told you lied about being in the marines to please your father, and that he-“ she looked at him with sympathy, her expression gentle, “what he would do to you. They then made up their minds on what they thought.”
Tears stung at his eyes. Great. They all knew. He dreaded to think about their reactions.
“Dae-ho? You still here?”
Oh- she was waiting for a response.
“…I told him that stuff?..” his voice sounded even worse than it did earlier, and it hurt more, like glass was embedded in his neck.
“You did. Is your voice okay?”
“…hurts to talk.”
“We don’t have to talk then”
He nodded, relaxing slightly. He knew Hyun-ju had probably guessed he had something wrong with him.
After all- she had come after him once he disappeared from the rebellion.
Without realising, he has started crying silently, tears rolling down his cheeks. They were gently wiped away by her sleeve, carefully pulling him into a hug.
“It’s okay, you’re okay,”
He nodded and swallowed his tears, shuddering at the pain of it.
“Sorry”
“Don’t be”
They sat in silence for a while, before they were called over to vote again, leaving Gi-hun handcuffed to the other bed.
Standing at the back of the group, trying to ignore the looks of pity he could feel on him, he watched as the crowd dwindled and one by one walked up to vote.
One by one the two counters rose. It was going to be close.
Once his number was called, he shakily made his way back up to the two buttons.
X O
He pressed down on the red button, his hands still sweating from shame.
456- Abstained.
“The winner of the vote is: X”
It was?
The room erupted in cheers around him, finding himself pulled into a group hug by Young-mi and Hyun-ju, joining the other members.
They were going home.
There was to be no more games. No more bloodshed. No more hiding.