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He bites the inside of his cheek. He scratches the cuticles of his thumbs, trying to slowly tear them off with his index fingers. His right leg can’t stop bouncing up and down.
They’re out to get him. Everyone knows it.
He wasn’t sure what his chances were after pushing the glass maker off the bridge, but after his confrontation with his childhood friend, he knew he was fucked.
Sang-woo’s allies were either killed or have turned against him. Now he has no option but to wait until the next game.
He sits hunched over on the very edge of his bed, trying to hide himself so his former teammates don’t think he’s attempting to eavesdrop on them. His efforts are pointless, as his bed is placed too far to make out what they’re saying. No matter what their plan is, he knows it’s not good for his chance to win the money.
Get it together. Think. There’s got to be a solution out of this.
He scans the room, glued to the corner of his bed. His eyes skip past Gi-hun and Sae-byeok, he stared at them long enough for their silhouettes to be burnt into his retinas. His view makes its way around the room, observing the symbols on the walls that were once covered by the towering beds. He keeps leering until his eyes land on another bed, one of four lone beds in the dormitory that wasn't occupied by Gi-hun or Sae-byeok.
Deok-su rests in his bed, openly sharpening his steak knife with the edge of the metal bedframe.
Guess it’s come to this, hasn’t it?
He debates on how he’ll approach the felon. Would he even be open to the idea of teaming up? After all, he was fine literally pushing away a woman who sided with him. Sang-woo knew the only way to team with the thug was to sell himself, be the perfect candidate so they could win together without compromising himself or his colleague.
As he thinks of different ways on how to talk to the man across from him, Deok-su suddenly gets up from his bed to stretch. He raises his arms, the coat and off-white undershirt riding up as they just barely fit him. He goes back to his normal height, and tugs at his collar to throw the bow tie onto his bed. His suit coat follows, it piles onto his bed.
He walks over to the door, his dress shoes clinking as he approaches. He slams his fist into the icy metal door.
“Hey, there’s still some time before we need to sleep right? Gotta use the restroom.”
This was his opportunity, don’t waste it.
Sang-woo skitters from his isolated bed and makes his way to where Deok-su and the guard behind the door are.
“I’ll go too. We just need a few minutes.”
The guard doesn’t argue. He unlocks the door to let the two men through.
“You have 15 minutes. Go now.”
He washes the dried blood off his cut up hands with cheap foam soap. He splashes water on his face in an attempt to feel clean after the stench of rotten blood stuck to him.
He was only 5 sinks away from Deok-su. He tries to look at the other man without making it obvious. The thug was using the sink water to slick back his hair, his ugly snake tattoo no longer hiding from his fluffy bangs.
He feels the stomach acid boiling inside him. He could regurgitate everything right now if he wanted to. He shouldn’t have forced himself to eat that entire steak.
He clears his throat. He’s stalled long enough. No need for an introduction, they know enough about each other. Just get to the point.
“They’re going to get you in tomorrow’s game.”
“Huh?”
Deok-su stops fixing his hair but stays facing the mirror, instead looking at Sang-woo with his peripheral vision.
“My teammates are going to have you killed, you’ve been the biggest threat the entire time.”
Deok-su scoffs.
“What’s stopping me from killing you all and keeping the money for myself?”
“It’s highly unlikely that you’ll win against three people.”
Deok-su turns from the mirror, his eye contact piercing through Sang-woo’s skull. Being a little shorter than him, Deok-su straightens his posture, showing off his physique as a reminder he is physically stronger out of the two.
“You’re trying to shit-talk me right now?”
He pulls the steak knife out, the blade flashing underneath the fluorescent bathroom lighting as he walks up to the taller man.
“Why don’t I just kill you now, make it easier for me to win tomorrow?”
Sang-woo stays unwavered, he knew he had to stay emotionless if he was going to win over Deok-su.
“Actually, I wanted to propose an idea to you. A way for you to beat those two and come out with the money.”
Deok-su stops, but keeps the steak knife tight in his grasp.
“You bullshitting me?”
“No, I have a legitimate plan if you just trust me.”
…
“Go on.”
“I’m in a lucrative position right now. I could go back to them and the three of us beat you, or I could team with you. Think about it, two men against a man and a wounded woman, we’d win easily.”
Deok-su backs up, intrigued by the proposition.
“So you want to create a pact?”
“Exactly.”
…
“How do I know you’re not just lying? You’ve been with those guys since the start, you’re probably just sucking up to me so then you can backstab me in the last game.”
“The thing is, I can’t trust my team anymore. I know what they’re thinking, they want to go home, quit the game even when we’re so close. And I’d rather pick them off now, I can’t let them waste this.”
Deok-su perks up. He would be damned if he lost his chance because some cowards decided to back out at the last minute. His train of thought is interrupted with a query,
“How much money do you need?”
“Why’s that your business?”
“I’m asking so I know how much money you’ll need once we get out together.”
Deok-su stares blankly.
“The rules are vague, but that means there’s room for loopholes. It’s only stated that whoever wins gets money, meaning the money would have to be split if more than one person wins.
“It’s about twenty-nine million won.”
“If we successfully get the other two eliminated, that means we split four-hundred fifty-four billion won. Two-hundred twenty-seven for each of us. That means you’ll have plenty to cover your debt.”
There’s a pause. Deok-su thinks about what he could do with such money. He assumes Sang-woo’s math is correct.
“What about you? Honestly I’m surprised a poindexter would even be in such debt that you need to be here. College loans or something?”
“Six billion won.”
Deok-su jests, “Damn even more than me? Did you blow it on gambling too?”
“No, just bought out loans that I couldn’t pay back. I’ve been on the run for a while from the police.”
The gangster was a bit disappointed by the accountant’s answer. A rather boring reason to have such deep debt.
“So what do you say? Do you want to form an alliance with me?”
Deok-su scoffs. He slips the knife into his pocket as he goes to lean against the bathroom wall.
“Look, you may have interested me with all of this, but I doubt a pencil-pusher like you could even go through with your so-called plan. No way you could kill Ssangmun-dong or that Northern bitch.”
Deok-su may have been right, but that was before Sang-woo decided to return to the games. He had already witnessed and caused so many murders, and he was okay with a few more. He just had to make that clear to the man in front of him.
“Do you remember one of my teammates? He was player 199. The big guy.”
“199?”
Deok-su looks at the dirty tile floor as he tries to recall the team members previously with Sang-woo.
“You mean the foreigner?”
“Yes, him. I’m the reason why he’s dead.”
Deok-su remembers the hot pink numbered vests everyone had to wear for the glass bridge game, only 16 of them and he knew player 199 wasn’t wearing any of them. That meant he was killed in the previous game, Marbles.
“What, so you just got lucky and beat him in marbles?”
“I didn't beat him with luck, hell he was getting luckier than I was in the first game we played.”
Deok-su has no reaction, but no reaction is good. That means he was listening. Sang-woo approaches a bit closer and continues,
“I actually managed to take the marbles without him realizing, gave him a bag full of rocks and told him those were the marbles and he won. Then I made him seem crazy to the guards and had him shot.”
Deok-su can’t help but snicker at the anecdote.
“Seriously?”
Sang-woo nods.
“He had a wife and child too, a son I think. Yet I still had him feeling bad for me cause he was naive enough to believe me.”
“You made him feel bad for you?”
“Yeah. Told him about how I really needed the money. How I could find a way to get us both out of there. Even pretended to cry and he believed it.”
A smirk smears across Deok-su’s face as he teases,
“Fuck off, you fake cried? Tears and everything?”
Sang-woo nods again, with a little more energy this time. He knew it was awful to lie about his true feelings during Marbles, about any of this. But it was more important to get on Deok-su’s good side if he wanted to win the final game.
“He was always so obedient and followed like a sheep, I just had to get him off my back so I could win the game in peace. In the end he ended up walking in circles looking for me, I could tell he was crying by the way his voice sounded when he called for me.”
Deok-su was full on giggling now, his hyena laughter echoing throughout the bathroom.
“Damn. I would pay to see something like that. You’re telling me that tank of a man was crying like a little bitch, AND you stole the marbles from him without him even knowing?”
Deok-su gets up from the wall to pat, though it was more of a slap, Sang-woo’s back, congratulating him for doing such an inhumane thing.
“Fuck SNU, I should’ve given you more credit.”
Perhaps it was Deok-su's high-pitched laughter and deep smile lines that goaded Sang-woo into slightly smiling with him, or perhaps he was just really into his role of trying to appeal to his new potential teammate. Sang-woo forced himself to not question it, as he was afraid of actually bonding with someone over such a callous topic. Instead, he further feeds into Deok-su’s twisted humor to convince him that he would be a fitting partner.
“You saw what happened to Player 69, after we finished Marbles?”
“Pfft. Such a pussy move. Didn’t even have the decency to kill himself in private. Did he think we would care that he wanted to leave the game?”
“The thing that gets me if he only wanted to leave after his wife died. Why participate in deadly games and ruin it for the rest of us if you can’t handle a few losses?”
Deok-su snickers, he puts his hands in his pockets as he slides down the wall to sit. He sighs with a positive tone,
“You know, I’m glad you told that dickhead off. Finally someone else that understands the point of all this. Can’t believe some people get emotional over this shit, nobody gets rich without stepping over those beneath them.”
Sang-woo’s heart was thumping down to his soul. He hated how he had to do this, to say these things out loud, to act like he was okay with all this. He hated to admit it but Deok-su had a point. Despite being so lawless, at least he had the guts to admit he was fucked up enough to comply with these rules.
He can’t muster up a response, instead he goes over to the wall and sits next to his new friend.
“So what’s your plan?”
“Hm?”
“You said you had a plan.”
“Ah, right… Really the plan is that we keep this a secret. I’ll do the hard part and pretend I’m still on good terms with the other two, you just stay quiet and act like you’re going in alone. Then whenever we start the last game, we team up and go against them. If it’s combat-based, I’ll worry about the girl and you worry about my friend. Once they’re eliminated, we can end these games and get the money.”
“Sounds good.”
Deok-su spits in his hand and holds it out for Sang-woo to shake. Sang-woo doesn’t take it.
“C’mon SNU, don’t leave me hanging. I’m just showing that I trust you.”
As put-off as he is, Sang-woo takes Deok-su’s hand and accepts the handshake. Disregarding the spit, the skin on Deok-su’s hand was actually quite nice to the touch. Soft and plump. Contrasting with the rough, sweaty skin on Sang-woo’s palm. Each of their grip is compact as they shake, confident yet still aware of what the other is capable of.
The guard leads the way as the two men walk down the hall. The air between them feels much lighter than when they first walked down the hallway together.
“You know, after we win this we should meet up again. Go out for drinks or gambling, just have fun. Celebrate our victory.”
“I’m not exactly the fun party type. I’d probably just ruin your fun.”
“C’mon SNU, you’re not exactly the heartless murderer type either yet here we are. I’m sure once we get some drinks in you, you’re a total riot!”
Despite being called a murderer, Sang-woo can’t help but feel a bit welcomed. This was the first time in a while that someone had willingly invited him to go out together to just hangout. No worries of someone tracking him down, someone putting him up on a pedestal, or someone expecting something great from him. It was almost comforting to be around someone who lives a completely different life. Someone who doesn’t worry about what school he went to, what his job was, whether he committed fraud, or if he’s responsible for other’s deaths.
It was nice knowing that at his worst, someone was even lower than him.
He chuckles.
“I’m probably worse when I’m drunk to be honest.”
“What? You become an even bigger know-it-all?”
“Not like that. I normally just get drunk to feel better.”
“Oh you’re one of those depressive drunks. Don't worry. When we’re out of here, I’ll treat you to some good booze, gambling, and life-changing night out and you’ll become fun like me.”
He gives Sang-woo another slap on the back, like he’s looking forward to tomorrow.
“Alright, looks like we’re at the dorm. I’ll follow your plan like you said. You better not hold out on me SNU.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
Despite his mental games, Sang-woo did intend on teaming with Deok-su. It was the only guarantee that he would come out alive, even if that meant he had to befriend a criminal. But it would be alright, after all it’s just for the game.
After their win, he’d take the money home. Pay off his debt, make sure his mother was alright, and find a new job. Have a clean slate and go back to a normal life.
Then again, it wouldn't hurt for Sang-woo to reconsider his options.
Epilogue
“I’m Sang-woo by the way. Cho Sang-woo.”
“Oh. Jang Deok-su.”
…
“Can I still call you SNU?”
“Only if I can call you snakeface.”
…
“Cho Sang-woo it is then.”