#Kim jun-hee x reader

[meadowfics]

protection for the vulnerable

kim jun-hee x f!reader (a hint of myung-gi x reader too)

after meeting the woman in the games, you decide to protect her with your life

warnings: violence, mentions of death, reader grows a tiny bit possessive of jun-hee but it is nothing too crazy or toxic, reader is three-months postpartum

entering the games, you only had one goal in mind..

that goal which is to pay off your debt and get home to your three month old baby..

your daughter, who is currently in the care of your mother (thanks to no father being present), is safe. that is all that matters to you.

even if you are playing games that might cost you your life, to which your daughter might never know where you ever went to if you died in here.

from the beginning, you stuck with the same group.

gi-hun, young-il, jung-bae, dae-ho, and you.

at least until jun-hee came along.

when she asked to join your group before the six-legged pentathlon, you nearly told her away.

there was already five of you..

however, when jun-hee's hand laid across her swollen belly.. a pregnant belly at that, your heart shattered.

what is a pregnant woman doing here in this environment??

sure, you are three months postpartum, but at least your daughter was already out of you.

you knew that jun-hee needed to be with a strong group.. people who needed to carry the team for her.. so,

"you can join this group, I'll go find another group."

you pull yourself away from the group..

"no no, I'll do it!"

dae-ho pulls away from the group as well.

"dae ho, no. stay with jung-bae.. its okay."

you smile with reassurance.

when your left your group to go join another.. you saw player 333 looking at you the entire time.

well, he looked at 222 before watching you give up your spot for her.

as you looked around, player 333 quickly approached you..

"hey, join my group, we need one more."

the man basically pulled your arm to follow him to his group.

you could've protested, but you did not.

which was a good choice, because you won the six-legged pentathlon with the group.. crushing the jegi game you were assigned to do.

before leaving, you looked over at jun-hee, who looked over at you with a small smile.

she was grateful for you, wishing for your survival the entire time after you gave up your spot.

however, she quickly looked away from you when her baby dad, player 333, looked at her too.

you noticed 333's yearning look towards jun-hee.

being nosey was never a trait of yours, but once you got back into the dorms, you just had to ask him that question.

"you're the father, aren't you?"

player 333 looks at you with shock.

"huh?"

"222 is pregnant, and I've seen the way you've been looking at her.. you're the father of her baby, no?"

you smirk.

"yeah.. but please don't lecture me.."

player 333 starts,

"I thought she was going to abort the baby.. we were going through a hard time since my.. um.. thing--"

"you mean scam?"

you interrupt.

myung-gi swallows,

"yeah.. that. basically she just wants me to leave her alone."

he mumbles.

"well, if she hates you.. can I promise you something?"

you ask.

333 nods.

"I can protect her for you since she won't let you, there's no catch included. she's apart of my group now and she kind of reminds me of myself since I had my baby three months ago.."

you say.

myung-gi rolls his eyes...

"I don't need help protecting her."

"well, too bad. you need the help and I am protecting her anyways."

you walk away, looking over to the entrance of the dorms to see that jun-hee and your group survived the games.. thank goodness.

to be honest, your protection went further from just being a mom protecting another mom.. jun-hee is a beautiful woman.

if myung-gi fumbled her, then why can't you treat her the way that she deserves??

throughout the next night, you gave her your extra food that you did not eat.

"are you sure? there's still quite a bit of stuff.."

jun-hee mumbled, after you gave her half of your plate that was untouched.

"I'm sure, you need it more than I do."

you smile.

"I can give her my food instead if--"

dae-ho tries to cut in.

"I got it."

you mumble, making yourself clear.

the next games, mingle, you made sure that jun-hee stayed by your side the entire rounds.

at one point, you had to watch jun-hee and myung-gi interact after he basically pushed himself into a door last minute.. saving everyone but sacrificing player 120's companion.

you noticed the way that jun-hee got upset when myung-gi tried to talk to her.

jun-hee always wished that things turned out differently with myung-gi.. but he selfishly ruined everything.

he tried to chase her, in order to talk to her, before the last round..

however, you grabbed onto his shoulder before he had the chance,

"I think you should leave her alone."

you suggested.

the man looked at you, a little offended, before listening.

"two players."

the voice called out for the last round.

myung-gi and you basically pushed each other to lead jun-hee into that blue colored door in the distance.

unfortunately, myung-gi successfully pushed you onto the ground before he locked the door behind him and jun-hee.

if it weren't for dae-ho grabbing you and throwing your body into a room with him at the last second.. you would've died.

something you did not witness was jun-hee cursing out myung-gi over pushing you so harshly.

she tried not to panic, but the pregnant woman was concerned that one of those loud gunshots outside were for you.

"you killed her, myung-gi!"

she nearly cried.

"jun-hee, listen! are you really going to choose her, over the father of your child?"

he softly spoke, but with a tone that made jun-hee swallow in defeat.

"she protected me while you didn't!"

"because you didn't let me protect you!"

myung-gi argues.

in the other room, you thank dae-ho for saving you.

he told you its no problem of course.

the men in the group had a mission to made sure that you and jun-hee were protected.

yeah.. jun-hee was the pregnant one, but you had a baby back home that was not even half-a-year old.

when the doors opened, and jun-hee saw you coming out of that green colored room.. she smiled before speed walking towards you.

"you made it!!!"

jun-hee gives you a tight hug.

"of course I did, I had to."

you say, looking down at jun-he's pregnant belly that touched yours.

you didn't have a pregnant belly anymore, but feeling hers against yours made you feel nostalgic...

back in the dorms, you were panicked.

after lights out.. many people are going to be dead.

you tell jun-hee to stay close to you, she does.

"I'll be right back.. I need to go do something."

jun-hee lays a soft hand on your arm before standing up.

you watch her with concern, before noticing that she is just going up to myungi-gi.

you figure that she is telling him to hide once the lights go out.. of course she would.

he is the father of her child after all.

"jun-hee, i promise to protect you throughout these games, I swear. you will get out of here, even if it costs me my own life.."

you say before the rebellion starts, grabbing one of the guns before going to walk away with dae-ho..

"y/n.."

jun-hee speaks up.

"yeah?"

you frown.

"please don't go.."

she pleads.

you look over at dae-ho, who gives you a nod, meaning that its okay to not follow the others into the path of war..

"okay....I'll stay."

you gave your gun over to hyun-ju.. before walking over into jun-hee's arms.

I hope you enjoyed!!! I wrote this for @jackiesunshines since they wanted some fics for jun-hee/jo yu-ri 🩷

[serinoodles]

Pulse; Off Key.

Where you get to fight the echo of a life you never lived.

Notes: Read on ao3. Warnings/Tags: f! reader.

Chapter 1: Confusion.

I have always been a cranky person, in an insufferable way... I used to harm others a lot, not intentionally but that's who I am! I act intrusively and care less about the consequences, I am not responsible for their sensitive hearts, we live in harsh world anyway, they should get used to it.

I am never used to the feeling of guilt, so I will ignore that feeling in my heart for now. I am no good to anyone but to my loved ones, like Kim Jun-hee.

I love saying her whole name, not to be formal or anything, but it gives me such a beautiful feeling, I mean saying it and stopping a each part for a second...

Kim~ Jun~ hee~, I love her.

~

''What do you mean you are feeling weird?'', asked my friend Dae-ho while I sighed on the other line of the call, massaging my forehead. I peeked at my feet resting on top of my desk, I raised my eyebrows in confusion looking at my grey socks, I felt horrible!

''Grey is a good color, what could be wrong with it?''

''We were talking about weirdness, who brought up the subject of the grey color?''

I chuckled at myself, ''Ah- you know, it's about Jun-hee. I don't feel that rush and excitement when I see her anymore, I don't feel like I want to hug her the same as before''

''Are you joking? what a disaster!''

Irritated, my eyebrows frowned to his sarcasm. ''I am talking seriously so take me seriously! How could you 'love' someone you don't feel excited about seeing? not miss them nor you feel in heaven around them?''

''You love me, but do you feel that towards me?''

I rolled my eyes, ''I will hang up''

''Wait, wait! I was joking. Your relationship with Jun-hee is perfect, so be sure of what you are feeling, it could be just a normal phase of boredom, aren't you supposed to go through all of that to make sure that it is real love?''

''These are too much feelings to process, so I won't believe any of it, I'll just sleep it away''

''be careful'', his tone serious yet playful.

''I said I'll just ignore it, not that big of a deal''

''Wish you a weird night'', he hung up after he spoke.

Weird? Why weird? I stood up, looking at my socks again. Everything is really weird!

~

''What do you mean we ran out of mango juice? How am I supposed to have my meal? What is that? Orange juice!''

''Lee Myung-gi! Maybe you should consider trying to look better for you to deserve some attention from Jun-hee, stay away''

''I made these cookies for you, I think I am falling for you.."

''Sorry, I am not into fake blondes, Move. Or maybe stay that way, you are shielding me from the sun''

My vision becomes blurry, bit by bit it gets clearer, white, that's all I see. I realized I could be still in the hospital to make sense of the white I see.. I fully opened my eyes after starting to get a grasp of the reality, I saw her sitting next to my bed, holding my hand with a smile on her face. Her silky short black hair framing her crying face, but she does not look sad. I smiled at my Jun-hee, trying to speak.

''What happened?''

''The doctor said that the transplant was successful, your body accepted the new heart''

I smiled faintly looking at her, it is not the right time to think about any possible complications or the donor who gave me their heart to live with. I just smiled because of the idea that I get to live longer by her side.

My gaze wondered around the hospital room to see my mother, sister, my friend and other relatives, I hate these moments so I just pretended to be asleep.

~

I sat on my bed after remembering my first interaction with Jun-hee, I was just released from the hospital after I spent a whole month in there so it is normal to remember such things.. I feel confused, I shouldn't be thinking much, 'I miss my bed'.

I thought while laying on my beloved bed, and since spring has just came by, the weather was still chilly with some cloudy days. I decided to sleep without a blanket so I could enjoy this lovely weather.

I took a glance at my work uniform, I really miss the police station and work, I am not crazy, but laying still the whole time wasn't fun.

I noticed the black blanket my body rested on top of. Black!

I felt suffocated moving my shirt's collar left and right, trying to breathe. Should I consider therapy? I am scared.

No! Stop thinking! Stop. Just sleep, you deserve some rest..

I closed my eyes trying to visualize a white image to help me fall asleep faster, but all I could recall was me falling asleep whispering; Black, Black, Black...

~

The way I woke up wasn't regular, I jumped towards my closet to get my uniform with a smile. I glanced at myself in the mirror giggling at my messy hair, I ran my fingers through it talking to myself.

''hey popular girl, rise and shine gorgeous''

I caught myself off guard, am I smiling on a work-day morning? Where I will get to see Myung-gi and listen to Dae-ho's nonsense.. Maybe that's why I miss work in the first place.

After I applied my lipstick I ran downstairs, I closed my eyes enjoying the sound of my footsteps on the wooden floor. I stopped when I was met with the breakfast table, my steps quickened to have a seat, a smile never leaving my face. ''good morning!''

Suddenly all eyes on me.

''mom, did we bring someone else from the hospital?'', that was my annoying sister; Young-Mi. I ignored her admiring the food in front of me, I said excitingly.

''Oh, is that orange juice?''

My mom answered pouring a glass for Young-Mi, ''yes, we ran out of mango juice''

''yes! more juice for me'', said my sister.

My eyes stayed on the bottle of orange juice, and didn't focus on what my mom and sister were talking about, I grabbed the bottle and poured myself a full glass, I held it with both of my hands drinking it with enjoyment, I put it down after chugging the whole thing, I licked my lips enjoying as much orange flavor as possible. I opened my eyes to see the shock in their eyes.

What? Orange juice is awesome!

~

I made my steps towards the police station with my hands in my pockets and the breeze messing with my hair, that I took half an hour styling it. I refused to wear any coat even if it was a purple pilot jacket, purple??

My mom insisted on me to wear a coat but I refused, and now I feel guilty for doing so.

Oh my, what a feeling overload this morning, I feel guilty but I don't regret not wearing a coat.

Hello! Spring just came in, who would wear a coat at this time?

The greetings of my colleagues got me out of my zoning out, I waved my hands greeting them back with a smile I don't usually have, not in mornings neither at work.

Suddenly I felt a heavy weight on my shoulder, my smile faded into pure annoyance, Dae-ho!

I moved away from him, who does he thing he is? My Jun-hee? I sighed pushing his shoulder with my fist. ''You almost broke my shoulder you idiot''

''sorry princess'', he laughed, ''so, are you excited to see Jun-hee? Are you?''

I just rolled my eyes, lazy to answer his question. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and walked towards our desks. My eyes noticed the guy passing by us. ''Good morning Myung-gi!'', his hands were in his pockets, he barely looked at me, ignoring my existence, and kept walking his way.

I could feel Dae-ho's hands shaking my body, ''have you lost your mind? you were trying to piss him off, tell me that was your intention!''

I looked at him trying to process what he said to me, my eyebrows frowned in confusion.

What is wrong with me, that's not me...

I could feel a body hugging me from behind, ''I missed you so much~''

I smiled recognizing my girlfriend's voice, I turned my body to face her, pecking a kiss on her cheek, ''I miss you more my love''

she spoke fixing my stray hair strands, ''the chief asked for me, see you later'', I nodded then she walked away, ''Let's-''

I stopped talking when I noticed his weird glances at me, ''tell me, are you sick? is there something wrong going on?''

''Now what?'', I crossed my arms.

''This is not you usual smile when you see Jun-hee, it's usually more bright''

I scoffed, ''do you know me better than myself? mind your business''

I walked away leaving him in complete confusion, absolutely feeling confused more than him.

I sat on my desk playing with the pen between my finger in total boredom, some colleagues gathered asking about my surgery, the conversations went well, ignoring the pain in my chest.

The day went normally, I made my way back to my desk after the lunch break, I feel so much pain in my chest, I know it is not my heart. Well I am sure! I mean my heart is fine and the doctor insured that, it's something that falls under the category of feelings. Love, to be more precised.

Jun-hee is around me, why do I feel such hurt?

I took a deep breath tying my hair up, totally frustrated. I bumped into someone, some papers fell on the ground. ''Sorry, Myung-gi'', I got down to gather the papers.

''Sorry?'', my eyes widened to his mocking, I looked at the papers I gathered.. What do I do now?

I stood up quickly throwing whatever I had in his hands and walked faster to my desk, trying to ignore everyone's glances.

I opened the top button of my shirt trying to get some air, I feel like suffocating!

I glanced at my right to see Dae-ho pointing at the door, asking for me to follow him, I stood up following him outside, I walked slowly and noticed him for him to push me until my back rested on the wall behind me. I looked at him in surprise, he said angrily; ''what in the hell is wrong with you? Have you lost your mind?''

''I think I miss someone''

Notes: Back with another fic, this one is pretty juicy and has major events. Hope you enjoy it~

[angelseraphines]

ೃ⁀➷ squid game masterlist ˗ˏˋ꒰ 🦢 ꒱

╰┈➤ hwang in-ho, cho sang-woo, seong gi-hun, park gyeong-seok, hwang jun-ho, lee myung-gi, kang dae-ho, choi su-bong

·˚ ◌༘₊· ͟͞꒰➳ hwang in-ho. ੈ♡˳

playing dangerous.

do you think you’d kill for me, one day?

ultraviolence.

shades of cool.

pretty when you cry.

gods and monsters.

let the light in.

·˚ ◌༘₊· ͟͞꒰➳ cho sang-woo. ੈ♡˳

million dollar man.

sad girl.

white mustang.

swan song.

your girl.

dealer.

lolita.

cola.

you can be the boss.

young and beautiful.

dark but just a game.

·˚ ◌༘₊· ͟͞꒰➳ seong gi-hun. ੈ♡˳

tba.

·˚ ◌༘₊· ͟͞꒰➳ park gyeong-seok. ੈ♡˳

tba.

·˚ ◌༘₊· ͟͞꒰➳ hwang jun-ho. ੈ♡˳

tba.

·˚ ◌༘₊· ͟͞꒰➳ lee myung-gi. ੈ♡˳

tba.

·˚ ◌༘₊· ͟͞꒰➳ kang dae-ho. ੈ♡˳

tba.

·˚ ◌༘₊· ͟͞꒰➳ choi su-bong. ੈ♡˳

tba.

[k1mbe3rly]

can u do reactions of sitting on their lap but with g!p squidgame girls?

Squid game women reactions to you sitting on their lap

warnings: smut (kinda rushed😢)

Se-mi

- Who doesn’t care

- She just wraps her arms around your waist slightly pulling you closer and goes back to whatever she was doing

- Her head on your shoulder as she just scrolls thru her phone

NSFW

- Who places her hands on your hips and stares down at your ass

“Wow..what are you tryna do? tease me?”

- She begins slowly moving your hips again her

- Who put her hands down your pants and fingers you

Kang no eul

- Who’s a bit confused at first but doesn’t mind it at all

- “What are you doing?” is all she asks

- Who lets you sit there until she gets up

NSFW

- No talking she just automatically rubs your thru your pants

- “What a fucking slut. Sitting on my lap huh? what is it that you want”

- who’s quick to bring out the strap and fucks you roughly

Young mi

- Who gets very flustered

- Can’t speak or even say a sentence without stuttering

- Once she finally gets used to it she put her head on your back

NSFW

- who doesn’t make the first move at all, you have to guide her hands

- You guide her hands under shirt making her feel your breast

- You tell her to play with your tits as she does so feeling your boob in her hands

- Who gives you soft kisses on your back

Jun hee

- She’s like se-mi but she gets awkward

- “What are you doing on my lap?”

- Who eventually wraps her hands around your waist and does whatever

- Who gets happy with it and smiles as she speaks to you

NSFW

- “What’s wrong baby? are you horny? do you want me hmm?”

- Who’s also quick to get into action making you face her as she sucks on yours tits

- Her tongue going over your nipples wetting your boobs

- She than eventually goes down on you

Sae byeok

- Who’s very confused but keeps her nonchalant act

- just places her hands on your hips keeping you steady

- enjoys you on her lap

NSFW

- She speaks DIRTY words into your ear

- forces you to throw it back on her

- She than fingers you roughly

Ji yeong

- Very jokingly about it

- “Ahh look at you sitting on my lap out of nowhere”

- Who smiles widely enjoying herself

NSFW

- Her hands immediately find your body

- One hand on your boobs massaging it and the other down your pants rubbing on your clit

Hyun ju

- “Oh- get comfortable it’s okay”

- very happy with it and glad your comfortable in her lap

- She hugs you from behind

- Smiles happily as she softly rubs your tummy as a gentle gesture

NSFW

- Very gentle with it

- “Is this okay..?”

- Who softly rubs on your clit as she listens to yours moans

- Who begins fingering you but not too rough enjoying the wetness of your pussy on her fingers

- “I’m glad i’m making you feel good baby.”

- Makes love to you

[pukah]

top junhee (non preg au) with bottom fem reader links please 🫵🏻

( ofcc ml ♡ idk if i can do top jun-hee but i’ll try my best.)

kim jun-hee nsfw twitter links

— pretty pink pussy

— fingering her needy princess

— strap-on

— couch sex

— “stay still..”

— riding her face

— eating you out

— eating you out #2

— strap riding

— another strap-on one because why not

— riding you

— sharing her toy with you

— trailing her love all over your body..

— slow kisses

— scissoring

[melminli]

Could you store something with jun-hee (player 222) x f!reader plz🙏

Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby

summary - it may sound a bit cliché, but you were in love with your best friend. even though you always wanted to tell her, you strongly doubted that she could use your love - you didn't know that she thought the same. you two were really stupid, huh?

pairing: kim jun-hee x fem. reader

word count: 1.1k

contains: wlw, angst w/ comfort, arguing, fluff, pre squid game au, hidden feelings

a/n: i went to a cas concert a few months ago and it was insane. this was the song that just stuck with me since then and i thought about her when i listened to it again after watching the show! hope u like it ;p

"Oh man, they forgot our spring rolls." you realized disappointed after you went through each package of food one by one until there was nothing left but napkins in the bag. You looked at your best friend as you said. "Should I go to the store and get them? I know how much you like them, and I think the owner likes me, who knows, maybe we'll get an extra portion or something, huh?"

Jun-hee just shook her head with a gentle smile on her face. "That's all right. I want to eat with you and by the time you come back, the food will be all cold and mushy." she said, reaching for the chopsticks after opening her box of fried noodles.

You sat down on the opposite chair of your little dining table in your small kitchen. "I guess, I can't argue with that." you gave in and reached for a spoon to mix your fried rice a little.

You had turned on the radio a while ago and the music it was playing accompanied the pleasant silence between the two of you. You could hardly stop yourself from thinking about how homely this all felt right now with her, as you often did in the last few days. It was sudden and you were definitely caught off guard when Jun-hee suddenly appeared at your doorstep with a packed bag in tow. You didn't know exactly what happened, but you didn't need to because you could imagine that it probably had something to do with her parents or something - it didn't matter. She would tell you when she was ready.

"I heard that this one popular show is getting a second season soon, you know..." you started to tell her and then tried to think of the title when you suddenly heard a soft howl. You immediately stood up when you saw Jun-hee sitting huddled up with her arms covering her face. "Hey, what's wrong..." you asked worriedly, not used to such an emotional reaction from her since she was usually such a collected person. This was a very rare occurrence.

She interrupted you before you could say anything else. "I'm pregnant!" she cried out, feeling the lingering guilt inside her finally take over her entire mind as she uttered those words. A few minutes passed with you just holding her like that and Jun-hee clung tightly to you, sobbing. She was worried that you might let her go - in fact, she expected you to, which is why she didn't tell you for so long.

I can't blame her for anything, I really am the worst. She thought to herself when she still couldn't bring herself to let go. No matter how selfish it might be of her.

"Is it from that Mingyu guy?" you finally asked her and she nodded vaguely, but it was enough for you to understand. Jun-hee didn't even bother to correct you when you said his name wrong.

You just sighed and even if you didn't say it out loud, she could feel how angry you were with her - how disappointed. "You're mad at me," she stated while you continued to stroke her back reassuringly, even when the position you were holding her in was a little uncomfortable for you. "Of course I am, the guy's an asshole and you're only in your early twenties," you answered her honestly, comforting her with your own broken heart. "Does he even know? Last I heard, all his fans were sending him death threats because he stole their money or something."

She didn't even want to think about it. "He's not answering my calls and I have no idea where he is."

You let out another heavy sigh. "You're really stupid sweetie, I knew that guy was like this from the beginning, really," you spoke up before looking confusedly at Jun-hee after she lifted her head from your chest and met your gaze with a furrowed brow. "Can you stop rubbing it in my face? I already know that I fucked up!" she exclaimed, completely exhausted as she continued to rub her reddened eyes.

So she wants to keep the baby, her parents probably kicked her out as soon as they found out. You massaged your forehead, exhausted. "So, what now?" you just asked her, elaborating on your question when she looked at you with a confused look. You just wanted to kiss her right now and tell her that everything would be okay again and at the same time, you wanted to smash your head through a wall and cry. "What are you going to do now with a baby on the way? Do you have a plan for how you're going to look after it?"

I don't have a job or any money. I don't know what to do. She didn't answer you right away and just avoided your gaze, embarrassed, so you reached for her hand to get her attention. "If you don't know what to do and you want me to help you, then you have to tell me," you finally said and you were probably the stupid one this time.

Jun-hee looked at you in surprise and took a few seconds to really understand what you meant. "Are you sure? You don't have to do something like that for me..."

You interrupted her relatively quickly. "I want to do this for you because -" and your love confession was almost half hanging from your lips when you stopped yourself from saying it out loud in the last second. What am I doing? This is completely the wrong time for this. "- because you can always count on me, even if no one else does."

Oh, that's right. Jun-hee thought to herself as she held her pounding heart and smiled a little forcedly. I thought she was going to say something else, how stupid of me I mean you're pregnant with another man's child right now Jun-hee, wake up. She brought herself back down to earth. You already gave her more than enough. "Please, help me."

You spread your arms out again to catch her in a hug. "We'll work it out, don't worry..." you tried to reassure her further, any unspoken feelings remaining as you both made the decision to keep them a secret.

[svetamillss]

Omg I love your headcanons but can you do a fluffy and silly one where the reader ask them an impossible question? Something like “if I punch myself and it hurts, would that make me weak or strong?”

Characters i suggest: Thanos, Junhee, Saebyeok, Se-mi, Namgyu, Hyunju, Jiyeong, Youngmi, Daeho please 🙏

Headcanons: if I punch myself and it hurts, would that make me weak or strong?💗

Featuring: Cho Hyun Ju x Reader(f), Thanos (Su Bong) x Reader(f), Kim Jun Hee x Reader(f), Kang Sae Byeok x Reader(f), Se Mi x Reader(f), Nam Gyu x Reader(f), Ji Yeong x Reader(f), Kim Young Mi x Reader(f), Kang Dae Ho x Reader(f)

A/N: Thank you very much for such a wonderful order! Please show an asset at this job. Also, those headcanons that were supposed to be today are postponed, sorry!

💗💗💗

It all happened when you and your partner decided to arrange a date and watch a movie in a hug, but while you were choosing which movie to watch, you got bored and that's what happened.

Cho Hyun Ju

- My love, if I punch myself and it hurts, would that make me weak or strong?

• She even choked a little and looked at you excitedly.

- Baby, did you beat yourself up?

- No! I just became interested, so I decided to ask.

• Ju calmly exhaled, and then laughed at your question.

- You're the strongest girl, and you don't have to beat yourself to prove it somehow.

- Am I really strong? You always protect me.

- Very strong. And I'm protecting you, because I love you very much.

• After that, she lovingly kissed you on the lips and you continued to choose the movie you wanted to watch.

Thanos (Su Bong)

- Honey, if I punch myself and it hurts, would that make me weak or strong?

• He looked at you with a strange face, he was obviously nervous about your question.

- Is this some kind of test with a trick? On the topic: am I a good guy?

- Nooo! I just decided to ask.

- I know you, you never just ask like that! There is definitely a correct answer there and if I answer incorrectly, you will be offended by me and we will not watch the movie.

• Yes, with your boyfriend such jokes are bad and it's better not to arrange them, you decided not to ask him further, but just kiss him on the lips, making it clear that everything is fine and you don't need to answer.

– Silly, don't ask me such questions anymore, I'll turn gray much faster!

Kim Jun Hee

- My love, if I punch myself and it hurts, would that make me weak or strong?

• The girl first thought about your question, she was not used to hearing such a thing.

- Can you repeat the question again?

– If I punch myself and it hurts, would that make me weak or strong?

- Is there any catch here?

- No, I just became interested.

• Hee thought a little more, then gave a clear answer with a serious face.

- Strong.

- Why?

- But it's not that you hit yourself, I missed it, because it's better never do it, you're strong and without it.

• You have a wonderful girlfriend and you understood that you were not mistaken in your choice.

Kang Sae Byeok

- Darling, if I punch myself and it hurts, would that make me weak or strong?

• You didn't hear the answer, the girl just kept looking for a movie that could be turned on?

- Sae Byeok..

• There was no answer.

- Why are you silent?

- Table.

- What? What does the table have to do with it? Did you even hear me?

- I heard, I answer stupid questions stupidly. You asked a stupid question, so I answer stupidly.

• You blushed, you were a little ashamed of your question, because you knew the girl's character.

- If you have nothing to do, please bring snacks while I turn on the movie.

Se Mi

- My love, if I punch myself and it hurts, would that make me weak or strong?

- God, honey, what nonsense are you asking?

- I'm just curious!

• The girl sighed heavily, looking at you.

- Only fools ask such things, and you're a smart girl and you understand that you don't need to beat yourself to prove that you're strong.

- Well..

- And don't look at the site anymore with stupid questions that will embarrass your soulmate!

• Se Mi pretended to be offended, but you saw how she barely held back a smile.

- Why is that??

- Because I'll take revent you and ask for something like that too.

• She was very serious, you both laughed at this whole situation later.

Nam Gyu

- Kitten, if I punch myself and it hurts, would that make me weak or strong?

• The guy suddenly began to look around, as if he was looking for something.

- What are you doing?

- The hidden camera you put.

- Why should I put it?

- To record a prank on your boyfriend in Tik Tok! I've seen similar videos!

• You laughed at Gyu, and he looked at you with a little anger.

- It was a joke, I just got bored.

- You know how they say that all troubles have the same beginning - the girl was sitting and bored!

• He was just afraid to do something wrong, so he got nervous.

Ji Yeong

- Baby, if I punch myself and it hurts, would that make me weak or strong?

• She didn't even think about it and answered pretty quickly.

- You would be crazy.

- Hey, why is that?

- First of all: I have a crazy girlfriend. Secondly: do normal people do this?

• She stared at you with a smile that made you blush.

- Come on! I'm just bored.

- It would be better to use your language for another instead of chatter.

• And she embarrassed you again, maybe you won't finish watching the selected movie.

Kim Young Mi

- Sweetness, if I punch myself and it hurts, would that make me weak or strong?

• She looked at you with great excitement and you felt uncomfortable.

- Are you beating yourself??? Why didn't you tell me that before???

- Quieter, quieter! I'm not beating myself! I saw such a joke on the Internet, I decided to ask you something like this.

• She looked at you with incomprehension, and you decided not to continue this topic.

- Okay, let's not talk about it, stupid joke.

- Strong..

• She said very quietly, but you still heard her and a warm smile appeared on your face.

Kang Dae Ho

- Darling, if I punch myself and it hurts, would that make me weak or strong?

• The guy looked at you with a smile, and then said loudly and clearly as if he was honoring the army general.

- YOU ARE A STRONG GIRL AND ALL YOUR ACTIONS PROVE IT!

• You were pleased to hear and embarrassed, as you understood that the guy did not fully understand the essence of the question, but decided not to ask about it anymore.

- Thank you!

- I love you very much! I am ready to answer any of your questions!

💗💗💗

[ilovebabygirls]

PERSEVERANCE . kang dae-ho

pairing — kang dae-ho × female reader | mention of kim jun-hee × female reader (platonic)

tags — pure angst | some comfort & fluff | third person point of view

warnings — no happy ending | english is not my first language!! | use of lowercase intended | canon accurate violence | blood | death | assault | hint of misogyny | capitalism | major daddy issues | toxic masculinity

words count — 15k

summary — she was nowhere near a fighter, barely surviving through the games. that is what she believed until she encountered a certain former marine who swore he would protect her with his life. will he be able to keep his promise when a fight breaks out?

last updated — 20/02/2015

requested by @miy-svz

latest work — kang dae-ho boyfriend headcanons

heads spinning. bodies were trembling in fear. the repetitive circular motion of the carousel causing unsteadiness. her heart was beating out of her chest in panic. she was on the verge of tearing her ears off, the eerie melody and children's voices haunting her. she felt nauseous and the smell of blood was doing nothing to help out. her feet were anchored to the ground. her legs were slightly spread apart so as to not lose her balance. she felt dizzy but distraction would rush her to her demise. at this point, she regretted all her life choices, from the great amount of student debt she amassed to study abroad, to accepting playing children's games she was unfamiliar with because of cultural differences.

fortunately, in this living hell, [your name] found hope. she had allied with seong gi-hun's group, also known as the previous winner of the games. the young woman was grateful to be part of this team. the odds had to be in her favour. she was surrounded by strong and reliable people, and in particular one of the kindest souls.

kang dae-ho.

although the first impression he had made on her had not been the greatest, she eventually realised she had been mistaken. she had noticed him in the dormitory after the first vote. a small crowd had gathered around player 456. most players who had come had voted to remain in the games, they were definitely asking for guidance to work on a strategy for the next round. perched on top of her bed on the opposite side of the room, she had deeply sighed as she watched the scene unfold with disdain. the crowd had seemed to consider they had a fair chance of triumphing in these games. she was incapable of fathoming how anyone would gamble their life for money. then again, compared to some of the people who ended up in this place, she was not the one with the most debt amassed.

the young woman had lifted her gaze to the clear golden piggy bank hovering over the room, a constant reminder of their desperation. all that cash hanging over her head and she was unable to reach it. it spoke to her, messed with her mind and interfered with her common sense. these people were toying with the players, a system exploiting the penniless for their profit and entertainment. regardless, greed did not consume her yet, and the student was far from willing to sacrifice her life.

the woman was ripped away from her string of thoughts when a deep exclamation erupted. two men were standing where the crowd once was. she recognised one of them as the man who had stayed close to player 456 during the first game. player 390 was proudly smiling in front of a tall man and muscular in a half ponytail, slapping his arm in a fatherly manner. his form was strict, worthy of a soldier, as he saluted the older man. he was the source of the disturbance. macho and prideful were a few of the terms she had come up with to describe the view. she had sent their way the most judgmental look she could have mustered, which they did not catch, too focused on their little show.

"the lunatic said the next game was going to be dalgona." she had overheard a woman say near her bunk.

dalgona? like the sweet? were they gonna have an eating contest?

[your name] had officially met the man as she was looking for a group during the six-legged pentathlon. the players had entered the artificial and colourful courtyard as the feminine voice was introducing the next challenge.

it was not going to be a dalgona.

thank god.

the young woman had been slightly relieved at the announcement since she had never competed in the presumed game. moreover, being part of a group was reassuring, knowing she could count on her teammates to win, or instead, they could bring her down with them. at least if she managed to be accepted, nay tolerated, in a group. [your name] had been dragging her feet around the playground for a while, scrutinising her surroundings. the walls were painted a baby blue shade, clouds drawn haphazardly all over them, similar to events in kindergarten where children would decorate the classroom with their craftwork. the main entrance looked like school gates with inspiring words on top of it. alongside the main entrance were countless fake windows with different coloured curtains and chalk drawings on blackboards. rainbows adorned the doors throughout the arena contrasting with the deathly atmosphere.

many players had already formed teams of six, men sticking together assuming letting a woman in was suicide. less than three minutes were left on the clock, time was ticking fast. everyone she had asked to join had either rejected her, laughed in her face or the team was already full. [your name] had been so desperate that she had even approached that marvel fan rapper wannabe known as thanos, however, she had been immediately shushed by his lapdog with a bob who insulted her under his breath. the purple-haired man had simply pouted at her, tilting his head like a puppy. thanos said something in english she did not comprehend, despite speaking the language, before jiggling his hands in front of his face, displaying his tattoos and ridiculous multicoloured nails. the rapper turned his body away, jumping and crossing his legs, and strutted away with an exaggerated movement of his shoulders, his two teammates on his tail. she shook her head in disbelief and pulled her attention away from the trio.

it was now easy to detect who had been left behind. her eyes darted around the playground in search of a despairing soul. her gaze eventually locked with the one of a young woman her age, who she remembered from "red light, green light". [your name] had stood behind her during the crocodile line strategy presented by player 456, she had helped the girl up when the latter's legs had almost given out under her weight. [your name] had pressed the stranger's back against her chest, tightly hugging her body. however, the student had been startled when she felt a large bump but had chosen to keep quiet.

her legs had a mind of their own and led her to the unmoving player.

"did you find a group yet?" she questioned, her fists clenched in her pockets. she tried to appear nonchalant, when in fact, she was terrified. her eyes betrayed her as she blinked too much to be relaxed. what would happen to people without a group? would they form a group together? or would they be eliminated on the spot despite being an even number, allowing them to make equal teams?

"not yet..." the woman responded. her interlocutor hummed in return, slowly nodding.

"do you wanna team up?" [your name] proposed, pursing her lips, nervously waiting for the girl's reply.

"yes, please." she quickly agreed. "i'm jun-hee." she introduced herself.

"[your name]." she coldly responded, offering a weak smile.

"now, we just need four other people. easier said than done..." the young woman admitted as jun-hee nodded.

they roamed around one more minute, eyeing groups who would perhaps take them in. they were not demanding, anyone would do. however, they were aware they were a not sight for the sore eye or promising candidates. a pregnant lady (most were not aware of her condition, regardless, she was still a frail-looking woman) and a foreigner (she would be a millstone round the neck simply by her cluelessness concerning the rules of the games). jun-hee landed her eyes on a specific group and began to walk in their direction. [your name] directed her gaze to where her teammate was heading and her eyes widened. she ran after player 222 in a hurry.

"i don't think they are gonna be very welcoming, jun-hee." she warned. jun-hee paid her no mind and maintained her pace. the man who had been previously yelling in the sleeping quarters had already fetched two players just as spirited, player 390 seemingly the most satisfied by the young man's find. too late, the team was full, not that they had any chance of joining. nevertheless, jun-hee would not let this prevent her from shooting her shot despite [your name]'s vain murmurs of protest.

jun-hee planted herself in front of the group and spoke up, her teammate awkwardly standing a step back.

"excuse me. please let us join your team." she pleaded, her eyes wide open. she appeared like prey in the wild.

"sorry, we've already got six people—" player 390 replied before he was abruptly interrupted.

"she is pregnant!" her teammate suddenly blurted out. all eyes were on her as she stood next to jun-hee, who was as startled as the men. the young woman straightened her posture, released a breath she had been holding and cleared her throat.

"you don't need to let me join, but please let her..." she whispered, getting a hold of herself after her short outburst. she hoped the men would show some empathy or, at best, pity her new acquaintance. if one of the two women could escape from an evident death, she deemed it necessary to overshare personal details even if it was not her place to do so.

"please help us." jun-hee finished, instinctively placing a hand on her bump and grabbing the other woman by the wrist.

a few seconds of unnerving silence ensued. none of the men knew the appropriate way to react. they all gawked at the woman's belly, her grip tensing on [your name]'s wrist in apprehension.

dae-ho had been the one to break the silence, advocating for the two women when he had recommended the two marines for the team.

"we can't let them fend for themselves. especially a pregnant woman. i say we let them join." he said, holding his hand up in a fist as his mouth tightened into a thin line. he threw an apologising look at the men, feeling slightly embarrassed. he had brought them over just to let them go in a matter of seconds. gi-hun immediately agreed with the young man and player 001, who seemed to follow anything the latter declared, acquiesced. player 390 was the only one who had not said anything since [your name] revealed jun-hee's pregnancy. regardless, his opinion would not count as his teammates had reached a decision.

"you have two marines to protect you, girls. you're safe with us." he forced out a smile. the group dismissed the other two men whose protests were ignored. they walked away, one patting the other's back. [your name] could not feel sorry for them, they would find a team in no time, however, the newly formed team was disadvantaged if people's opinions were taken into consideration.

to everyone's surprise, the team crossed the finishing line a couple of seconds before the end of the countdown. after all, the two girls turned out to be a valuable addition to the group, both of them completing their mini-game in one attempt (unlike young-il who had crashed out and cost them priceless time).

as the guards escorted them back to the dormitories, dae-ho walked alongside her and decided to strike up a small conversation.

"i am glad we survived. are you okay? i mean, after all that." he began, skimming over her figure to confirm any scrapes she could have. she frowned at the sudden interaction.

"don't worry, i'm fine." she assured. "you... uhm, you were really good at gonggi. like you did that all your life." she added to dissipate the awkwardness that only she was feeling.

"you could say so." he chuckled before moving his attention to the woman's mini-game. "i don't know how you passed 'cham cham cham' in one go. are you a telepath?" he joked, throwing [your name] a wide smile which she responded with a genuine giggle.

"actually, the guard made it pretty easy. i just had to observe how he did it with the other teams. he would start with the same two moves and the third one would be different. so i just had to pick the first direction he chose on the third round." she explained with a proud grin. dae-ho let out a long impressed noise, briefly clapping.

"i wouldn't have caught on." he praised with a toothy smile.

"what's your name?" he bluntly asked, taking her off guard as he tilted his head.

"oh, uhm... my name is [your name]." she introduced herself as the man hummed.

"that's a pretty name. i'm dae-ho, kang dae-ho." he replied placing his hand on his chest. "nice to meet you." he finished, an optimistic glint in his eyes. then, the group was stopped in front of the door to the dormitory.

[your name] was happily surprised by dae-ho. she was wrong all along. it will teach her before judging a book by its cover.

dae-ho was the quintessence of sunshine. through the darkness, he was the light she longed for. he never allowed her to renounce hope, always cheering her on. during their free time between games, they would talk about their childhood memories, dae-ho eagerly telling her how his sisters would use him as their human doll, and how, as a child, he much preferred their company over the one of kids his age. as for her, she would describe specific aspects and customs from her home country, attempting to teach him some words from her mother-tongue as he would miserably fail to pronounce syllables.

as maladroit as he could be, it was heartwarming.

jung-bae's sudden question brought her back to reality.

"what do you think it'll be this time?" jung-bae asked gi-hun from behind. she prayed it would be the last round as the uncanny and robotic feminine voice did not indicate how many more they would be compelled to play. before gi-hun could answer, young-il beat him to it.

"two." the imperturbable man promptly said as jung-bae made him elaborate.

"there are one hundred twenty-six people left, and there are fifty rooms. so there won't be enough rooms for everyone. only for hundred people." he explained. how did he know all that? did he manage to calculate the probabilities? did he just guess? it was irrelevant. "the rest will be killed."

over half of the players had already lost their lives in this nightmare.

she was fucked.

gi-hun would obviously pair up with his best friend. young-il was beyond her reach to run to safety within the time frame offered (and quite frankly, she was a little bit afraid of the man since the stunt he pulled during the six-legged race). hyun-ju would pair up with young-mi as she was her protege, and the old woman and her son were holding each other for dear life. as for dae-ho, he had made it his life mission to guard jun-hee. after all, she was pregnant, which made her a priority.

priority or not, [your name] wanted to live just as much.

she had voted to leave this place without hesitation since the voting system was introduced to the contestants. she deserved to live as much as anyone else, nonetheless, she also wanted her teammates to survive. young-mi would have died in the last round if it had not been for another group that had dragged the young girl into their room at the last second. hyun-ju was out of her mind when her friend was nowhere in sight, ramming into and yanking the door almost busting the hinges when the countdown ran out. the tall woman had lunged at the man who had forced himself into the safe room by pushing her out of the doorframe, preventing her from looking for young-mi. player 333, also known as a scammer, lashed out, claiming he saved everyone (he only saved himself uninterested by the people surrounding him). according to him, young-mi was condemned since she fell. harsh, but had the merit to be honest. everyone fell silent and eventually slowly agreed with him. when the nine of them finally exited the room in a dreadful frame of mind, young-mi yelled out hyun-ju's name, throwing herself in the woman's arms as she uncontrollably wept in her shoulders. both women collapsed to the ground trembling and choking out sobs.

she could always pair up with the new addition to their group, player 246. he seemed dependable and close enough to reach. she had never interacted with him, but pleasantries were not necessary in a game where death flirted with you every now and then. her strategy was to cling onto the man and bolt for any door while fending off frenzied players.

the machine abruptly halted as players held onto one another to keep their balance.

"two!" the voice announced as the lights began to flash.

young-il was correct.

[your name] looked around as player 246 got off the platform, holding gi-hun by the arm. her ticket out was slipping away. young-il was also out of the picture as he had grabbed jung-bae and bolted away the moment the number was revealed. her frenetic eyes failed to find any of her teammates on the carousel. players were fighting, pushing and pulling each other off the platform, ripping their tracksuits up. the melody was maddening as her pulse quickened. she felt palpitations in her whole body, unable to properly think without panicking. logically, one of her friends was still here considering the group was now made up of an even number.

where were they then?

tears threatened to spill, she was petrified, alone, like in the outside world. she eventually resigned herself to her fate, instead choosing to bravely endure it.

death.

[your name] closed her eyelids and faintly exhaled, welcoming the end.

as the first tear rolled on her cheek, she was yanked from the platform and rushed to a bright yellow door. her eyes widened, landing on a broad figure with a tiny ponytail. dae-ho grabbed her arm as he reached her and raced to the first door he laid eyes on. no one was in front of them, if they kept the same pace they would reach the safe room in time without any trouble. her lungs were on fire, dae-ho's grip was definitely cutting off her blood flow, and her shoes were slipping on the floor. but, adrenaline was pumping in her veins and she was determined to live. if she did not do it for herself, she owed it to dae-ho to ensure his survival.

the former marine nearly crashed against the door as he twisted the doorknob, jerking the door open. he entered the safe room, looking over his shoulder to confirm his partner followed close behind despite tightly holding her by the wrist. [your name] had managed to put a foot past the entrance before another player seized her by the collar, nearly choking her in the process. the player snatched her from dae-ho's grip when the latter brought his guard down and threw her in a puddle of blood. her head took a harsh blow at impact and bounced against the floor.

only ten seconds remained on the clock. the player who had attacked the young woman tried to push past dae-ho, stepping on the woman's ankle without a care for her well-being to enter the room. she felt a throbbing pain in the area and screamed. dae-ho sprung into action and blocked the player's way giving him a swift kick in the abdomen with his knee. as the attacker stumbled back, dae-ho rushed to [your name]'s side, clutching onto her wounded ankle as she winced because of the sharp ache, dragging her into the room with one second left. she lied still as dae-ho charged at the door, keeping it closed until it automatically locked. the ex-marine tried to overlook the despairing pleas in the arena as the player who assaulted his friend banged on the door. the player launched a string of curses at the man while simultaneously imploring for his life. the player stuck his arm through the small rectangular peephole, grabbing dae-ho by the collar and pressing his face against the door until blood eventually squirted on the ex-marine's face. gunshots echoed through the arena as a hole appeared in the middle of the contestant's forehead, life gradually vanishing from his eyes. dae-ho tightly shut his eyes to dismiss the monstrosities as the player's body slumped, hanging from the peephole like a rag.

both of them were heavily panting. dae-ho slid down against the wall, his legs finally giving out. his body tensed up and trembled as more gunshots were fired in the circus tent. the palms of his hands were pressed against his ears as his knees were pulled to his chest. he tried to do that one breathing exercise his therapist had taught him, and he ultimately managed to get his heartbeats under control. he opened his eyes and scanned the room. [your name] was lying on her back, her hands hiding her face as one of her legs was folded and the other casually stretched out. dae-ho hurriedly crawled to her shaking figure and delicately laid his large hand on her shoulder. her body relaxed under his gentle touch.

"are you okay? tell me you're okay." he begged. he helped the woman to sit up, placing her back against his chest carefully. she winced and moaned, the pain in her ankle and head intensifying.

"did you just use me as a mop?" she broke the silence out of breath, kidding to lighten the mood. dae-ho was speechless as she began to softly giggle.

"i was so scared when you got attacked by that guy. i thought i lost you." he said, tightly hugging her, his face buried into her hair. his hands clutched onto her vest, which was drenched in blood, tainting his hands, but he could not care less.

"you're not gonna lose me, dae-ho. never." she hugged him back with as much devotion.

"you saved me. i really thought it was gonna be the end for me back there." she admitted when they pulled away. she was ashamed since she had doubted him, assuming he would reach for another teammate, taking the easy route to save himself.

"you did scare me a little bit. you were frozen in place." he explained exhaling. the beeping of the forklifts that carried the coffins could be heard outside the room. they would be freed from this torture in a few minutes. "i grabbed your hand, but you didn't move at first, so, i had to be a bit more forceful." he said, softly stroking her back.

[your name] had been in such a state of panic that she had not felt his touch. dae-ho wanted to save her, he wanted to partner up with her this whole time. he had never hesitated one second. guilt flashed in her eyes and she lowered her head, her reaction confusing dae-ho. he leaned in to make eye contact with the girl before she abruptly threw her arms around his shoulders, crying in the crook of his neck. a restful silence settled between the two as dae-ho consoled her, all her emotions conveyed in an instant. the man suppressed his own feelings, convinced the only way to calm her was to be tougher on himself.

"everything is gonna be okay. i'll never let anything happen to you." he whispered in her ear as he delicately caressed her hair.

eventually, the door unlocked itself. dae-ho carefully stood up, lending a hand to the injured woman. he snuck his arm around her waist as she used his shoulder for support. she was struggling to hold herself. dae-ho was using most of his strength to prevent her from collapsing into another puddle of blood.

as they left the room, they were met with jun-hee embrace who had run as fast as possible towards them, given her condition. player 333 was on her tail with a defeated look, probably annoyed jun-hee's attention was on people he deemed unimportant. [your name] tensed up at the sensation, still hugging her friend back. however, the grimace the wounded player pulled did not go unnoticed by the pregnant woman.

jun-hee took a step back and scanned her friend from head to toe.

"what happened to you?!" she questioned, her eyes widening at the woman's pitiful condition.

"just the price to live." she answered, forcing a smile out.

"some player pushed me and walked on my ankle. i think it might be sprained. i hope it's not broken, though..." she continued, lifting her leg to show her ankle from different angles.

"let's just go back in the dormitory. she needs to rest." dae-ho added as the guard ordered the remaining players to gather in a crowd in front of the entrance of the arena. everyone was exhausted, their shoulders slumped, their steps slow and sloppy. a hundred players were left indicating the amount of the jackpot had to be massive by now.

they would finally be freed. far away from this torment.

safe and sound.

despite the pain, this thought brought a small smile of relief to [your name]'s face.

she survived.

she was going home.

these were the dumbest people she had ever encountered in her entire life. they truly did not cherish their lives.

after "mingle", another vote had taken place. casting her vote had been rather humiliating. she was limping and relatively slow. someone on the other side had even roared at her to hurry up, that they did not have all day. unfortunately, they did have all day, unable to escape this horror if more people had no regard for human life. she had shot him a glare and resumed limping towards the console displaying the bright red and blue buttons. moreover, she had exposed her injury, turning her into an easy target for the ill-intended players. she was served on a silver platter to eliminate.

soon enough, the results were in. it was depressing.

a tie.

the most disappointing part was that most people would have been able to pay their debt with the amount each player would have been given. however, the call for money was apparently too tempting. the players, proudly wearing their blue patches, did not understand they were doomed, or perhaps they were too arrogant to even consider it. they believed they were more qualified to beat these games than the people they viewed as cowards. they already pictured themselves in a pool of bills, grazing the upper-class society like they merited, free of concerns for the clear-sighted people who knew they would never be accepted by the rich. there is no winning for the poor in capitalism. the players were just puppets in these people's cruel games. lambs willingly throwing themselves in the slaughterhouse after being shown the outcomes.

in the beginning, [your name] understood why most players had selected to stay in the games. for a lot of them, the outside world had nothing to provide and dying was certainly better than their tough and tedious routine. however, they would all have had sufficient funds for a fresh start. they would never leave the game until only one of them came out victorious. selfishness reeking from their soul. they had been repeating they would play "one more game" since the rules of these silly, yet murderous, tournaments were revealed. they would not quit at any obstacle, each one of them's greatest wish undoubtedly was to obtain the whole cash prize.

money had a hold on them and had clouded their better judgement.

this was further proven when a ferocious fight broke out in the men's restroom, taking the lives of five players. [your name] had insisted on heading to the restroom by herself, deeming it unnecessary to be chaperoned by hyun-ju, although the others had insisted. she needed some space to reflect on what had occurred and to freshen up.

she entered the empty austere restroom, grateful no one else was present. finally some peace and quiet. she chose a random stall and slopped on the toilet lid, exasperatedly exhaling. she meticulously rolled up her pant leg to examine her injury. it was not pretty to see. as a matter of fact, her ankle was severely swollen and a slight blue hue had appeared on the skin. if it was not broken, it was at least severely sprained. she could barely maintain a straight posture, which caused cramps on her hip, let alone move her foot. she sighed, irritated, and rested her back against the toilet tank, relaxing her entire body and basking in the short serenity she was offered.

a short-lived moment.

shouts, insults and banging erupted from the men's restroom which lasted for a good ten to fifteen minutes. she jumped, climbing onto the toilet seats, in case anyone peeked under the stall if, eventually, the fight carried on to the women's restroom. she disregarded the pain in her ankle as her survival instinct took over, and pressed her hands on the cheap walls to balance herself on one foot. worried she would be preyed on if she made a single noise, she stayed hidden until a triangle mask guard knocked on the door.

it was not until she regrouped with the men that she realised the extent of this madness. she was met with a barbaric sight. guards had their guns aimed at the players ordering them to keep their hands up and visible. they were drenched in blood, a lethal glint in their eyes as they trembled with fury as some had been disfigured and tumefied in the confrontation. player 124 was the most striking with his erratic breathing, his hair obscuring a part of his face, and his constricted cat-like pupils. his friend was nowhere to be seen, he had probably perished in the fight which explained player 124's belligerence.

money had these people walk on a leash.

after they were escorted back to the dormitory, [your name] directly headed to her bunk where she had been staying with dae-ho and jun-hee. she ignored the absurd allegations player 124 threw as they walked through the doors, keeping her head down. she did not want to draw any undesired attention.

dae-ho instantly laid his eyes on her fatigued figure. she was walking close to the bunks, hiding herself from prying eyes. she trudged, relying on the metallic bars for support. he hastily pushed players out of the way, stepped over the rigid mattresses spread on the floor and clumsily hopped over the ones still on the beds. he rushed to her side as she stopped in her tracks, finding it increasingly difficult to even graze the floor with her wounded foot. the man snuck his arm around her waist as she instinctively placed hers around his broad shoulders.

"my saviour..." she joked breathlessly, holding onto dae-ho's muscles. he furrowed his brows, concern spread all over his facial features.

"tell me they didn't hurt you?" he asked, his eyes begging for clarification.

"don't worry, i stayed hidden in the women's restroom." she explained. "thank god you weren't there, though..." she finished, looking up at dae-ho, who agreed.

he could not even imagine what she had witnessed back there. everyone was astounded when both groups came back from their trip to the restroom. during the games, the players were not explicitly pitted against one another. "red light, green light" was an individual game, the six-legged pentathlon formed alliances as cooperation was the core of this challenge, and "mingle" made these same groups depend on other teams for survival. now, players directly attempted to harm one another bare-handed or with makeshift weapons.

"let's not think about it. you need to rest. you've barely touched your food." he said as they reached one of the beds in the far right corner.

[your name] carelessly flopped on the rigid mattress, letting out a groan. she put her weight on her arms to get into a comfortable position. dae-ho had walked where he had negligently abandoned his food. a few pieces of stale and cold kimbap sat in the crumpled aluminium foil as some grains of dry rice had scattered on the stairs. her rolls were untouched, still warm thanks to the preservation of the foil since the cheap wrapping was sealed. dae-ho grabbed her meal and his scraps, dodging the players who were heading to the stairs and sitting down after player 47 hurried the red team to gather.

"here, eat your food. you need some nutrients to stay healthy." the man urged his friend. he unwrapped her kimbap rolls, grabbed the fork provided with the meal and held it in front of her mouth, encouraging her to eat. she obliged, sitting up against the cold metal and devouring the piece of tasteless food.

"there are some leftovers, too." he informed, stabbing another piece of kimbap. [your name] shook her head once she glanced at the half-eaten food on the bed.

"we don't get enough food, dae-ho. you should eat it all." she argued, pushing the leftovers towards him.

"tsk! you need it more than me! i ate enough anyways." he insisted frustrated, catching the attention of a couple of bystanders. the fork still loomed over her lips which she simply pushed to the side.

"just at least eat half of what you have left. ii makes me feel guilty, like i'm stealing from you..." she admitted as she ended up eating the rolls by hand.

"don't be silly. i'm offering. you need to be cared after, especially now. i'm just doing my job as a marine when a comrade is down." he explained, warmly smiling at her. after some convincing from the young woman, he eventually shoved a roll down his mouth, obnoxiously chewing.

"happy?" he said his mouth full as [your name] playfully gagged at the sight.

the red team was anxiously huddled up on the stairs, some of them uncontrollably fidgeting. the silence was unbearable as player 047 counted the people still alive. the older man had started over three times by now to guarantee an accurate answer. one of the teams would be unmistakably disadvantaged during the second vote considering the fight had killed five participants, an odd number. dae-ho and [your name] were sitting on the nearest bed, shoulder to shoulder. the man stared into space, unable to stop his shaky leg. he kept flexing and relaxing his fists continuously, deeply inhaling and exhaling to tame his racing thoughts. the young woman noticed his strange nervous demeanour, her eyes softening at the sight. she gently placed her hand over dae-ho's knee, startling the man. their eyes met, [your name] offered a friendly smile as she squeezed his leg in an attempt to ease his mind from his apprehensions. his shoulders instantly loosened as his chest warmed up from her sweet gesture. she was such a good friend.

player 47 finally stated the total.

forty-eight.

two contestants had died on their side.

they would win the vote by one (if nobody changed their mind by tomorrow, which was less likely to happen).

the bell rang throughout the sleeping quarters, announcing thirty minutes before lights out. player 047 insisted on tomorrow's vote's importance, one last chance to escape this place. the group vehemently agreed with him and attempted to conceal their happiness to avoid roughening up the opposite team. the blue team stood ferociously in their military-like rows, appearing more threatening than usual, surely because they were predominantly men, not the most trustworthy kind. their faces had completely dropped, and their snarky remarks were cut short. the opposite group slowly dispersed and disappeared into their bunks, throwing daggers on the red team's way.

ten minutes had passed, and a small group congregated around [your name]'s bed, who could not walk long distances, sharing their apprehensions. jung-bae was still optimistic, affirming they would win the next vote no matter what. gi-hun instantly pooped his bubbly and lugubriously described what would ensue in the next hour. the blue team would massacre them one at a time to increase the prize and guarantee the prolongation of the games. young-il suggested attacking them first. he highlighted their foolishness, firmly assuming the red team would sit and wait, clueless of their intentions.

a couple of players agreed with him, however, the point was not to kill before being killed but to put an end to the games, to get revenge for all those the masked people murdered due to their classism and for their amusement. the red team was indisputably physically disadvantaged, indeed elders and young women were considered a liability. young-il had proven himself to be an amazing fighter, humiliating thanos and his minion. jung-bae was a former marine, but his prime was in the past. as for dae-ho, he was young and also a retired marine, he had a rather strong build (not that [your name] had noticed his broad shoulders or his muscular chest when he was distracted). however, these three would still be outnumbered by the bloodthirsty and money-hungry players.

gi-hun knew it.

[your name] knew it.

everyone knew it.

they could not lie to themselves.

gi-hun did sound like some crazy conspiracy theorist, vaguely talking about an organisation whose desire was to see the participants butcher each other. after all, this made sense. they were here playing deadly children's games for money. for all they knew, the events could be broadcast all over korean billionaires' televisions. even worse, this could be a worldwide concept with the lower class population preyed on and manipulated into believing they had a choice, that it was simply the consequences of their actions.

"you're telling us the pink dudes are not the only people there? there are more fucked motherfuckers? like higher-ups? [your name] angrily asked, supporting herself on her elbows, after dae-ho asked where the people watching the games were. everyone looked up as gi-hun brought their attention to the ceiling, implying the people in charge were on the upper floors.

"fucking cowards..." she whispered under her breath.

gi-hun carried on with his detailed plan to overthrow their system, but the more she listened, the more sceptical she became. it was one thing to advocate for everyone's freedom and dismantle an illegal organisation, it was another to jeopardize the lives of innocents by keeping them unaware. quite frankly, they had little to no chance of defeating the oppressor either way. however, more people seemed on board than not, and regardless, gi-hun would not change his position. he was determined, but was he prepared?

the group dissipated, leaving dae-ho and [your name] by themselves. ten minutes remained on the clock. jun-hee stayed with player 149 who fussed over her baby's health as her son sat embarrassed by his mother's over-the-top behaviour. hyun-ju, young-mi and gyeong-seok sat on the staircase between bunks. young-mi was beyond consolable after gi-hun's statements, tears streaming down her cheeks as hyun-ju tightly hugged her. gyeong-seok stroked her back, the young girl reminding him of his toddler left at home. she was absolutely terrified. she had begged the blue team to be reasonable and spare everyone's life, in vain. gi-hun and the other men were discussing in the corner, surely coming up with a more effective strategy than hiding and stealing the guards' guns. they did not have much room to improve the plan since they had to act quick.

"so... this is like... the end, i guess." [your name] broke the silence, dae-ho whipping his head in her direction.

"what do you mean?" he asked, frowning.

"we're getting out of here." she elaborated as the man slowly nodded, not contributing much to the conversation. tension was palpable in the already oppressing atmosphere, this place knew what would happen tonight.

"are you scared?" she asked, her voice hardly above a whisper as she anxiously fidgeted with her fingers. dae-ho parted his lips as stammering murmurs came out. the man was contemplating lying, containing himself by putting on a brave facade, perhaps he also did not want her to perceive him as a wuss. however, he opted for honesty. she had been kind and caring towards him these past few days. she would not judge him for showing emotions.

"yes," he answered, gulping. "'i'm terrified..." he admitted, humourlessly chuckling.

she hummed in agreement, she was just as frightened. she was not only afraid for her own safety but her friends' too, particularly for dae-ho and jun-hee to whom she quickly grew attached. harbouring such strong feelings for people in such a short time would usually be judged pathetic, nay creepy. in this place, societal norms were pointless, and bonding over a shared life-threatening experience had a way of bringing people close. life was short and regrets were futile, befriending the pregnant woman who was ghosted by her shitty ex-boyfriend had been a great decision and falling in love with the gonggi expert was effortless. she would no longer listen to people's opinions and let them walk all over her. it was a bit heartbreaking that she realised it a little late though.

"now that i think about it, we never really got to know each other." she pointed out.

"what do you mean? i told you so much about my life. what more do you need to know?" he laughed, tucking his hair behind his ears.

"that's true, but i don't know anything basic about you. i know a lot about your sisters, some things from your childhood, but nothing else." she explained. "if we're gonna die, i wanna know everything about you." she mumbled, avoiding eye contact. however, dae-ho caught her words as a grin crept on his lips.

"i mean we have seven minutes left. should i start?"

from favourite food to favourite films, indirectly sharing cultures, the two got to know each other on a deeper level with superficial questions. nearing the end of the countdown, both were lying down, facing one another, making direct eye contact during brief silence. dae-ho's eyes were gentle, glimmering at the view. she glowed like the sun, the brightest star of all.

"okay, let's dive deeper." she hummed.

"oh, i'm scared." he joked as he feigned shivers all over his body. the woman giggled, playfully pushing his shoulder.

"why did you let your hair grow this length?" she wondered, twirling one deep black strand of dae-ho's hair around her finger. despite the lack of showers and hygiene products in this place, his hair remained soft. in fact, most people's hair had become greasy because of how much they sweat and the humidity. dae-ho's hand instinctively laid on top of [your name]'s to feel her closer. she cupped his face, her thumb softly rubbing his cheek.

"to have control over myself, i guess." he answered, unsure.

once again, the opportunity to lie grazed his mind. dae-ho was usually reticent to open up despite being such a joyful and light soul. he could be seen from miles away. people assumed he was an open book, not one nonchalant bone in his body. he just preferred to keep to himself despite his loudness. but he felt like he could tell anything to [your name].

"in the marine, they cut my hair really short and i had to keep it that way until i was discharged. growing it felt like a weight lifted off my shoulders. like moving on from this part of my life, you know." he admitted, unintentionally biting his lip. her eyes held compassion and pride. despite their current predicament, she could tell dae-ho had bounced back and gotten back on his feet.

all by himself.

she whipped her head up to glimpse towards the countdown. three minutes lights out.

"one last question for me. why did you come here?" she asked. until now, their financial distress had not been brought up.

[your name] had supposed the man had been scammed or had a gambling addiction, but dae-ho did not seem the type to gamble or spend money on ephemeral pleasures. perhaps he was in a similar situation as her with student loans. it was less likely the reason, she had learned in their conversation that he did not attend college, his father enrolling him in the marines right after he graduated high school.

"well... i never told anyone..." he began, his eyes avoiding her gaze in shame.

"you don't have to tell me anything." the young woman assured. "it's up to you." she gave a sympathetic smile.

"i know... i still want to tell you though." he admitted which gladdened her heart.

"so basically..." he started, sighing. "after i was discharged, i had to be institutionalised. it was court-mandated. i stayed there for over a year, i think? not sure. and they diagnosed me with pstd."

[your name] intently listened to his story without interrupting. she could not imagine how hard his life had been. dae-ho always had the impression he needed to prove himself to his surroundings, always bringing up his time as a marine in conversations, like it legitimised him. most of the time, players would roll their eyes or mock him. however, these people only wished they could be half the man he was. brave, benevolent and gentle.

"all my savings went to paying my medical bills. i had to take out a loan to pay the rest and it got me here. i couldn't pay rent anymore and there was no way i would reach out to my family. they don't know where i am to this day..." he shamefully mumbled the last sentence. "i got a loan and around five months ago shark loans went after me. they've been more persistent this month, saying if i couldn't pay we could find another arrangement like giving some bone marrow and a kidney." both of them grimaced at the gruesome proposal. "i was already living paycheck to paycheck, i can't even hold down a job..." he finished clenching his jaw.

she was left speechless.

"i'm so sorry—" she uttered as dae-ho interrupted her with a frustrated groan.

"aish, don't be. you didn't do anything." he retorted, scowling. "if anything you make this place bearable." he confessed, rubbing circles on the back of her hand. their faces were only a couple centimetres away, hot breath tickling their skin. [your name]'s lips parted as she struggled to come up with a reply. dae-ho caught on to her effort, seeing the gears turn in her brain. he let out a breathless chuckle and continued.

"i think i have time for one more question." he said as he peeked over his shoulder, the countdown indicated one minute. he had to be fast.

"i don't wanna have any regrets, since— you know... we could die any moment." he mumbled, biting his lower lip nervously. "when we get out of here, do you wanna go on a date with me?" he finally asked, directly staring into her widened eyes.

in truth, dae-ho had already developed a sort of infatuation for [your name] the night they kept watch in case of players attacking them. she had been a bit dubious about gi-hun's claims, why would anyone go on a killing rampage wen they were already stcuk in deadly games? the group was building barricades out of mattresses. some had been placed on the floor under the metal bed frames, much to jung-bae's dismay, and some propped up like shields. she was not the only one sceptical, young-il mirroring her doubts. gi-hun, restless, insisted on the nature of these games, and how the masked people got into people's heads, turning them into cold-blooded murderers. he had witnessed it with his own two eyes. young-il backed away as fast as he voiced his query.

that night, gi-hun and jung-bae's banter had woken up the young woman who rolled out of bed groaning. she harshly rubbed her eyes, softly slapping her cheeks to pump some adrenaline as she violently shook her head. she had begrudgingly opened her eyes, blinking and squinting to dissipate the wet blurry layer over her pupils. [your name] turned around to see if jun-hee was awake, but was met with an empty spot, only a messily spread thin blanket as the sole attestation of a prior presence. dae-ho was still sound asleep on the other side of the bunks, his lips slightly parted with soft snores barely noticeable.

"you're so noisy, you sound like pre-teen girls." she compared as she approached them on all fours. both had turned around and eyeballed her, offended by her comment.

"just go back to sleep, we are holding up here." jung-bae waved her off with a grin. gi-hun had merely nodded in agreement, skimming over the area.

"you're probably my only chance of getting out of here with just a scratch. i'd rather you not snooze off mid-game." she replied, sitting criss-cross behind them.

"a marine is always on the lookout, don't worry." jung-bae said roughly slapping her on the shoulder, which she grabbed and squeezed to ease the discomfort. gi-hun side-eyed his best friend and turned towards the young woman with a tight-lipped smile.

"just go to sleep, you need it." he had assured her, his face immediately dropping as his stare returned to the room.

"for all i know you're not immune to fatigue either. i won't be able to go back to sleep anyways, so at least let me be helpful." she retorted. jung-bae was about to argue but was interrupted by gi-hun who agreed after briefly staring at her.

she was left alone with her thoughts, her eyes kept flickering back and forth between the quiet room and the cash prize. she did not think of herself as a materialistic person. she did have a phone, but an old busted one, she enjoyed dressing well, but could not even afford fast fashion. when she could, she enjoyed treating herself to a good meal or a trip to the mall to window shop. even before her crippling debts, she would barely spend money on herself, too busy worrying over saving money or too guilty to spend it on herself.

look where it got her.

raking over two hundred billion wons.

risking her life playing children's games to pay her debt.

she felt pathetic.

she closed her eyes, relaxing her shoulders, relishing in the quietness and the light glow emanating from the golden piggy bank. she imagined herself in the streets of seoul, in a coffee shop scrolling through her phone with a pastry and her drink of choice. something plain but she had taken for granted when her life had not gone downhill yet. now, affording public transportation was a luxury, taking short and cold showers before heading to her job, always refraining from going to the grocery store at the end of the month after a quick peek at her bank account, surviving on oversalted instant soups and cheap eggs. with the prize money, [your name] would stop by any convenience store as the fancy took her. she would fill up her cart to the brim with fresh fruits and vegetables, no more of those frozen meals with ice left even after heating up the product thrice. she would high-quality hygiene products instead of these thin pads and unbranded soaps. she would not steal anymore, often hiding items in her pockets, hoping no one witnessed her act of thievery before heading for the cash register.

she was in dire need of stability.

the frugal life was necessary but tiresome.

she wanted more.

she wanted to live the dream.

she was torn away from her moment of peace when a large hand fell on her shoulder, her body tensing up.

"i'm so sorry, i didn't mean to scare you." dae-ho apologised, chuckling when [your name] whipped around to face him.

"you? scaring me? you wish." she huffed as she turned back to the room. her blasé countenance made him overthink their fleeting interaction, clearing his throat to get her attention back.

"it's my turn to keep watch. you can go back to sleep." he explained, crossing his legs with his back hunched and his forearms resting on his thighs.

"actually, i'd like to stay here. i can't sleep anyways." she nonchalantly responded, not even bothering to look at him. dae-ho ruminated on her answer. she was being so dismissive, unlike her behaviour with jun-hee, fooling around and talkative. was he making her uncomfortable?

"then... i hope you don't mind if i stay with you." he confidently answered.

"i mean... i wanted to be alone." she slowly replied, pursing her lips. "but, i wouldn't mind the company." she admitted, an imperceptible grin hanging on the corner of her lips.

"that's settled then. let's be alone together." he beamed, straightening his posture. his enthusiasm was contagious which earned him a smile.

the buzzing from the light, their soft breathing and the agitated movements of the sleeping players were all that could be heard. plain silence. neither comfortable nor unbearable. no tension. no awkwardness. absolute silence. both in their own world.

dae-ho drummed his fingers on his knees, goggling at the piggy bank. no one could pry their eyes off the voluminous container and he was not an exception. dae-ho had never seen such a huge amount of money in his entire life, except when he would watch these american films about money heists his father owned. dae-ho was not used to wealth, being the youngest of five siblings. his family was not poor, far from it, they were upper-middle-class. his father earned enough for his mother to be a stay-at-home, and he attended an all-boy private school with tutoring lessons once a week. they were well-off, but his family was respectful and, therefore, never flaunted their wealth around. however, dae-ho always received his sister's hand-me-down clothes, he did not have any toys as his father believed they were too distracting, and throwing a birthday party after the age of twelve was out of the question. if it had not been for his sisters, he was pretty sure his childhood would have been entirely morose.

"what are you gonna do with your share of the money?" he absentmindedly asked out of the blue. she raised her eyebrows in surprise and pondered.

"uhm... i haven't really thought about it to be honest. obviously, paying my debts. but then, i have no idea." she said, shrugging. "i'm probably just gonna live life the same, minus the struggle for rent and food." she humourlessly laughed.

"what about you?" she returned the question, finally looking at him. dae-ho was still staring at the money looming over them. she had planted her elbows on her knees and her cheeks were pressed against the palms of her hands.

"oh, me?" he said, unexpecting the interest she took in him. "well, paying my debts too, but i always wanted to move to the countryside. buy a house somewhere quiet. maybe start growing my vegetables." he explained, lost in thought.

"i would like to start a family too." he confessed, he lowered his head with a dreamy smile plastered on his face.

"didn't know you were that much of a family guy." she replied. "i mean, it makes sense, you're close to your sisters." she hummed, nodding.

"i love kids. i've always idealised the perfect family." he revealed, sighing.

dae-ho had always craved his father's attention. just the bare minimum of tenderness from the stoic man he idolised. he would participate in extra-curricular activities he did not particularly enjoy such as wrestling just to be noticed in a positive light. he eventually gave up on the idea of a close bond with the patriarch, indeed focusing on healing the toxic mindset pushed on him over the years under his family's roof.

dae-ho wanted to be a better man than his father.

a better parental figure.

he wanted to give what he had always craved to his future son.

"i am sure you'll be an amazing dad, dae-ho."

his heart sunk to the pit of his stomach, his palms were damp and his breath was stuck in his throat. she patted his back in a friendly manner, with a tight-lipped smile thrown his way.

validation.

all he longed for given to him by a girl he had met the very same day.

was it that easy? was his father just that callous?

he profusely blinked to prevent the sea of tears from streaming down his face. dae-ho harshly rubbed his eyes, clenching his jaw to choke down the coming sobs. he would not allow himself to be vulnerable, especially in front of a stranger, let alone a woman. he had to be tougher.

but how could he when such a random act of kindness touched his inner child?

"no, i'm fine. i— umh— thanks..." he stammered, clearing his throat she checked on him. "it just means a lot to me." he finished, locking eyes with her. a hint of the young boy he once was showed her his deep gratitude.

back on the shared mattress, [your name] was left speechless. she was stumbling on her words because of the bomb dae-ho had dropped. dae-ho frowned as her answer never came.

he screwed up and had misinterpreted her behaviour around him for something more than friendship. to her, it was just casual. why did he have to be so selfish? he should have kept this information to himself. no matter the circumstances, no one developed feelings for someone in such a short period. confessing before the fight was reckless, his thoughts would be stuck on the woman who was about to reject him. how stupid of him.

"just forget what i— humph!" he tried to excuse himself but was interrupted by [your name] crashing her lips on his in a passionate kiss.

the kiss was clumsy and rough as teeth accidentally clashed, an unpleasant sensation. it was out of character for both of them, but a way to let out some pent-up frustration. one simple kiss that turned into a makeout session, blatantly ignoring their surroundings and curious eyes. her hands clutched to the collar of his dirty shirt as his hands grabbed her hips, pulling her as close as humanly possible. they wanted to freeze in time, stuck in this warmth for eternity. regardless, the eerie voice brought them back to the harsh reality, announcing lights out. their friends were already in bed, hugging the thin blanket to their necks, anxiously waiting to go through with the plan.

the couple pulled away and gazed into each other's eyes.

they felt like they belonged.

a puzzle and its last missing piece reunited at last.

beautiful and complete.

"we'll have to plan that date later, i guess." she whispered as he hummed. every player around had already regained their bunk, people still glaring from across the room at the rival team.

"i have to go..." he mumbled and reluctantly stood up. a hand grabbed his wrist preventing him from getting away, forcing him to sit back on the mattress.

"stay safe." [your name] whispered, concern washing over her face.

"i will." he swore.

dae-ho captured her lips in a brief but severe kiss. it was a simple peck filled with explosive emotions. it was a promise. it was the hope for a bright future. it was determination.

"you too." dae-ho whispered back. "don't ever leave your hiding spot, even when the fight ends." dae-ho instructed. he was hesitant to leave her side but eventually walked over to his bed. he looked over his shoulder one last time, worriedly chewing his cheeks as he forced out a smile to reassure the woman who reciprocated the effort.

the room darkened, merely illuminated by the artificial hue of the two letters on the floor.

they would be in for one hell of a night.

cries, wails and shrieks echoed through the slaughterhouse. the hunt had begun and the predators were bloodthirsty, attacking without hesitation, unbothered by the stench of the poor lambs' blood. the place was wrecked as bunkbeds were knocked down on the floor, pillows stabbed and metal poles used as weapons. corpse pilled up, both from the murderers and their victims. the perks of being killed by a guard were the prompt death and the efficient technique employed. a bullet to the head or the heart and your final breath was barely taken.

it was a massacre.

[your name] was hidden under her bed alone. she had her hands tightly clasped over her mouth, holding her breath to not be detected by the menace. no one could hear her gasps due to the din, but she could not lower her guard under any circumstances. her eyes were firmly shut to protect herself from this horrifying spectacle, feeling the intense pounding of her heartbeat resonating in her chest. already forced to listen to the cries of agony, she did not need to witness it too

shouts came from above as the bed loudly squeaked. two players were fighting. she felt her body tremble with each blow hurled at the man pinned down by his assailant. the blue player pushed his victim to the ground, the man had a long gash across his face and was unable to stand up. [your name] and the player locked eyes for a brief second before the latter was harshly grabbed by the hair and violently rammed into the metal of the bunk bed. she could not handle the sight and hid her face again. as the helpless cries of the victim ceased, she peeked through her fingers only to be faced by a hollow stare and teeth jammed into his gum.

she began to hyperventilate.

she was frightened, convinced she would be next.

the young woman was completely isolated from her group. apparently, their strategy would be more successful if people trained in combat were paired together. therefore, dae-ho was with jung-bae, gyeong-seok with hyun-ju, and gi-hun with young-il. the more vulnerable players stayed together, jun-hee was with young-mi, and, as expected, yong-sik clung to his mother (even if he had any fighting experience, geum-ja would have forbidden him from involving himself in this grand rebellion).

dae-ho had pleaded with gi-hun to stay by [your name]'s side in case a mishap happened. however, the older man reasoned with him, swearing the young woman would be safe as her bed was secluded from the others, insisting that, if they wanted to achieve the revolt, following the plan to the tee was crucial. dae-ho eventually dropped it and reluctantly agreed.

he would soon realise it was a great mistake.

[your name] felt a strong grip on her bad ankle and was dragged from her hiding spot. she tried to hold onto the floor with her sweaty palms, digging her nails in, to no avail. she screeched at the top of her lungs from terror as the pain in her ankle intensified. a last resort to save her life, the young woman threw her arms around the metal pole supporting the bunk bed. her assailant flopped on her back and yanked her arms away from the pole. she yelled for the person to get off her as she was flipped on her back, her body forcefully slammed on the ground.

player 124.

a bloodied fork in his hand and a hysterical glint in his eyes.

his face was dripping with blood.

not his.

nam-gyu straddled her, limiting her movements. he raised the fork above his head and aimed for her stomach. she dodged his blow by rolling on her flank, crossing her arms around her body to protect her organs. the fork smashed to the ground, slightly bending due to the force used. the player raised his weapon again, but adrenaline rushed through her veins. she sat up and struck his torso with both forearms, injuring his airway and resulting in a fit of coughs. as he stumbled back, she took it as a chance to crawl away from the fight. her back was met with another bunk bed, she rapidly flipped on her knees and grabbed the metal bars to pull herself up. she slowly climbed the row of beds to escape nam-gyu, pushing on her wounded ankle despite the ache.

nam-gyu quickly got on his feet and lunged at the woman, seizing her by the back of her jacket, and tossing her on the floor once again. the ferocious man straddled her with more force than before, this time aiming for the jugular. [your name] blocked the first blow by shielding her face with her arms. the second blow stabbed through the palm of her right hand, the tines poking through, just mere millimetres away from her nose.

the fork was ripped away from her hand, causing severe bleeding, as player 124 was struck in the head from behind. she grimaced, the pain was intolerable, moreover, she was further weakened. the young woman clenched her hand into a fist to restrict the gushing flow. she was panting with the exertion, limping to the dark corner of the arena, hoping to blend in with the shadows. she had considered going through with climbing the bunk bed until she saw payers knocking them down like dominoes, crushing players. she quickly gave up on the idea and fled the scene.

her eyes were set on her target. despite the excessive flashing lights, they would not flutter. she limped to the corner, invisible to the metal players, her clenched fist close to her chest which stained her already filthy white top a dark red shade. [your name] almost reached shelter when a muscular arm snuck around her throat, tightly squeezing which obstructed her airways. her hands instinctively grasped the limb, attempting to pull it away from her neck. her head was about to explode like a balloon as her eyes bulged out of her skull. suddenly, a sharp ache shot through her right thigh. she dug her nails into her assailant's arm, but his grip only tightened. she forced her chin under his forearm and brutally bit his exposed skin. a deafening cry pierced through her ears, tasting blood on her tongue.

the lights turned back on as guards barged into the arena, one of them shooting his weapon into the ceiling to startle the players. her attacker let go of her, pressing his hand onto his fresh wound as she collapsed on the floor. her leg muscles convulsed, unable to move. the weapon had drilled a deep hole into her leg, perforating her femoral artery.

she was about to bleed to death.

two guards approached them and ordered them to surrender. her attacker complied as the guard backed him up against the wall, the second guard threatened the harmless woman with his gun.

"don't shoot... i'm alive..." she begged, her voice sore as tears streamed down her cheeks. the guard simply shoved the barrel of his gun to her face. he would not hesitate to shoot a bullet between her eyes if he deemed her a danger.

nobody knew of the trouble she was in, her group believed she was hidden under the bed, out of danger. therefore, the revolt began. as he was lying on his back, having witnessed the player's penchant for murder, dae-ho had his mind stuck on [your name]'s well-being. he knew she was secure, sheltered from any risk, but she had to be scared.

the rebellion broke out. a bullet through the brain and the guard intimidating her dropped to the ground. bullets flew around as panic coursed through the guards' veins. indeed, they had their fair share of traumatising experiences working this job, in addition to their upbringing which clarified their career choice, however, players rising up in revolt was out of the ordinary. the first guard turned on his heels, taking cover behind a flipped bedframe, and instantly fired shots in her teammates' direction. [your name] was really close to the retaliation, terrified of getting shot by a lost bullet.

amidst the chaos, she wondered if anyone cared about where she was. did jun-hee notice her absence? would anyone go look for her?

the rebels fiercely resisted, fearless of the endless possibilities of this fight. dae-ho knocked out one of the guards who had restrained jung-bae. his act of bravery was short-lived, frozen in place, racked with crippling fear, cowering behind the staircase, unable to process the present. dead bodies and detonating noises triggering him.

the uncanny voice ordered the soldiers to retreat in an oddly sweet tone. the soldiers were outnumbered, having lost too many of their colleagues, more would go down if they stayed. the entrance doors slowly closed, and soldiers rushed to safety, except for their superior who had been too focused on emptying his firearm on those he considered vermines to save himself.

beginner's mistake.

well...

he was still a kid after all.

they took the chief guard, hyun-ju disabled their surveillance cameras and proceeded to collect the guns and magazines scattered around the room. dae-ho let out three brief breaths to cool his overheating mind down and followed gi-hun's directives.

"everyone! don't be scared. gather around, please! we're not trying to hurt you!" gi-hun yelled as jung-bae backed him up.

the room fell somehow quiet, [your name] took it as a chance to make her presence known.

"help... help! p-please— somebody, help!" she gathered her remaining strength to implore.

hyun-ju whipped her head towards the commotion and bolted to its source. she gasped at the sight and threw her rifle on the ground, dropping to her knees on the woman's side. she was a leader at heart, being a former sergeant first class in one of the special forces brigades of the republic of korea and all, it was second nature to her. a little bit of blood was nothing as she had witnessed worse in her time in the military. however, her friend's frail condition broke her heart, but hyun-ju did not let it transpire.

she assessed the problem as [your name] uncontrollably wept, furthering the pain as her leg jerked with the added tenseness. she judged her attitude to be puerile and childish, she was just relieved someone had bothered to come and rescue her.

"you're going to be okay, [your name]. everything will be fine." hyun-ju comforted, fondly stroking her hair.

hyun-ju jumped on her feet and ran to the beds used as barricades.

"someone help me! we have a player down!" she yelled, beckoning to her allies.

"coming!" dae-ho shouted back. after the lack of assistance he provided during the rebellion, he wanted to be as helpful as possible. oblivious to the sight he would be confronted by.

his pupils shrunk.

his breath stuck in his throat.

his mouth was agape.

his hands shook.

"we are gonna flip her on her back." hyun-ju instructed, crouching on the young woman's side.

thousand words to be spoken, none suitable to the crisis. he was dumbstruck with panic, loathing injuries and blood, he was confronted with such a stomach-churning sight. he should have relied on his gut feeling and blatantly disobeyed gi-hun's orders. rage bubbled in the pit of his stomach, aimed at no one but himself.

naivete had struck as trustworthiness was granted.

an innocent victim paid the price.

"right now, dae-ho!" she ordered once she noticed his unresponsive state. the severity of her tone startled him and regained his composure. dae-ho rushed into action, throwing his weapon and kneeling on the opposite side of [your name]'s body.

"it's going to hurt." hyun-ju informed the girl who kept crying. she counted down to three as dae-ho carefully placed his hands underneath the body. they flipped the woman on her back, landing in the man's embrace, as she shrieked from the ache.

"[your name]... it's dae-ho, i'm here." he weakly stated, his lips quivering. overwhelming nausea flowing through his stomach as he held onto his own tears.

"you're gonna be fine, hyun-ju knows what she is doing." he reassured, unsure. she finally opened her eyes, diving into dae-ho's gentle stare. he forced out a tender tight-lipped smile, a semblance of optimism. a sense of familiarity.

"raise her leg a little, i need to stop the bleeding." hyun-ju instructed. she removed her jacket and ripped the sleeve up to use it as a bandage. he lifted her leg like a fine priceless china, but she broke into pieces.

"dae-ho, you're shaking." hyun-ju warned, peeking at him through her eyelashes. he jerked his gaze to the woman, patiently waiting for him. dae-ho swallowed hard and corrected his posture, mumbling an unnecessary apology.

[your name] undeniably required professional medical aid, but for now, hyun-ju had handled the excessive bleeding. after her significant blood loss, it was a miracle she was still conscious, swimming in the crimson river that had steadily poured for a couple minutes.

"we have to move her." hyun-ju informed in a monotone, after tying the dirty piece of cloth around the deep gash. "carry her to the bed where the others hid." she ordered. dae-ho rushed into action and scooped her up, his arm under her knees and back.

"tell me if i'm hurting you." he stated. her head was leaning against his broad shoulder, her tears damped his shoulderblade, and her low irregular breathing tickling his neck alarmed him.

gi-hun beckoned to hyun-ju when she entered his line of sight, standing in stunned silence as dae-ho followed behind carrying [your name]. victim of his recklessness in overthrowing the masked people.

you could have heard a pin drop if it was not for the injured woman's whimpers. jun-hee, who had moved from her hiding spot, shouted her friend's name and scurried towards them, holding her pregnant belly.

"what happened?!" jun-hee frantically asked, grasping her friend's unwounded hand.

"i w-was attacked." she feebly uttered. dae-ho laid her on the rigid mattress, placing her head on the cleanest pillow.

"who attacked you?" dae-ho continued, anger boiling within.

"player 124." she stated, dae-ho clenched his jaw at the revelation. despite never interacting with the man, he was familiar with his despicable behaviour. "he pulled me from under the bed. and then some other guy did that to my leg." she explained.

dae-ho skimmed over the crowd, his eyes locking on nam-gyu. a coward hiding behind the beds after the killing rampage he went on. the ex-marine aggressively got up, marching towards player 124, driven by outrage, but was inevitably stopped by jun-hee.

"it doesn't matter, dae-ho." [your name] coughed out.

"it matters to me, [your name]." he insisted as he kneeled before her.

"i'm alive, and you're here. that's all i care about." she breathed out, reaching for his hand. he swallowed and tenderly reciprocated the gesture, bringing the back of her hand to his mouth for a kiss.

dae-ho gazed into her eyes, afraid she would vanish into thin air if he tore them away from her. he was memorising every single one of her features. from the moles scattered across her face to the pores. from the eyebags to the shape of her mouth that he longed to kiss one more time despite its dry skin.

she was the embodiment of perfection.

"dae-ho, come here!" jung-bae beckoned. the rebels formed into a line once they collected all the weapons and magazines spread around the room, displaying them on a wood plank. these had already been used, and hardly enough to fend off the troops they rebelled against, how were they supposed to reach the headquarters against an entire army with these?

dae-ho began to get up when [your name]'s grip tightened, stopping him in his tracks.

"don't go, please." she pleaded, tears welling up. the frazzled woman was desperate.

"i have to." he curtly answered.

it was his duty.

"no you don't!" she retorted. "this is a suicide mission. gi-hun is out of his mind if he thinks any of this will work." she harshly said, a tone of urgency slipping through. a small group against trained snipers, their chances of success were slim.

"i have to protect you." he claimed. "we'll get out of her and you'll get the medical help you need in a hospital." he assured, letting go of her hand.

"i promise you, i'll come back." he swore before joining the rebels, ignoring her pleas. an easy lie to give, short and sweet. nothing was set in stone. their fate as treacherous as their life beyond the island.

dae-ho was lined up with the other men, he was handed a weapon he clumsily held, scrutinising it in puzzlement, clueless and afraid. his jumpiness betrayed his confident facade.

jun-hee was sat next to an emotionally distressed [your name], caressing her hand as she quietly sobbed. the pregnant woman had dissuaded her ex-boyfriend from joining the fight with a simple nod when the latter seemed to consider gi-hun's request. dae-ho had willingly chosen to endanger his life despite [your name]'s desperate pleas. jun-hee believed he should have stayed by her side to soothe her pain. the injured woman persevered but was not spared from affliction. in the hope of escaping this prison, dae-ho had selflessly chosen to risk it all but had selfishly joined the revolt to prove something to himself. most players lacked the courage to even contemplate fighting for anything other than their own gain, yet dae-ho continued to see himself as a coward.

"he is gonna be okay." jun-hee said, unconvinced with her lie.

"don't lie to me, please." [your name] retorted in a faltering tone.

after hyun-ju's brief demonstration on how to operate the rifles, the group headed for battle. dae-ho glanced one last time over his shoulder, jun-hee weakly waved at him and [your name] was indiscernible behind the makeshift barricades. although her feeble state justified her lack of effort to bid her final goodbyes, she did not want her last memory of dae-ho to be sorrowful.

around half an hour had passed, ear-shattering bullets were fired in the colourful labyrinth and ricocheted on the walls startling the players shielded in the sleeping quarters. yong-sik was shivering on the floor, his eyes focused on his shoes. on the staircase, young-mi clung to geum-ja who was doing her best to reassure her. jun-hee was still by her friend's side whose blood loss had drastically increased. the mattress had absorbed most of the liquid that oozed from the gash, and the excess dripped on the floor forming a sticky puddle. her heartbeats had slowed down and her skin felt cooler. her complexion was sickly. her gaze was unfocused, her vision blurry from tears as well as the haemorrhage.

"i need water..." [your name] voiced, her throat burning from her cough.

"i know." jun-hee replied, her lips quivering. "i'm sorry."

the group had roamed around the room, seeking help from other participants, wondering if they had any spare water or a clean piece of cloth to dry her sweaty forehead. some shared remorseful looks and apologies as others, such as player 100, could not care less about the girl's well-being.

"why don't you let her die, already? put her out of her misery!" the old man shouted, pointing his finger at geum-ja who had kindly approached the group of men.

"you greedy scumbag! don't you have some empathy?!" the old woman yelled louder, anger laced in her voice.

"when she dies, it will be more money for us." he spat cruelly.

"you're probably gonna be the first one shot when those guards come back, you asshole!" geum-ja countered at player 100's face before getting pulled away by her son.

in a grim atmosphere, the group sat on the staircases by [your name]'s bed. any remaining hope had vanished, however, geum-ja could not bear to wallow in sorrow. she cheerfully turned around and raised her fists.

"when they get us out of there and you're out of the hospital, you should join us for dinner." the old woman suggested, referring to jun-hee and [your name]. as no one spoke up, she resumed.

"hyun-ju and young-mi are already coming. the more the merrier as they say." she grinned at the weakened woman who blinked, her lips apart.

"you can even invite dae-ho. such a brave young man." she praised clasping her hands.

the young woman faintly smiled. for a brief moment, she entertained the idea.

laughter echoed through the dining room, everyone passed food around, enjoying the delicious dinner geum-ja had cooked. dae-ho was by her side, fingers intertwined as his thumb stroked the back of her hand, chortling at one of yong-sik's jokes. she and young-mi were gushing over jun-hee's newborn (girl or boy [your name] was spoiling that baby rotten). hyun-ju was done with her transition, glowing as her true self. geum-ja told stories about her childhood on the couch and showed yong-sik's baby pictures. the latter whined behind his mother with flushed cheeks as she insisted on the importance of capturing every moment before they grow up to be ungrateful brats. losing track of time, dae-ho and [your name] eventually left the house around midnight to get home to their shared apartment. a rather small apartment, but it was home. their home.

the dream.

but it was only a dream.

"i-i don't w-wanna die." she blurted out, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"don't say nonsense, you're not gonna die." geum-ja berated. "you're a strong girl, and we're getting out soon." she lingered waiting for the group to back her up. once they noticed her expectant glare, they agreed with the old woman, wavering tones and unconvinced sentences. good intentions but an awkward execution. it was the thought that counted.

an unnerving silence arose cut by [your name] whimpers. they were worn out, plagued by the sweet fragrance of death and the melody of misery. the shots fired in the distance as the sole sign of their friends' state until dae-ho barged into the room like a madman murmuring something inaudible like a mantra.

"dae-ho..." [your name] whispered as she heard his trembling voice. what was he doing here?

yong-sik carefully approached the crazed man, observing his behaviour. dae-ho had flung himself at multiple corpses, rummaging through their pockets.

"dae-ho, what happened?" yong-sik tentatively asked. "why are you back by yourself?" he continued after being met with shuddery breaths.

"magazines!" dae-ho blurted, holding up one of the items. "get the magazines from those bastards' pockets. hurry!" he urged and rushed towards another corpse.

the former marine was drowning under the pressure, fully submerged by his mission. bearing the burden of the revolt on his shoulders. his eyes scanned the area, dae-ho was erratic and dizzy, repeating one thing.

magazines in pockets. magazines in pockets. magazines in pockets.

"dae-ho—" [your name] repeated above a whisper as she was taken by a coughing fit.

geum-ja took it upon herself to chase after dae-ho, no longer capable of witnessing the young woman's suffering. she struggled to keep up with his pace, scurrying after him. dae-ho eventually stopped running to count the magazines he had collected, giving her some time to reason with him.

"dae-ho, my boy. you're killing yourself." she scowled, skimming over the young man's a. her apprehension was gone in one ear and out the other as continued to rummage through the magazines. his ears were ringing, filtering out any outside noise.

yong-sik returned with half a dozen magazines, placing them in the pile formed in a green jacket.

"this was all i could find." he informed as dae-ho nodded. his skin grew paler by the second, his sanity gradually declining. geum-ja reached for his arm to prevent him from disappearing into the labyrinth again, to no avail. his mind was dark and foggy, he was unable to see farther than his task.

"kang dae-ho!" jun-hee angrily shouted from the barricade. the man froze like a deer caught in the headlights, her outburst ripping him away from his dissociative state. before she could go on, something in the background caught dae-ho's eyes, he dropped the magazines and ran past a confounded geum-ja and yong-sik.

despite the stinging sensation in her hand, the piercing pain in her leg and her aching muscles, [your name] had gathered her remaining strength to roll off the bed, ignoring young-mi's alarmed voice. she fell on the cold floor with a loud thud. she had landed in a puddle of her own blood, splashing some on her face as well as on young-mi's already dirty shoes. her physical appearance was the least of her worries. young-mi dropped to her side, grabbing her friend's elbow to usher her back to bed. [your name] harshly brushed her off and crawled towards the centre of the room. she collapsed several times under her weight, barely capable of dragging her body. she was met with stunned stares, disgust or disinterest from the same people who caused her harm. blood gushed from her wound, leaving a glistening red trail behind her.

she had pushed herself to exhaustion, unable to crawl any more. the young woman tried to stand up but fell onto the floor.

she was giving up.

dae-ho fell to her side and cradled her to his chest. he cupped her face in his sweaty hand, unnoticed by [your name] who was drenched in cold sweat and drained of energy.

"you came back." she coughed out, looking up at him through her hooded eyelids.

"i'm so sorry, i'm so sorry, sorry, sorry," he profusely apologised, uncontrollably weeping, tightening his grip on her sickly frame. "i should've stayed with you." he cried.

"you're here now, that's all that matters." she muttered, her chest hardly rising.

"dae-ho?" she called out weakly. the man hummed, sniffling.

"where are we g-going for our d-date?" she sweetly asked, as dae-ho erupted in a flow of tears. he let out a trembling breath before describing what he had planned for their first date.

"i was thinking of taking you to this korean barbecue near my apartment— or a picnic... i just want to spend the evening with you." he confessed as she lightly smiled, picturing the cosy evening. just the two of them, sitting close to one another, eating some smoked veggies and meat, relishing in each other's presence.

"i was thinking of bringing you flowers. a really big bouquet, because you deserve the most— and with the money i could have bought the most beautiful one for you." he choked out.

"tulips." she whispered. "i love tulips."

"i would have brought you tulips." his voice wavering as he sniffled.

"then, we will stroll hand in hand around town, just chatting— just hearing the sound of your voice makes me happy." he faintly chuckled as [your name] weakly grinned.

"we will sit on a bench, i will place my arm around your shoulders." he said as the young woman's head leaned against his chest.

"then, if i don't get cold feet... i will kiss you. and i will make the first move this time." he murmured waiting for her reaction.

nothing.

nothing came.

"[your name]?" he asked, slightly shaking her body to wake her up.

she was not dozing off.

"[your name]?!" he let out a gut-wrenching scream as he shook her body.

she was gone.

hyun-ju barged into the room yelling for dae-ho, her deep voice resonating throughout the room, only stopping in her tracks after catching a glimpse of the scene. dae-ho was wailing, his eyes were tightly shut as her empty ones stared into space, his hand firmly pressed to her cheek, his lips on her forehead as he rocked his body back and forth. his lungs scorched, his head reeled, his heart broke, he felt nauseous. she had passed away in his arms, helpless as he held her mutilated body.

so much wasted potential.

the ambition of making a name for herself gone, the determination to prove herself as a foreign student fading, the ashes of the past never reincarnating in a magnificent phoenix, instead flying away with a gust of wind. nevertheless, she was not to pity. she was free. free from the horror of this world. free from unrealistic expectations. free from her misery. her friends were still there, in this hellhole, traumatised and exhausted, drowning in debts. now mourning a loved one.

dae-ho lost someone who would have undoubtedly been the love of his life, the one to offer him the respect and tenderness he deserved, the one he would have desired the spend the rest of his pathetic existence with.

his reason to persevere.

"get down on the floor." the square mask guard ordered, firing his weapon into the ceiling as all participants obliged.

the pink guards barged into the room, their guns aligned to their line of vision. each guard loomed over a player, threatening to kill them at any wrong move. coffins were brought right after the soldiers and they proceeded to gather all the corpses, starting with the players. a guard raised his weapon at dae-ho, who had not taken notice of the chaos ensuing, and if he did, he did not bother to acknowledge it.

"let go of the body." the guard demanded. the grief-stricken man was unresponsive, too distraught by his loss, refusing to leave her side.

the guard turned over his colleagues, giving them inaudible directives. two circle mask guards moved towards the devastated man and ripped her lifeless body from his embrace. dae-ho fought back, alternating between shouting insults at the guards and begging them.

"no, no, no— please don't take her away you fucking assholes! no! please, please— oof!" he implored, clutching onto her lifeless form. the soldier hit him square on the head with the back of his rifle, dae-ho stumbled face-first onto the floor as his nose bled. the soldier pressed the barrel of the gun to his temple.

the two circle mask guards had grabbed [your name] by her ankles and from under her armpits, her body slouched in their negligent grip. they laid the body in the coffin, dae-ho's final glimpse at the woman before she was no more than a past memory.

the man's lips quivered as he broke out into tears. jun-hee pulled him into an embrace, her sobs matching his until they could no longer cry, tired and devastated.

he failed.

he failed to protect her.

he failed to bring the magazines to hyun-ju.

maybe his father was right.

after all...

... he was a failure.

tag list — @takuma-talkz | @kangdaehoisfineshyt | @casually-simping | @sunndroppp

[wednezdvy]

Cho Sang-Woo twt links

he loves your pussy so much

he had a tough day at work :(

you both had a glass of wine with lunch

he couldn’t help himself

getting drunk on his big cock

treating you on your day off

making you squirt on his fingers

he begged to spank your ass and your cute cunt

[heavens-moonlight]

𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦 | 𝟬𝟴 : 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗’𝗩𝗘, 𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗’𝗩𝗘, 𝗪𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗’𝗩𝗘

𝟬𝟳 : 𝗔𝗟𝗠𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗜𝗦 𝗡𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗘𝗡𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛 | 𝟬𝟵 : 𝗔𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗦’ 𝗛𝗘𝗘𝗟

Author’s Note: Another chapter to start the week off with! The next one is my favorite and I can't wait to share it! Happy reading and see you all in the coming update ♡

The world outside was a blur of gray, skies heavy with the weight of an incoming storm, the streets shimmering beneath the water's sheen.

Rain pitter patters against the glass doors of the school entrance, and you watch as the drops roll down, playing a game with yourself to see which one would reach the bottom first.

Your eyes trace the path of a single droplet, racing its way to the base. It moved quickly, like it knew where it was going, journey already determined.

For a fleeting moment, you felt connected to it—a small thing carried by forces it could neither understand nor control.

You let your gaze drift to another droplet beside the previous. This one, however, moved at leisure. It was slower, like it could afford all the time in the world to figure about where it was going, and you wonder if it would join with one of the other drops or keep going, continuing forward at its own pace, all alone.

Pressing your fingertip to the cold surface, you draw along with the trail that the raindrop streaks, following its non-linear descent as it winds its way downward, seemingly struggling against gravity.

The drop splits into two at a particular curve and you ponder at the ease of separation.

Finger hovering, you lean forward, trying to decide which of the two to follow as they slither in opposite directions.

On the left, it is longer, winding and hesitant. The right one was a quick drop, straight and definite. Blinking, you feel a strange pull to the left, toward what is less clear.

Subconsciously, the leftmost one lingers in your mind, and in that inadvertent choice, it winds up reaching the end of the glass paneling first.

The rain only seemed to grow heavier, tapping a staccato rhythm, the sound somehow both soft and insistent, like the murmur of a secret.

With your forehead against the cool glass, you stare at the droplets as they gather and scatter, running into one another before pulling apart, reforming only to separate again.

How easy it is for things to slip away, unnoticed.

How easy it is for one moment to disperse into a hundred different ones with barely any interference or effort.

The spectacle in front of you fogs up with every breath but you cease to move.

You didn't quite know what you were anticipating, but it felt like waiting for something that wasn't going to show up—for something that wasn't going to stay forever.

Maybe the thought laid in the melancholy of the rain or the anemoia of the atmosphere.

Maybe it was because of the rain drops themselves, so fragile, so temporary.

Maybe it was premonition.

A sudden gust of wind rattles the door behind you, and you instinctively turn to the sound,

"Seol-Hwa?"

You recognize the familiar voice as Jun-Hee walks toward you. Although you haven't known him for long at the moment, he was still one of your cousin's closest friends, and you wanted to get to know him better.

"Oh! Jun-Hee! What are you still doing here?"

"I had a student council meeting," he tells you as he stands across from you, tilting his head. "But what about you?"

"Waiting for Hyun-Ho." You roll your eyes, but it's more fond than anything. "He doesn't want me walking home alone but he's always late staying after for extra practice."

Jun-Hee chuckles lightly at the expression on your face.

"What is it?"

"Nothing."

He tries to suppress his smile but fails.

You cross your arms across your chest and stick a foot out, tapping it against the floor, lips pressed together.

"Is my misery funny to you?" you tease.

He puts both hands up and shakes them in a show of refute. "That's not it."

"Then, what is it?"

"Cute."

"Huh...?"

"You're cute when you get angry—or at least try to. It's like watching an upset kitten."

The expressions on your face grow ever more animated by the second but his brown eyes are warm, remaining unchanged, with that half-smile he always seemed to give you when he catches you off guard—the same half-smile that had always made you feel both seen and invisible all at once.

"I-I'm not cute!"

Jun-Hee looks to the side, trying to hold back his laughter as your face heats up, a pink hue dusting the tops of your cheeks.

"Opinions are allowed, you know?" he continues to poke fun at you.

"Alright that's enough of that sir, time for you to go home."

You grab his arm and tug him toward the door as he chuckles, letting you drag him along easily, only stopping as a strong breeze blows a gust of wind between the slight opening between the cracks in the door, sending you shivering.

Jun-Hee pulls out a folded umbrella and takes your hand resting by your side, putting it against your palm to fold your fingers around it. "Knowing Hyun-Ho, he won't have one on him, but he's strong enough to fight off anything, so I'm not worried about him getting sick on the way home." He tilts the umbrella toward you, a subtle offering. "But I am worried about you."

As hard as you try to tamper down the fluttering in your stomach, your heart refuses to still, stuttering unsteadily like the rain dripping down the window—slipping, wavering, falling.

You look up at him in shock. "What about you then?"

He smiles down at you, pointing a finger up the road. "I live only a few blocks from here, I'll be fine."

"But—"

He ruffles your hair as he dashes outside, backpack raised atop his head, a makeshift cover. Jun-Hee turns back around and waves, shouting over the pouring rain, "See you tomorrow, Seol-Hwa!"

Despite the touching gesture, you felt an odd tightening in your chest as water from the sky continues its descent, gradually hazing his image in your sight as if this was more than just a simple parting—as if you had already seen the split that was coming, not knowing in which ways your paths will diverge, akin to the falling raindrops.

"See you tomorrow, Jun-Hee."

Will I ever get to see you again?

You've protected me time and time again, yet why is it that I can't protect you—not even once?

The events of last night come surging back and you nearly crawl in your haste toward the door, barely registering your friends around you.

"Seol-Hwa!" comes Yoon-Seo and Jung-Won's worried voices behind you as you throw the door open but you don't bother to slow your pace, seeing Hyun-Ho stopping the two with an outstretched hand in your peripheral vision.

"Leave her be."

You wipe your streaming tears with the back of your hand as you run aimlessly, no clue as to which direction led to the pool from your starting point, but that didn't matter.

All that mattered was that you can get to Jun-Hee.

The hallways are a blur—whispers of your thoughts swirling like smoke and the hum of the glaringly bright fluorescent lights overhead, but all you can hear is your heartbeat, thudding, rapid, and disjointed, still echoing in your ears.

You couldn't wrap her head around it. There had been screams, a splash, then silence.

The pool.

The water.

Where was he now?

You stumble forward, steps sluggish and eyes unfocused.

He's waiting for me—just as he always has.

As tears blur your vision, you're forced to look down at your feet, one tripping over the other, all sense of balance off kilter.

Paying no mind, you run straight into someone's chest. Only then do you pause, breathing raggedly, swaying on your own two feet. Hands come up to firmly grip at your upper arms as they steady you, holding on, trying to tether you to the present.

The first words that come out of your mouth make no sense, but it's all that your heart knows—the one person who would always be there for you. "Jun-Hee...?"

"He's not here anymore."

Why must you be reminded?

This isn't the reality you wanted to wake up to.

You finally look up, a single teardrop falling from your left eye. "Yes he is," you whisper weakly. Blinking, you try to refocus, but your vision swims, heart pounding harder like you can still feel his presence. "He's waiting for me," you mumble, eyes glazed as you inch backward, mind half-drowned.

Kyung-Jun's lips tightened. He was used to being hated, avoided, and feared, but being ignored is unfamiliar. There was something about the vacant look in your eyes, the way you were moving soullessly, that made him pause.

It gnawed at him.

He wasn't used to people walking past him like he didn't exist.

He wasn't used to you walking past him like he didn't exist, in search of the ghost of someone else.

"Jun-Hee's dead!"

Kyung-Jun's sharp voice does nothing to snap you out of your trance, but it hurts all the same. "No...no..." you start repeating, shaking your head. "No!" Attempting to remove yourself out of his grip is futile, even as you squirm with all your might, fighting against both his hold and words.

"He's gone! Why can't you accept it?"

"I don't want to."

It shouldn't be this easy to read Kyung-Jun, but it is anyway. Although his words are harsh, his eyes are flitting back and forth between your own, the crease between his eyebrows betraying his veiled concern.

"You need to. Once you see it, you'll have to."

"Even if I see it, I still won't. I never will."

"You can't live in that fantasy forever," he reminds, his face so close to yours now, his breath harsh against your skin. "He's not coming back. Not today. Not ever."

"Then, I'll go to him. Today...or forever." Your eyes search his face, unfocused, like you were seeing past him and not through him.

Kyung-Jun's eyes flicker, and for a brief second, something close to regret flashes through. He wants to say more, to make you understand, but the tightness in his chest— the way his pulse races with frustration— keeps him from speaking.

You didn't get it.

You wouldn't get it.

With the last ounce of strength in your trembling hands, you finally manage to push his away, although with your current state, the harsh intent falls short, and Kyung-Jun pretends as though it doesn't, letting you cast him aside.

He releases you, hands falling to his sides in what he tries to convince to himself is disgust.

You don't move at first, eyes still locked somewhere in the middle distance, but the moment you step away, your head spins and you tumble.

Kyung-Jun reflexively shoots an arm out, fingers moving toward your wrist to steady you, but in your desperation, you pull your arm away with a sharp and instinctual yank, the contrasting movements sending your bracelet flying, ultimately landing on the floor.

You stare lifelessly as the red threads unravel, frayed ends splintering off in different directions.

Without saying another word, you kneel down to pick it up, cradling it in your cupped hands, the weight of the hanging jade stone much heavier than it did last night.

"Why are you like this?" Kyung-Jun probes lightly, much softer than the tone with which he spoke earlier. "You're still alive."

You don't notice.

You never noticed how close he was, how his words dripped with something more than anger.

Kyung-Jun's chest tightens as he watches your fingers graze the string, trembling as they curl around the delicate woven strands.

His throat clenches.

His whole body was on fire with something he couldn't comprehend.

The emptiness inside him was suddenly too much. Too raw.

Getting back on your feet, you tuck the bracelet into your skirt pocket and fix him with a stare devoid of any emotions.

Shaking your head, you get the last word in, to a flash of pain and hurt reflecting in Kyung-Jun's eyes. "I died last night...and you were the killer."

And then—without another word—you turn on your heel to walk away, leaving him standing in the hall, torn between wanting to stop trying and wanting to follow.

But, Kyung-Jun doesn't move.

And you don't look back.

You stand frozen outside the glass doors, breaths coming in shallow, uneven gasps. The sun had just begun to climb over the horizon, casting pale, pink light across the pool, reflecting off the water's surface, still and peaceful.

But it didn't feel peaceful. It felt wrong.

Everything felt wrong.

Your hands shake as they hover just inches from the door handle but you can't bring yourself to touch it, knowing you'd rather face anything than the aftermath that awaits you on the other side.

You couldn't go inside.

Not yet.

You weren't ready.

Your mind is a whirl of frantic thoughts, none of them making sense, all of them circling around the same unbearable truth that everyone else except you seemed to be able to fully grasp even though it had been there all night—growing darker and heavier with every passing hour.

He was gone.

The truth hits you again, stinging as if you had only realized it for the first time.

You had tried to deny it last night and even this morning, even if avoiding the acknowledgment made your feet feel like lead and your stomach twist in a way that bordered on the brink of collapsing.

There is nothing else but the sound of water lapping gently against the tiles, yet the silence had screamed at you. It still screams at you.

He's gone.

You thought—no, hoped—that maybe you'd wake up and find everything to be just nightmare.

But it wasn't a dream. It was real. Too real.

You close your eyes and bite your lip, trying to stop the onslaught of tears accumulating at the corner of your eyes.

You couldn't lose him. Not like this. Not in a way that you couldn't fix.

Drawing all of your strength, you pull the doors open with a soft whoosh as bright light slants across against your face from the ceiling high windows, a complete contrast to the darkness that enveloped the space last night.

When you finally step forward, your feet drag as if they weigh a thousand pounds and the lump in your throat refuses to disappear.

The sunlight had risen fully now, turning the water into a glittering, sharp expanse that makes your eyes sting.

The strong smell of chlorine permeates around you, sharp and unmistakeable, cutting through the morning air. The chlorine didn't mask anything; it just laid over it, as if to hide a truth too ugly to bear, as though it sought to try and erase something that couldn't be cleaned. It felt heavier and thick—suffocating.

For some reason, you can only imagine the lingering metallic scent of blood.

Before you can so much as take a few steps forward, you can already spot Jun-Hee's lifeless body floating atop the water's surface, splayed out face up in its midst.

You stop short, breath hitching in your chest, sharp and jagged as if someone had taken the sharpest point of a blade, flaying your heart layer by layer.

He wasn't supposed to be like this.

He wasn't supposed to be here.

He wasn't supposed to be dead.

Your legs tremble as you take a hesitant step toward the pool, then another, and another, neither able to stop nor turn away.

It isn't until you're almost at the edge that your knees buckle, and you have to catch herself against the metal railing, vision blurring. Passingly, you wonder if you were going to faint.

But then you see it: the pool ladder, the way the water swirled around it in small, gentle ripples, the way his hair spreads out, black and damp against the smooth surface of the water, the way his eyes—his once warm eyes—stared up at nothing.

Your stomach churns.

Bile rises in your throat and you clasp a hand to your mouth, in denial—in grief.

You don't know how long you stand there before finally being able to move again.

Only when you jump into the shallow pool, wading your way toward him that your defense mechanism of denial fails, your breath caught in your throat as though you too had drowned, the water rippling in waves between the two of you.

The sound of water splashing echoes in the empty space, devoid of anyone else aside from you and Jun-Hee.

You belatedly wonder if the tears you've shed could fill this entire pool, so that he could float in the oceans of your affections rather than sink in the cold waves of betrayal.

Although your wet clothes continue to weigh you down, you push through it and manage to pull him up and over the poolside edge, leaning his back against the wall as you sit beside him.

His body goes limp and his head falls onto your shoulder, making the water droplets from your hair trickle down, splashing onto the pendant of his bracelet.

He's still wearing it.

You reach out your hand, warm fingers touching his cold ones and hold on tight, almost as if it was possible to will him back to life.

"Jun-Hee, I'm so sorry," you whisper to the air. "Hearing is the last sense to disappear when someone passes, and I know it may be futile, much too late, now to say what I've kept in my heart all this time, but I want you to know that you meant the world to me— you always will mean the world to me. I should've told you when I had the chance that I—"

You never knew. You never knew how I watched you, how every word you spoke made the world lighter and my days brighter. How your smile made me believe in things I didn't understand. You never knew how I felt...because I never told you.

It is in the silence of it—the answerless answer—that crushes you. It is as though you were existing in a hollowed-out shell of yourself where everything you'd held back was caged, imprisoned in the silence of the words you never uttered.

I should've told you, I could've told you, and maybe you might've...

But now there was no might-have, no more could-haves or should-haves. Only the what-if's lingering in the space between, growing wider by the minute.

A second chance can't exist when you never dared to pursue the first.

Love is the most innocent weapon, yet regret is far too bitter of a remedy.

[ ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴀsᴛ ᴠᴏᴛᴇ ᴄʟᴏsᴇᴅ, ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀ ɴᴏᴍɪɴᴀᴛᴇᴅ ᴡʜᴏᴍ ᴛᴏ ʜᴇᴀʟ. ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴏᴍɪɴᴀᴛᴇᴅ ᴘʟᴀʏᴇʀ ᴡᴀs ᴋɪᴍ ᴊᴜɴ-ʜᴇᴇ. ᴛʜᴀɴᴋs ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ᴀʙɪʟɪᴛʏ ᴛᴏ ʜᴇᴀʟ, ᴋɪᴍ ᴊᴜɴ-ʜᴇᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ʙʀᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴛᴏ ʟɪғᴇ. ]

Your eyes waver and you feel goosebumps rise all over your skin, in disbelief at the odds.

Beside you, Jun-Hee starts coughing and spluttering out water. His lips and skin are still far too pale, but the moment his eyes lock on yours, back to their deep chocolate brown rather than the opaque white of last night, he musters up all his strength to smile faintly at you and your entire world stops.

Without wasting another second, you fling your arms around his neck and hug him tightly, afraid that if you don't hold onto him, he'll disappear once again—this time, forever.

As you cry uncontrollably into his shoulder, he wraps one arm securely around your waist to hug you even closer until there's no semblance of space between the two of you and the other winds it's way to your hair at the nape of your neck, pressing the side of your face against his.

You're so close that you can feel his heartbeat against your own chest. "You don't know how scared and how hurt I was, but none of that matters now. You really came back."

You pull back slightly to look at him but he only draws you right back into his arms, breathing out a sigh of relief. "I promised, didn't I? That if I had to leave, I would always come back to you."

"I forbid you from ever doing that again. Rather than promising you'll come back, just stay here with me. That's all I ask for."

"Alright," Jun-Hee whispers on an exhale. "No more making promises neither of us can keep."

You nestle deeper into his shoulder as his hand runs up and down your hair, comforting you when you should be the one comforting him. "I won't forgive you if you put me before yourself again."

Jun-Hee chuckles softly as you feel him nod against your head. "Is that all you're going to tell me? What were you saying earlier about a chance to let me know something?"

"I—"

[ ᴅᴜʀɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ɴɪɢʜᴛ, sʜɪɴ sᴇᴜɴɢ-ʙɪɴ, ᴀ ᴄɪᴛɪᴢᴇɴ, ᴡᴀs ᴇxᴇᴄᴜᴛᴇᴅ ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀғɪᴀ. ᴍᴏʀɴɪɴɢ ʜᴀs ᴄᴏᴍᴇ, sᴏ ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ɪᴅᴇɴᴛɪғʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀғɪᴀs ᴀɴᴅ ʙᴇɢɪɴ ᴛᴏ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴠᴏᴛᴇs.]

You sit back at the announcement and Jun-Hee drops the subject as the two of you remain in stunned silence, the cruel reality once again dawning.

He runs his fingers over your bare wrist, and you finally look down to see his downcast expression at the missing bracelet.

You withdraw it from your skirt pocket and hand it over to him.

"Will you put it on for me, again? It fell off."

His eyes widen in realization. "So that means—"

"My wish came true, yes."

Jun-Hee delicately ties the red strings around your wrist and you look at the strands, now once again side by side.

"Can I ask what it was?"

"For you to come back to me."

He turns to you, looking upon you with all the fondness in the world.

"You spent a wish on me?"

His fingers reach out to lace against your own, and this time, it's nothing but filled with warmth and life.

"That price was still far too little for what you gave up for me."

Jun-Hee caresses the side of your face with his free hand, eyes staring straight at yours.

You hold your breath when he leans in, but as you close your eyes, he places a soft kiss on your forehead instead, squeezing your hand still in his, the press of his lips still lingering on your skin.

"You'll always be worth it and more, Han Seol-Hwa."

After a piercing scream erupts nearby, you and Jun-Hee dash toward the source, following the sound all the way to the cafeteria where Eun-Chan and Na-Hee are sprawled on the floor in shock while Eun-Ha, Yeon-Woo, and Mi-Na shield their eyes by the farthest corner possible, Seung-Bin's body a bloody pulp laying in the middle of the floor.

Deep gashes mar every inch of his stomach, skin mangled and covered in blood. If you looked close enough, parts of his intestine and abdominal organs were visible just below the surface.

As you survey the scene, the rest of your friend group come running in, looks of relief upon their faces at seeing you and Jun-Hee.

The silence is immediately broken as Jin-Ha stumbles in from the direction of the bathrooms, shirtless and bumbling as if he's seen a ghost.

"Yah..." Yeon-Woo utters. "Did you...kill him?"

Jin-Ha immediately goes on the defensive, shaking his head every which way. "It's not what it looks like!" Despite his insistence, his reactions and behavior make him appear to be far guiltier than he claims. You can't tell if it's sweat or tears rolling down his face but he wipes at it in haste, eliminating all traces. "When I woke up this morning, that's how I found him," his voice cracking at the end. "It wasn't me." As everyone looks from him to Seung-Bin's corpse and back again, he emphasizes hurriedly, "Guys, it really wasn't me."

Putting the growing suspicion aside for the moment, you kneel down beside the body, deftly braiding your long hair to keep it out of the way.

Next to you, Yoon-Seo has her phone at the ready to take pictures of the surrounding shoe prints, imprinted on the floor in blood.

"You two have got to be kidding me," Jung-Won intones from behind, though you pay her no mind.

As Da-Bum brings in a long white sheet to cover up the gruesome scene, you signal for him to wait, extending your hand towards the wounds, pulling the skin back to investigate.

When more blood gushes out of the opening, Yoon-Seo has to clamp a hand over her mouth, getting up to walk over to a trash can, dry heaving.

With your parents having been surgeons, it allowed you to watch more live surgeries than you can count, and you knew your way around the human body fairly well, particularly fatal landmarks.

Jun-Hee hauls you up and away as you sit there staring, trying to connect the dots, preventing the others from clearing the body.

"The three of them were inseparable," Yeon- Woo whispers, referring to Kyung-Jun's group.

"Talk about some loyal friends..." Eun- Chan admonishes, clucking his tongue.

"Between life and death, loyalty is no priority to them," Eun-Ha says openly and the statement hangs heavily in the air, everyone far too privy to the weight it holds.

Jung-Won sighs. "We should go. The smell of blood is sickening."

"Not yet," you refute. Turning to the group, you tell them what you found. "There are multiple stab wounds littered across his body, all inflicted at a particular site. The length and depth of it can be estimated to be by a knife."

"Stop talking about this," Jung-Won cuts in tiredly. "I don't think anyone wants to know the gory details."

You turn to her. "It may be scary to hear, but aren't we all wondering why someone would take things this far? There are far less cruel methods if the Mafia wanted someone to die overnight just so they can add on to their kill count, no?"

"Maybe the Mafia members are just that cruel," Jung-Won deadpans.

"But this..." you pause, eyeing the puddles of bloodstains still on the floor, "...This is way too morbid."

"What do you mean?" Yoon-Seo asks quietly, scrolling through the evidence she was able to gather.

"From what I saw, it looked like Seung-Bin was stabbed even after he had already died. There were wounds far fresher than others, as well as far deeper. To attack his internal organs in such a manner and especially in the stomach where you can quickly die of hemorrhage, the intent to kill extends beyond the reasoning for this game."

"You don't think—" Hyun-Ho starts.

You nod your head sadly. "Yes. In this case, whoever was involved wanted revenge, not simply for him to die. Up until this point, no one's death has been this gruesome or out in the open."

"I can't take this anymore," Mi-Na mutters. "Maybe we should all leave this for now and see what else we can find."

Your huge group ends up in agreement and exit forlornly, ultimately ending up in the annex where the other half of your classmates are crowded around a wall with what appears to be writing on it.

From the Police: Jun-Hee is a Citizen.

"Is this your doing?" Da-Bum turns to Jun- Hee, questioning.

"How can it be? Have you forgotten where I was last night? It's impossible."

Da-Bum shies away in embarrassment as Eun-Chan speaks up, "Did the Police actually write this?"

"Maybe they're finally putting their skill to good use," Eun-Ha suggests before rounding her immediate friend group to go back to their rooms.

"It wasn't here yesterday, right?" Dong- Hyun inquires as he surveys the handwriting.

"No, I don't remember seeing it," Hyun-Ho answers. "If I did, I don't think I would forget to bring it up."

You squint your eyes at the odd shade of the writing, a burnt orange color you've yet to see in typical markers.

On instinct, you reach a hand toward the font and swipe at it with your forefinger, drawing it toward your nose.

Providine.

The silence is defeaning as you all gather in the classroom where the discussion the night of Woo-Ram's elimination took place.

It feels like deja vu: the unending sense of unease, the suspicions leading to betrayals, and the unyielding curse of false accusations.

You sit beside Jun-Hee atop a table as he addresses the group. "I had no choice but to lie yesterday. I'm a Citizen. I don't know who the Doctor who saved me was but I wanted to give a word of thanks."

When you look up, you catch Yu-Jun's eye at the far corner of the room and hope that it's able to convey the enormous gratitude you felt toward him. He wasn't obligated to use it for Jun-Hee, or for your sake for that matter, but it means more than he could ever know.

Kyung-Jun leans forward in his chair and sends Jun-Hee a dirty look. "Living is one thing, but your identity in this game is a separate matter. Just because you came back to life doesn't clear you of suspicion."

"Right," Mi-Na chimes in, and you outwardly roll your eyes. She always bandwagons, going along with whatever someone else tells her rather than come to her own decisions or simply even having her own thoughts. "How come his identity wasn't revealed yesterday? Usually it's customary when they die."

"He wasn't out of the game completely given the resurrection, so why would it be announced?" You turn to Mi-Na and shoot her a look, one that conveys without words your feelings, that makes her lower her head, discouraged from pursuing the issue further.

"It really wasn't you who wrote the message on the wall?" Kyung-Jun changes the subject, but once again, it still targets Jun-Hee, and your fingers tighten around the phone in your hands, tired of this back and forth.

"Do you think I had the time to do so?" Jun- Hee grits out through his teeth, trying to remain civil. "Would it make sense between my waking up and yours, that I would have been able to run to the annex just for that?"

"Who knows?" Jin-Ha intones childishly. "Maybe you wrote it in the middle of the night while we were asleep." He shrugs his shoulders mockingly, before adding, "Why would you willingly choose to be eliminated unless you were crazy and knew you would be saved? You Mafia bastard."

"He's a Citizen," you comment confidently as you stare down Jin-Ha. "Can we say the same about you?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Isn't there something you want to tell us?"

Jin-Ha stands up abruptly, his chair scraping against the floor. The screeching sound has everyone turning to him. "Don't talk in circles, you bitch!"

"Quiet!" Kyung-Jun shouts, and Jin-Ha turns his head toward his leader, still shaking in anger. "Stop embarrassing yourself."

"You can't so easily cast accusations on someone else when you were the most suspicious this morning," you spit out with venom. "Don't act as if none of us saw you behaving weirdly earlier when we found Seung-Bin's body."

Jin-Ha deflates quickly, dropping back down into his seat, seething as to remain strong and in control. "How was I weird?!" He barely restrains himself from full out screaming at you.

"Since you came out of the bathroom without a shirt on pleading with everyone that you weren't the killer, was it before or after you discarded your bloody top?"

"How did you—"

"Shut up!" Kyung-Jun bellows at him. "Right now!"

Jin-Ha presses his lips together tightly, chin quivering. He knows he's been silenced, his interjection alone more incriminating than he intended.

"What would you do if the Police actually are trying to communicate with us?" Yoon-Seo speaks up beside you.

"Have you ever thought of that possibility?"

"I also think the same," Na-Hee voices meekly. "Perhaps the Doctor knows more than we do and was sure that Jun-Hee's a Citizen. They wouldn't just risk saving a random person most likely to be Mafia."

"Rather than interrogating Jun-Hee, isn't finding the person who killed Seung-Bin a more pressing matter?" So-Mi's words echo yours and that has everyone turning steadily toward Jin-Ha, seeking answers.

"It wasn't me!" Jin-Ha stresses. "He was already dead when I woke up!"

Yoon-Seo shifts on her feet and starts her investigation. "You said it was just you two, right?" At Jin-Ha's nod, she continues on. "Was there anything unusual that happened that you remember of?"

Jin-Ha runs a hand down his face, trying to recall details late last night and early this morning. "Nothing stands out." He looks around and noticing more than a few narrowed eyes on him, backpedals. "The Mafias could have easily smeared the blood on me when I was out cold, but I swear I wasn't trying to get rid of evidence or anything a few hours ago!" Met with silence, he expectantly turns to Kyung-Jun. "Isn't that right? You know me better than everyone here. I wouldn't do that."

Kyung-Jun scoffs, and his next words has Jin-Ha's expectant expression dropping, betrayal written all over his face. "Maybe I don't know you as well as I thought."

"What?"

"More than a few people witnessed you covered in Seung-Bin's blood. Isn't that clear evidence?" Kyung-Jun looks Jin-Ha dead in the eyes, no regrets evident. "Is it not because he kept picking on you, belittling you, that you found the perfect chance to end him completely? It's getting more likely that you'll be voted out."

"Is this how you repay me?!" Jin-Ha questions, and your blood runs cold at the way Kyung-Jun so easily casts people aside, readily sending them to their deaths without so much as a blink of his eyes. "Gaesaekki."

Kyung-Jun kicks his chair aside and it upends after tumbling over its own legs, winding up upside down a few feet away, the sound reverberating in the now still- room. "You must have a death wish, scumbag."

He grabs Jin-Ha by the neck of his shirt and the two wrestle one another, throwing the other onto the tabletops, their strengths nearly equal.

That is, until Jin-Ha bumps into the edge of one and lands on the floor, holding his hip. Seeing the lucky advantage, Kyung-Jun immediately makes the most of it, kicking the former relentlessly, showing no mercy or regard for their past friendship.

Yoon-Seo dashes over in an attempt to pry them apart, but with a quick fling of Kyung-Jun's arm, it sends her straight to the floor with a yelp.

You hurry over to get her back to her feet, supporting her with an arm behind her back and one in the front across her shoulder line as she stands up, moving her farther away from the chaos.

Ultimately, it takes both Hyun-Ho and Dong-Hyun to pry Kyung-Jun off an already battered and bleeding Jin-Ha, new scratches littering his face and lip cut, fresh bleed oozing out.

"Vote him out!"

"How can you be so certain it's him?!" Yoon-Seo admonishes. "What if you're wrong? What then?!"

You squeeze her shoulder and pull her back even more as Kyung-Jun swivels his head to glare at her. "Shut your fucking mouth and do as you're told."

While he's momentarily distracted, Jun-Hee strides toward him and snatches his phone from his shirt pocket.

"Give that back, you fucker."

"For what? So that you can keep doing whatever the hell you want?"

"What's it to you? You do as you wish and so can I."

"If you keep this power trip up and behave like a dictator, there's no guarantee that you won't wind up getting every single vote." That shuts the taller one up for the time being as he realizes no one is on his side. "We'll meet again at eleven tonight to decide as a whole. Let's not act rashly until then," Jun-Hee concludes.

Although everyone is still skeptical and more confused than anything, the crowd ultimately disperses, including a peeved Kyung-Jun who is allowed to have his phone back, courtesy of Jun-Hee.

In a final show of defiance, he kicks a lone table so hard it slams against the wall though no one bats an eye, too used to his anger issues by now.

In the meantime, Dong-Hyun and Hyun-Ho place Jin-Ha's arms, one on either of their shoulders, and hoist him up.

"Let's get him to the infirmary," Yoon-Seo leads, Jung-Won and you trailing behind the other four.

Before you can leave, a hand reaches out to wrap around your wrist.

Sensing you no longer following, Yoon-Seo and Jung-Won look behind them, but seeing the hold up, they nod and head out first.

"Is everything alright?"

Jun-Hee simply nods as he slides his fingers down until they reach your hand, holding them in his own.

"So-Mi," he mutters, startling her as she's cleaning up the fallen tables and chairs in the room as a result of the fight earlier. "Can we talk?"

She immediately stops and turns to him, all bright-eyed and lips curling upward.

"I'll go," you yield, ready to take your hand away.

"Yeah, you really should."

So-Mi can barely contain her smile as she straightens out her skirt and hair quickly.

"No, I want you to stay."

Her smile falls as quickly as it appeared, expression turning ever darker when Jun-Hee laces his fingers through yours.

"Didn't you have something to tell me? Only me?"

"This isn't something just between us," Jun-Hee straightforwardly settles. "Whatever I have or need to say, it will always be in front of her."

"What is it then?"

"Don't ever frame anyone, especially Seol-Hwa, for me."

So-Mi scoffs, hatred burning in her eyes. "Jun-Hee, can't you see that I was trying to save you? All I wanted was to help."

"I never asked for it."

"How can you say that to me?"

“You can blame me all you want, but the truth is you didn't do it for me. You did it for yourself."

"Yah Kim Jun-Hee," she mutters in disbelief. "Don't you remember what I did for you, or are you just that heartless? Who sided with you when you were suspected?" So-Mi points a finger at her chest repeatedly, tapping it against her sternum. "It was me!" Her lip quivers, eyes enlarged. "Get a hold of yourself! Do you really want me to consider you a Mafia?"

"Suit yourself," Jun-Hee replies with utmost disinterest, turning to walk away while pulling you along. "I've only ever cared about what Seol-Hwa thinks of me."

With your back against one of the bed frames for the bunk beds, your brain is elsewhere rather than in reality.

Seated around the table in the middle of the room, Yoon-Seo, Jung-Won, Da-Bum, Hyun-Ho and Dong-Hyun all stare off into space, lost in their own thoughts.

Jun-Hee takes a seat beside you, looking at you warily from where you're not moving your gaze away from your phone, eyes scanning across the device, counting those remaining over and over again.

"Eat even if you don't want to," comes Jung-Won's voice as a triangle kimbap and soda are placed in your field of vision. "I can't remember the last time I saw you eat something ever since we got here."

You look up at her then glance to the kimbap in her outstretched hand. She still remembers your go-to convenience store food, even after all these years.

Hesitantly taking it, you push the soda back toward her. "This one's your favorite. It always has been."

Jung-Won sends you a small smile and immediately cracks the soda can open, taking a long gulp from it.

The break in the silence of the room spurs the rest to take tiny bites of snacks atop the table that up until now had remained untouched.

Da-Bum, Hyun-Ho, and Dong-Hyun all rise shortly after, and you call out to them,

"Where are you three going? Should I be worried?"

Hyun-Ho shakes his head. "Dong-Hyun and I are just going to check around for any more trouble." As he walks past you, he ruffles your hair. "Don't fret so much eomma."

"You—" you retort, but the two are already out of the room before you can follow.

Da-Bum juts a finger in an arbitrary direction. "My laptop is still in the basement so..."

"Oh, right," Jung-Won acknowledges, a light slap to her forehead. "I'll go with you then."

You close your eyes momentarily at the much needed silence, Jun-Hee's and Yoon- Seo's rummaging around the room not at all deterring your peace.

"Hey, Seol-Hwa, Yoon-Seo," Jun-Hee suddenly calls. Your eyes open, one first then finally the other, after seeing him hold Woo-Ram's camcorder in his hands, not a bit worse for wear. You hadn't seen it since the hiking incident, not wishing to ever relive those memories. Huddling around Jun-Hee on either side, you and Yoon-See peer at the small rectangular screen, following the path of Jun-Hee's pointer finger. "Watch." He presses play and it captures a far away image of what appears to be a couple on a cliff outcrop overlooking the ocean. Neither you nor Yoon-Seo had seen this in person, with her having stayed back at the building and you with Dong-Hyun on the other side of the trail. "They don't move at all. Isn't this strange?"

"It doesn't look real."

Even seeing it, you couldn't believe it. The footage enters in and out with static, though the image is permanently at a standstill.

"How is this possible?" Yoon-Seo angles the screen more toward her and Jun-Hee lets her have it as she fast-forwards through the video, eventually zooming in to the couple's faces. "Uh...guys."

"What is it?"

Yoon-Seo quickly flips the screen your way at your concern, and you catch sight of the scratched out faces, exactly like that of the school photos you found.

"What do we make of this?"

Jun-Hee runs a hand through his hair as Yoon-Seo closes the camcorder shut, fingers rubbing her temples.

"I think we should revisit the teacher's lounge."

The two nod as they readily follow your path straight toward the offices.

It's left completely untouched and in the exact same condition you all found it the first night upon arrival.

"Nothing's changed, yet everything has," Yoon-Seo murmurs, more to herself than anything.

You plop down behind one of the computers and reboot the system, hoping something— anything—comes of it this time around.

A flash comes from the corner and you overhear bits and pieces of Jun-Hee's and Yoon-Seo's conversation, although you're too busy looking below the desk for possible clues you've potentially missed.

"A picture of me? What for?"

"I tried with inanimate objects in this room, and the result is fine, but human subjects... the face is distorted. It's so unsettling, Jun-Hee."

As you're about to pull yourself up, the faintest whisper of movement catches your ear. A sound. Faint at first, like a breeze running through paper, but unmistakably...human. Your pulse spikes as you spin around, your breath hitching as you scan the cubicle walls. The air feels thicker now, charged.

Then, the crawling sensation creeps in, running from your neck to trail down your spine as goosebumps start to litter your skin.

When you look over, thin spindly black fingers inch into view, cold, spectral— ghostly and translucent—crawling up the dividers.

The first one appears from the shadowed corner, stretching like a long, spidery limb. Your heart pounds against your ribs as you stare unmoving at the digits sliding up the wall, bending and curving unnaturally, moving without sound.

You recoil back, eyes locked onto the fingers as they continue their slow ascent, unable to look away. There was something hypnotic, something awful, in the way they moved, like they were searching for prey, creeping closer, pale nails directed at you.

You shake your head as you blink, trying to rid yourself of the hallucination, and suddenly, a shiny golden key drops from thin air.

Your fingers are clutched so tightly around your phone that they turn white, gradually losing feeling.

A ping snaps you out of it and with shaky hands, it takes you multiple tries to finally open the animation announcement, a perfect picture replica of the key you just obtained.

[ ғɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴀᴍᴇ ʜᴏsᴛ. ]

As you sit stunned with the key still in your outstretched hand laid face-up atop the table, the door swings open and closed again.

"Seol-Hwa...?" Da-Bum whispers, drawing the attention of the others. "Are you... okay?"

Jun-Hee makes to touch your face, but thinks better of it seeing you in total shock. "You look really shaken up. What's wrong?"

Jung-Won leans her elbow on the counter beside you, studying you worriedly.

"I saw a ghost earlier." Everyone's varying reactions would've been comical in any other situation if the stakes weren't so deadly. "It gave me this—"

You present the sole key to them.

"Do you know what it's for?"

Jun-Hee leans over from behind you to peer at it, curious.

"I have no clue, but since there's a message for it, it must be something important."

Jung-Won stands closer as Yoon-Seo and Da-Bum also crowd around to assess. "What did it say?"

"What we've all been wanting: to find the host." You tilt your head at her, confused. "Did you not get the instructions?"

Jung-Won pulls out her phone and scrolls before peering up over the top edge of glasses, staring long and hard at you. "I didn't." Addressing the group, she asks, "How about the rest of you?"

Met with three matching shakes of the head, you gaze at them dumbfounded.

"Was it only for me?"

"Can you show me what it looks like?" Jung-Won gestures toward your device and you readily unlock it, going straight to the notification center within the game.

You bite on the inside of your cheek as the inbox reads empty. "It...disappeared." To your own ears, even you sound odd, but who would lie about something this out of the ordinary. "Regardless, there must be a reason to find the host. Why don't we alert everyone and make the search easier, hmm?"

"Is that really necessary?" Jung-Won exhales and her tone suddenly becomes curt. "I have to be honest with you Seol-Hwa, I can't keep up with the things you tell us. We never find anything based on these half leads. What if you get suspected as Mafia again for saying that?"

The others can sense the tension growing between the two of you as your voice changes from hopeful to one of annoyance. "This has nothing to do with my intuition or pieces of clues. The game itself sent me the message."

Shaking her head, it seems as though Jung-Won can hardly contain herself from iterating something she'd regret. "Yes, to you only, and for your eyes only. We don't even have evidence of it. If other people don't believe it, there's nothing you can do."

"Are you saying I made all of this up?" your voice rises, and Da-Bum jumps in anxiously, hoping to shift the conversation elsewhere.

"It's not that we're blaming you, but rather, the situation..."

"Right," Jung-Won placates. "I just think it's better for all of us to be careful until we find solid evidence. We can't afford to end up in the same position of sacrificing one of us like the previous nights."

Yoon-Seo remains quiet, glancing back and forth between all of you sadly.

As a last resort, you turn to Jun-Hee, but you can already tell it's a lost cause.

"Seol-Hwa, you know I believe you—no matter what it is. It's the fact that the rest doesn't in the way I do that has me worried. Maybe we can keep this between us for the time being?"

You look around at all of them in quick succession, feeling more hurt than you expected. "So the final verdict is what?" you say aloud bitterly. "That you all trust me— just not enough?"

"That's not—" Jung-Won interjects, but you push your chair back, walking away from the desk, key in hand.

"Seol-Hwa..." comes Yoon-Seo's kind voice as you head for the door.

With your hand around the doorknob, Jun-Hee grabs your free one, making you swivel back around.

"Let me come with."

For the first time, you find it hard to readily accept his companionship as you slip your hand out of his.

You know that the look in his eyes as you leave is one of regret, clashing with the look of dejection in yours.

The retreat center was vast, empty in its isolation, with the kind of oppressive silence that swallowed everything—every breath, every thought.

You wander down the narrow stone path outside the entrance, careful not to overstep the borderlines, each step hesitant against the asphalt.

The air is thick with the smell of damp earth, despite no recent downpours, the faint whisper of the wind through the trees, and the looming unsettling knowledge that another night would soon begin.

It wasn't that you didn't know the game was still unfolding, like a nightmare that couldn't end, but you thought you had adapted—that you were resilient enough to brace yourself against the horrors.

However, it was the quiet moments that cut the deepest.

Your heart weighed heavier than usual. You were foolish to think that friendship and loyalty could turn the tides of this situation, but the longer you were all involved, the greater the distance between you all grew with each passing day.

The looks.

The half-formed glances.

The doubts that override trust.

Perhaps no one had outright said it, but it was in their eyes—the fear, the suspicion. You couldn't blame them, regardless of your personal disappointments.

In a game to the death where everyone is forced to play the villain in one way or the other, who could find fault in anyone for becoming paranoid—for not being able to trust anyone fully except oneself?

Exhaling on a long outbreath, you lower yourself onto the curb, sitting down with your legs outstretched in front of you.

"Hey."

A voice cuts through the silence, startling you from her thoughts. Turning, you instinctively gaze upward, eyes landing on the lone figure approaching.

Yu-Jun.

There weren't many instances where the two of you interacted, little in this game, and even more sparingly before it. He had always been distant, even in the halls of school, and just as he had perceptions about you, so did you about him so far as concerning his character, by association of the friends he kept around him.

He had been one of those people who didn't care enough to pretend, too consumed with his own world to notice those of others.

Truthfully, you never liked him, and he'd certainly never been kind to you.

But, things were different now.

Both of you were resurrectors; it was your shared responsibility to bring back those chosen by the game's cruel hand—to give them another chance to survive.

You could see the weight of that responsibility was starting to show on Yu-Jun's face. His eyes were heavy, hollow. There was also something else there now—a weariness you couldn't place, a kind of sorrow you hadn't seen in him when Ji-Soo was still around.

"Hey," you repeat, voice softer than you mean for it to be.

Yu-Jun takes a step closer, his footsteps deliberate, debating whether to sit beside you. "You're out here alone." After a few more awkward shuffles of his feet, he takes a seat on the same curb as you, a respectable distance away.

You shrug, arms crossed tightly over your midsection. "Just needed a little bit of space to myself."

He nodded as if understanding, then looked away, line of sight drifting to the ground. The silence stretches thin, until finally, he speaks again, low and almost detached.

"I can't save anyone tonight, but I know I made the right previous choice."

"Why did you choose to save Jun-Hee?" You dragging the toe of your shoe against the gravel, rocks crunching beneath your feet, finding the right words to rephrase with. "Not that I'm not thankful, it's just... don't take offense to this, but I didn't pin you to be the type to do so."

Yu-Jun doesn't meet your eyes. Instead, he stared off into the darkness, his jaw tight, like the words are hard to force out. "I didn't want you both to end up like me," he mutters, his voice cracking, though he quickly clears his throat to mask it. "I couldn't save her. I couldn't save us."

Your gaze flickers to his, and for the briefest moment, something vulnerable flashes in his eyes. "Do you see you both in Jun-Hee and I?"

He looks down at his hands as if can still feel the weight of Ji-Soo in his arms.

He pauses as if her name still lingers on the tip of his tongue.

"That night I... I should've saved her. I was supposed to—choose between myself and her. Like a coward, I..." he halts, words choking on the air. "I chose myself."

You didn't speak, letting him continue. Something in the way his shoulders hunched told you that talking about this wasn't easy for him and you could sense the bitterness, the guilt, so thick in his tone.

The confession hangs in the silence, suffocating on its own weight.

It was too easy to hear the regret in his voice, the sorrow that he hadn't been able to shake. His past was now a living ghost that haunted him, and you felt a pang of sympathy for him.

"Why didn't you save her?" you ask softly, words careful, far too gentle.

Yu-Jun turns toward you, a mixture of pain and sadness in his eyes. "Because I'm a fool —I have always been a fool. I truly thought I could beat the game. I thought I could make it through. I believed that if I just played the right way, I—we—could survive. But I know now how wrong I was." His voice drops to a whisper, barely audible. "Now, every time I bring someone back... I ask myself if I'm just choosing them to make up for the one I lost?"

You reach out, placing your hand lightly on his shoulder. It wasn't much—just a small, quiet gesture of comfort.

"All grievances are settled at the end of every life. Ji-Soo will hear you and she'll understand. I know so," you reassure, certain.

Yu-Jun stiffens at first, before his shoulders fall and he breathes out, long and slow, nodding in acceptance as he sits in silence to ponder.

You brush off your skirt as you stand up, turning to leave and allow him to be with his thoughts on his own, sensing the end of your talk.

As you take one last look back, you can't seem to shake the feeling that this might be the first and last conversation you'll ever have with him.

𝟬𝟳 : 𝗔𝗟𝗠𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗜𝗦 𝗡𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗘𝗡𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛 | 𝟬𝟵 : 𝗔𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗦’ 𝗛𝗘𝗘𝗟

© 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨, 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞, 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫-𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭. 𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞, 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞.

[domxmarvel]

Squid game request open

Guidelines

Cho hyun-ju 120

Choi su-bong/Thanos 230

Hwang in-ho 001

Seon gi-hun 456

The salesman/recruiter 

Hwang jun-ho

Kang mi-na 196

(Cr: @yugif)

Kim jun-hee 222

Square guard/Lee sang jun

Triangel/circle guards

[meadowfics]

blood on your hands

kang dae ho x f!reader

in which you commit an act so unforgivable, yet reasonable

warnings: murder, death, nsfw!! 18+, minors please dni. smut with plot. oral (dh receiving). switch!daeho. switch!reader. praise. no PinV. VERY long chapter. dark chapter. original plot changes. y/n is used. reader is player 099. reader is the murderer. established relationship with dae-ho before the games. this takes place after the mingle games. the original character in this fic is player 123. I am not responsible for the content you choose to read after you hit, "keep reading"

4.6k words

the bathroom is a mess of bodies and tension.

the air thick with sweat, fear, disgusting body waste, and the sharp buzz of the overhead fluorescent lights. the guards stand at the entrance, their rifles slung carelessly over their shoulders, barely paying attention. 

they know no one is dumb enough to try anything here, not after the mingle game.

a game in which you barely survived too.  

anyways, you should be focusing on keeping jun-hee safe, making sure she gets in and out of here without trouble, but your mind keeps circling back to dae-ho.

your man. 

the love of your life. 

the marine’s voice is still fresh in your ears.  

"stay safe, no heroics."

all of the women were assigned to all go to the bathroom before lights out. you had smiled at him, something small, something just for him. 

"i’ll be okay," 

you had promised, squeezing his hand. 

"i'll stay with jun-hee the whole time."

he hadn't liked it. you could tell by the way his jaw clenched, by the flicker of hesitation in his eyes, like he wanted to argue but knew it would only make things harder. he is super protective about you, even before the games back at home.

in the end, he let you go, but not before tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear, his touch lingering like he was trying to memorize you.  

"come back to me." 

you had nodded. you always would.  

the two of you had been together for years. your relationship wasn’t new, wasn’t fragile. it was something built, something strong, something that had withstood everything life had thrown at you before the games.  

this?  

this was different.  

this was a nightmare neither of you had ever prepared for.  

when you first locked eyes after red light, green light, it felt like the world had cracked open. neither of you had known the other would be here. 

neither of you had imagined, in your worst nightmares, that this was how you’d meet again after not seeing each other for days.  

after meeting the salesman, the both of you had a plan to pay off each other's debts. unaware that the other had the same exact plan too.

the first game, dae-ho had stormed across the bloodstained ground, past the trembling bodies of the survivors, past the bodies that would never move again, and grabbed you like you were slipping through his fingers.  

“why are you here?" 

his voice had been raw, panicked. 

"how…why…"  

"why are you here?" 

you had shot back, just as desperate, just as lost.  

you both had kept your struggles quieter than you should have, thinking you could handle them alone. thinking you didn’t have to drag each other down.  

it didn’t matter now.  

now, all that mattered was surviving. together.  

which was what led you here…standing in a sea of exhausted, wary women, pushing into the bathroom with jun-hee behind you and hyun-ju in front, keeping them close, like a shield.  

you aren’t the only one on edge. hyun-ju’s beautiful eyes are scanning, assessing. she turns around and catches the way your fingers twitch at your sides, the way your shoulders stay stiff.  

"you okay?" her voice is low, careful.  

you force a small nod. 

"just need to pee badly."  

it’s a lie.  

hyun-ju knows. she reads people too well…probably from whatever special forces training she’s had. 

she doesn’t press, just gives you a look before shifting her attention elsewhere.  

it’s not the bathroom that has you tense.  

it’s her.

player 123. 

she’s already ahead, pushing through the group like she owns the place along with her goon’s, loud and grating. she hasn’t stopped talking since mingle. hasn’t stopped running her mouth.  

"you see that one triangle guard earlier?" 

she crows to no one in particular, shoving her elbow into the woman next to her. 

"dude was practically asleep. i bet i could’ve grabbed his gun…boom, game over."  

the woman beside her gives a nervous laugh, stepping away. no one outside of her dickriding goons wants to be near her…she’s too reckless, too unpredictable.  

your fingers curl into a fist at your side.  

you don’t trust her. not after what happened in the six-legged penalathon.  

you and player 123 had almost killed each other. 

it had been an accident, but that didn’t matter. the two of you had made a mistake, a single misstep, a moment of hesitation that had nearly sent both of you crashing to your deaths. and she blamed you.

the audacity. 

when jun-hee came to your group, asking to join. you gave up your spot for the woman. dae-ho protested, but you told him that the pregnant woman needs to live, so being with men will help her. 

dae-ho intensely watched you as you approached 123 and her group of 4. player 123 said you could join, since she needed another woman who looked, “as fit as you.” 

however, that was a mistake.. since you both nearly tripped when you were running to the finish line.

since then, she hated you..

you weren’t exactly fond of her either.  

you keep jun-hee behind you as the crowd shifts into the cramped bathroom. it’s a tight space, bodies pressing in on all sides. no privacy, no safety.  

you aren’t the only one feeling it…jun-hee shifts uncomfortably, pressing a protective hand over her stomach. you glance at her, lowering your voice. 

"we’ll be quick. i won’t let anything happen."  

she nods, trusting.  

too trusting.  

you can feel player 123's presence, her laughter cutting through the thick air like a blade. she’s talking again, louder now, complaining about everything.

"this is ridiculous," she groans, kicking the bottom of a stall. 

"they’re treating us like animals. like we’re not even people."  

you bite back the urge to snap.  

because that’s the thing...she’s not wrong. 

that doesn’t make you hate her any less.  

hyun-ju watches you carefully from the side, tracking the way your body tenses, the way your fingers tap against your leg like you’re holding yourself back from something.  

"she’s not worth it," hyun-ju mutters under her breath.  

you exhale sharply, steadying yourself. 

"i know."  

that doesn’t stop you from keeping an eye on player 123. doesn’t stop the weight of her presence from pressing into you. 

because in a place like this, grudges can get you killed.

the guards stand lazily outside of the entrance, their rifles hanging at their sides, not paying attention. 

they don’t care about the many players inside one hot room. 

but you do.  

you keep jun-hee close, guiding her toward the stalls. she looks miserable, her hand resting over the curve of her belly, shoulders tight with exhaustion.  

"y/n, i just need to sit for a second."  

jun-hee pulls you towards the first stall.

she goes into one of the stalls, locking it behind her, and you let out a slow breath. your heart is still racing. not because of the guards, not because of the way the other women keep their eyes peeled for weakness…but because of player 123.

you hear her voice somewhere off to the side, barking out a laugh, too loud, too confident.  

"these stalls are disgusting, i swear to god. like what do they want us to do? piss outside?" 

she’s talking to no one in particular, but the woman next to her lets out a forced chuckle, clearly too nervous to ignore her.

“she is so fucking annoying!”  

you think.

your jaw clenches, fingers twitching at your side.  

you don’t trust her. you never have.  

so when jun-hee comes out of her stall, you decide to go in after her. not because you need to pee, but because you don’t want to have to go later, when things could be worse.  

“i’ll be quick," you murmur, passing by hyun-ju, who is by the sinks, watching everything like a hawk.  

"stay alert," she tells you.  

you nod, stepping inside the stall, locking it behind you.  

you sit, but your mind is elsewhere, lost in the horrors of the game.  

everything blurs together…the blood, the screams, the crack of bones snapping under pressure. you squeeze your eyes shut, pressing your palms into your thighs, trying to push the thoughts away, trying to remind yourself that you're still here. still breathing. still alive. 

BANG. 

your entire body jolts at the sudden impact against the stall door.  

"can you hurry the fuck up?"  

that voice. 

your blood runs cold.  

player 123.  

you don’t say anything, don’t react, hoping she’ll just move on, but then

she crawls under the stall.  

your breath catches in your throat, horror spiking through your veins as her hands and knees scrape against the filthy tile, her face appearing under the gap before she pulls herself inside, into your space.

"are you fucking stupid?" 

you snap, scrambling to pull your joggers up as you stagger to your feet.  

she just laughs.

loud, grating, obnoxious.  

"oh? oh, look at that." she grins, rocking back on her heels. 

"it’s the stupid bitch who almost got us killed!"  

your fists clench.  

"get the fuck out," 

you hiss, pushing past her to unlock the door.  

she follows you.  

you storm toward the sinks, your entire body thrumming with rage. she’s right on your heels, her voice sharp and mocking as she keeps egging you on.  

"what’s wrong, 099? mad i called you out? mad that you’re such a weak bitch who made it this far? "  

you ignore her, stepping toward the sinks where hyun-ju and jun-hee are.  

she doesn’t stop.  

"you think you’re some big hero? sticking with your little group like you’re different from the rest of us? newsflash, sweetheart…nobody here is safe."  

your hands shake. you grip the edge of the sink, trying to steady yourself.  

then she says it.  

"you know... i started to notice how close you and player 388 are. are you guys together?" 

123’s tone shifts, turning cruel, taunting. 

you stare at her through the mirror, hoping she shuts the fuck up. 

"wait, awee you guys are together! you know.. he’s such a charm. i cannot wait to steal him when you die during the next game!"  

that’s it.  

before you can even think, your body moves on its own.  

you turn, your fist flying through the air, and the impact is satisfying to your mind and knuckles. 

CRACK.

your knuckles collide with her face, sending her stumbling backward, her body hitting the ground with a hard thud.  

someone gasps. 

her goons rush forward, helping her up.  

hyun-ju steps toward you, eyes sharp, but before she can say anything—  

all hell breaks loose.

somewhere in the room, another fight erupts.

two randome women claw at each other, snarling like wild animals, hair being pulled, screams echoing off the tile.  

and then, like a chain reaction, everyone starts fighting.  

jun-hee stumbles back against the wall, hiding, pressing her hands over her stomach, panic flashing across her face. she knows she doesn’t stand a chance in this chaos.  

hyun-ju moves quickly, diving into the mess, trying to break up fights before they get worse.  

you…you don’t get the chance.  

because player 123 tackles you. 

you slam into the sink counter, pain exploding through your ribs.  

"you wanna fucking hit me, huh?" 

she seethes, grabbing onto your shirt. 

"you bitch! you think you’re tough?"  

you fight back, gripping her by the shoulders, trying to throw her off. but she’s strong, fueled by anger, by adrenaline.  

you both go crashing to the ground. 

she’s on top of you, fists flying.  

one punch.  

two.  

three.  

your face is bruised, bloodied.

your vision goes blurry, the taste of iron thick in your mouth as blood pools around your molar teeth.  

you gasp, hands scrambling for anything. 

you grip 123’s neck, trying to choke her, trying to stop her punches, but she just snarls, yanking at your hair, slamming your head back against the tile.  

someone—se-mi—tries to pull her off.  

but it’s not working.  

you’re losing. 

then  

something presses against your thigh.

your metal fork.

the one from earlier’s meal. the one you saved, just in case something like this happened  

your fingers close around it inside of your pocket.  

without thinking..without hesitating.. 

you move your right hand quickly and plunge it into her neck.  

she freezes.  

123’s brown eyes go wide.  

her hands, her fists, stop.

she limps, her body crumbling.  

however, that was not enough. 

something inside you snaps.  

you stab.

again.  

again.

again.

again.  

again.  

over and over and over until.. 

"STOP!"  

arms pull you back… hyun-ju.

your breath is ragged, your chest heaving.  

player 123 is dead. 

her body is still. 

her blood is everywhere. 

you don’t realize what you’ve done…not really…until hyun-ju drags you into the hallway, pushing you against the wall beside a guard.  

you’re hyperventilating. those pink lungs of yours cannot seem to catch a breath.

hyun-ju doesn’t yell at you. doesn’t scold you for murder since that would be hypocritical of her. she just takes the bloody fork from your hands, wipes at the blood on your face…though your 099 shirt is already soaked in red. 

"breathe," she orders.  

you can’t.  

"what did i do?"  

jun-hee stands nearby, eyes wide, face pale.  

she looks at you, then at the bodies inside.  

"nothing. since nothing will be mentioned to the others," 

she says quietly.  

you nod.  

silent. 

back to the dorms.. you can barely walk.  

your legs feel like they don’t belong to you, and the weight of what you just did claws at your chest, sinking deep into your ribs, making it hard to breathe.  

hyun-ju keeps her arm wrapped tightly around you, holding you up, making sure you don’t collapse under your own exhaustion. your shirt is soaked in blood..

some yours, most of it hers. 

player 123 is dead. 

you did that.  

you killed her.  

yet, in this moment, all you can focus on is putting one foot in front of the other as you and the remaining women shuffle back into the dorms.  

the second the doors open, the tension inside the dorm shifts.  

the men had heard everything.  

the screams.  

the fighting.  

the pounding of bodies slamming against the walls, the stalls, the sinks.  

the killings.  

it was a nightmare. 

and dae-ho almost ran after you.

he had almost lost his mind when the first screams from multiple women echoed through the halls, his entire body lurching forward, ready to run, to fight, to protect you, before jung bae grabbed him.  

"don’t." jung bae had hissed, forcing him to stay put. 

"we don’t know what’s happening yet."  

"it’s a fucking massacre, that’s what," young-il had muttered under his breath, his face pale as they all listened.  

dae-ho couldn’t stay calm.  

he was barely breathing, his hands clenching and unclenching, his mind running a thousand miles a minute.  

you had told him you’d be okay.  

you had promised.  

but then why did the screaming keep going?  

why did it sound like hell itself had broken loose in there?

at one point, it sounded like you were screaming.

it was, it was when you were repeatedly stabbing 123 over and over again.  

back in the dorms, dae-ho kept trying to reason with himself.  

you don’t start fights.  

you aren’t reckless.  

then he remembered the way you and 123 had argued after your group barely survived the six-legged penalathon…by four fucking seconds.  

he remembered 123 cursing you out, yelling about how you should’ve died instead of her almost falling.  

he remembered the way you just flicked her off, walking away.  

she was a loose cannon.

123 was like thanos and namgyu smashed into one woman.  

what if—  

the doors open.  

the women return.

and it’s worse than he imagined. 

the ones who come back look horrible. 

some are bloody. some have fresh bruises. some have torn shirts, missing shoes, swollen faces.

but not as many women return as there were when they left.  

dae-ho’s stomach drops.

he scans the group frantically. 

the marine’s heart hammers.  

his eyes land on hyun-ju and jun-hee first…both fine, exhausted but fine. 

then he sees you and his blood runs cold.  

his baby. his love.  

you look destroyed. your face is bloodied. your right eye is swollen.  there’s a deep cut above your eyebrow, blood trailing down your cheek, dripping onto your already soaked shirt.  

your lips are busted.  

your knuckles are bruised and your hands are shaking. 

"what the fuck happened?"  

dae-ho’s voice is sharp, broken.

hyun-ju doesn’t answer right away.  

instead, she tightens her grip on you, like she’s trying to shield you from his panic.

it’s too late.

he pushes forward, prying you out of hyun-ju’s arms, cradling you in his own. 

his hands hover over your face, your wounds, your bruises, like he doesn’t know where to touch, where to fix, where to start.  

"baby, oh my god, what did they do to you?" his voice breaks. 

he lifts you into his arms, carrying you straight to his bed, settling you down gently, as if you might shatter if he moves too fast.  

you don’t say anything.  

you can’t.  

because if you open your mouth, if you speak,you might just say what you did. 

so instead, you stare at the ceiling, your breath shallow, your fingers gripping the sheets beneath you.  

hyun-ju and jun-hee exchange a look.  

they don’t tell him.  

they don’t say what really happened. 

that is your place, not theirs. 

they don’t tell him that you killed player 123 in a fit of survival and rage, stabbing her over and over again until her body was lifeless.

instead, hyun-ju lies. 

"a fight broke out. everyone was attacking each other."  

dae-ho’s jaw tightens, his eyes flicking over every bruise, every wound, every drop of blood. 

"and she was attacked?"  

jun-hee nods.  

"we barely made it out."  

dae-ho exhales sharply, his hands trembling as he tears a piece of his 388 shirt, dipping it into some cup of water (belonging to gi-hun) before gently pressing it against your wounds.  

"fuck, i should’ve been there," he mutters. 

"i should’ve protected you."  

you swallow.

dae-ho’s words make your chest ache in a way you can’t explain.  

he doesn’t know.

he doesn’t know what you did. 

he doesn’t know that you aren’t just hurt.  

you are a killer now. 

across the room, young-il/001/the frontman undercover watches you carefully as he sits beside a worried gi-hun and jung-bae. 

his eyes linger. 

he knows. 

he doesn’t say anything, doesn’t make a scene, but you catch the way he scans the room, the way he takes note of who came back..and who didn’t. 

123 isn’t here

he knows.  

you don’t look at dae-ho. 

you can’t  

because then you’d have to acknowledge it. and right now, you just want to pretend. 

pretend you didn’t just take a life.  

pretend you’re still you.  

the speaker comes on and the room freezes as everyone listens. suddenly, the names of the eliminated players in the women’s bathroom echo through the dorms.  

"player 037. eliminated."

"player 272. eliminated."  

"player 081. eliminated."  

"player 410. eliminated." 

"player 008. eliminated."  

"player 072. eliminated." 

and then..  

"player 123. eliminated." 

the second her number is called, the room shifts in your perspective. 

your stomach twists.

dae-ho’s eyes snap to you.  

then to hyun-ju.  

hyun-ju turns away.  

you tense.  

but he doesn’t know. 

not yet.  not yet.  

because lights out is coming.

during lights out, you wake up to dae-ho who is looking up at the ceiling. the ceiling where the gold pig sits with all of the money. the money from the dead players. 

“baby, is everything alright?” 

you ask lightly, putting your hand on his upper thigh as he looks over at you. 

the man smiles lightly, brushing a piece of hair off of your forehead as you close your eyes.. taking in his touch. 

“i should be asking you that.” 

dae-ho responds. 

of course you are still thinking about the murder you committed. however, you know that there will not be any legal consequences. the guards and this whole game is illegal itself!

however, you wonder how dae-ho will look at you. 

he used to talk to you about a murder that he committed while he was in the marines. the one thing that started his PTSD while serving. however, he was forced to do that.

you were not forced. 

well, that is debatable. 

since you were acting in self-defense. 

you brought your sore lips over dae-ho’s and started kissing him soflty, moving his hands to your ass while you sat your clothed core on top of his bulge. 

“y/n.” 

he groans through your lips. 

“hm.” 

you smirk. 

“is this alright? i don’t want you to feel uncom–” 

“we need a distraction, dae-ho.” 

two minutes later, your lips around around his fat tip. the marine’s head laid back against the hard wall, his pants pulled down to his ankles as you took his whole length inside of your throat. 

you were distracting yourself. your focus is fully on your lover’s scent, his big dick in your throat, your hands massaging his balls, and the way your lashes batted up at his eyes while you sucked his dick. 

this is the only way you can distract yourself from earlier. the murder. the murder you commited.

dae-ho wrapped your hair in a ponytail with his hands while you continued to do your work. you concentrated your tongue on a particular vein on his shaft while arching your back in the process. 

"fuck, you're sucking me off so perfectly."

your boyfriend of five years reaches over to massage your clothed ass, groaning softly as you deepthroated his cock. 

obviously, sucking his cock during lights out, where a player can easily see you, was not ideal for most people. however, you refused to pull dae-ho into a bathroom and do it. not where you killed 123. 

dae-ho’s cock twitched inside of your throat and you hummed, feeling his white load spill inside of your mouth and throat. 

the man puts a pillow over his head, so the pillow can block out his loud pornographic moan he spoke out. 

you were always so good at sucking his dick, oh how much he missed it while the games were happening. 

you helped your boyfriend pull his boxers and pants back on. the man flipped you over and kissed all over your neck, but you cringed. 

not because of dae-ho, not at all. you were so desperate for his tongue on your clit but somehow.. you started smelling the metallic blood from earlier. 

123’s blood. 

tears fill your eyes almost immediately.

when dae-ho realized that you were crying out of fear instead of pleasure, he stopped instantly. he pulled you into his arms as you stained his shirt with your tears. 

you started to hyperventilate again. 

dae-ho keeps you in his arms, but pulls your head off of his chest in order to help yourself breathe.

“baby, please breathe.” 

dae-ho panics, nearly having tears in his eyes too. 

“dae-ho, i-i-ca-can’t. i’m ah-a monster.” 

you coughed out. 

dae-ho frowns. 

“no you’re not!” 

he mumbles confidently, truthfully. 

“you’re my angel.” 

you cry more, shaking your head with a frown. 

“angels don't kill people, dae-ho.” 

you sob, wiping your nose with your blood stained jacket. 

“what?” 

dae-ho’s eyes widened. 

“sh-sh-she was so close to killing me i-in there!”

you start shaking, dae-ho holds your hands as you try to recall the memory. 

your lips turn pale. dae-ho holds the back of your head with his large hands as more tears fall down your face. 

“dae-ho, i killed 123!!! the fork i-i ha-had when we ate the bibimbap to-together! she almost beat me to death so i stabbed her.” 

your hands started shaking to the point where dae-ho had to hold them. 

not only was the memory so traumatic, but you were started to think that dae-ho would leave you. 

scared that he would not want someone who is a murderer.

dae-ho’s eyes are widened, he cannot say anything. 

“puh-pl-please say something! i swear it was in self-defense!! she did this to me-” 

you pointed at the bruises and cuts on your face.

“i-i couldn’t breathe before i felt the fork in my pocket. i had to, i am so sorry! please forgive me for being a monster!” 

you forced your hands out of dae-ho’s and covered your face, ashamed of yourself. 

dae-ho is everything good in this world. even here, in this twisted, merciless game, he treats you like you’re made of glass…like you’re still the same person he fell in love with before all of this. 

you’re scared.. now you believe that he knows that the girl he’s holding, the girl he’s protecting so fiercely, is not the girl he fell in love with. 

you’re a monster. a murderer. 

the blood on your hands isn’t just yours…it’s 123s.

dae-ho holds you again.. and doesn’t let go of you. not even for a second.  

the marine’s arms stay firmly around you, grounding you as your entire body shakes, as your chest heaves, struggling to pull in air. your lungs burn, your throat closes, and your vision blurs with the overwhelming flood of emotions crashing down on you all at once. 

you can’t stop crying.  

you can’t stop the guilt, the fear, the shame from clawing at your insides, making you feel like you’re being ripped apart from the inside out.  

"i'm a monster," 

you choke out between uneven breaths. 

"i don’t deserve you, dae-ho. i don’t.."  

"stop."  

dae-ho’s voice is gentle, but firm. the man’s hands cup your face, thumbs wiping away the hot tears streaming down your cheeks, even though they just keep coming.  

"baby, listen to me. i understand." 

dae-ho’s voice is steady, warm, full of something so deep and unwavering.. it only makes you cry harder.

"i know. it was self-defense."  

you shake your head, gripping onto his wrists like he’s the only thing keeping you from falling apart completely in this hellhole.

"but i still did it," you whisper, voice breaking. 

"i still killed her."  

dae-ho doesn’t flinch.  

his grip doesn’t loosen.  

his expression doesn’t change.  

"and it would have been you killed if you hadn’t."  

his words hit hard, slicing through the noise in your head.  

you inhale sharply, shuddering. 

"this game… it’s bringing out the worst in all of us." his voice softens, his forehead pressing against yours.

"this isn’t your fault, baby. you were protecting yourself."  

you sob, shaking your head violently.

"no–"  

"yes." he pulls back just enough to look at you, really look at you, his dark eyes full of nothing but love.

"you’re not a monster. you’re still my girl… my angel."  

dae-ho’svoice breaks on those last words, but he keeps going.  

he wants to cry with you.

"when we get out of here, i’ll get us help." he promises.

 "therapy, whatever you need, i’ll be right there with you. we’ll get through this. together."  

your face crumples, your hands tightening in the fabric of his 388 shirt. 

"how can you still love me after this?"  

dae-ho lets out a soft, shaky breath, like he can’t believe you’d even ask that.  

"how can i not? you’re the love of my life. bad or good."  

your chest shakes as another sob wracks through you, but this time, it’s different.

it’s not just grief, it’s relief.  

because he’s not leaving. 

he’s not disgusted.  

he’s not giving up on you. 

"i’m not mad, baby. i’m not mad at you." his lips press against your temple, lingering. 

"and we’re okay. i’m still with you. i’m still going to protect you."  

"we’re okay?" you whisper, almost afraid to believe it.  

he nods, pulling you closer, holding you like he never wants to let go.  

"we’re okay."

masterlist

[red-heart-green-light]

LOADING PROFILE . . . COMPLETE !

╰─ ♡

name : dollie

pronouns : they/them + some neos

age : 21

main blog : @ihatetransphobes

◜what i'll write for : right now just squid game but if this blog gains traction (and i have the energy) i might open up to other fandoms!

⌇ who i'll write for : se-mi (380), cho hyun-ju (120), kim young-mi (095), kim jun-hee (222), kang mi-na (196), kang no-eul (soldier 011), basically just all the girls (i MIGHT open up to some of the guys as well i'm just a lesbian-)

⌇ what i'll write in general : character x reader, character x character, fluff, angst, smut/nsft, one-shots/short-form writing, imagines, headcanons, fake texts

◟what i WON'T write : chaptered/long-form writing as i don't have the attention span for it, plus some hard no's with smut like feet, scat, emeto, and vore

asks/requests are currently closed while i catch up! i hope you decide to stick around!! ♡

[mooniiify]

stress-packing — go kyung jun

requested by: @mattybsgf

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

kyung jun was laying on your bed, head propped on the headboard as he toyed with a plushie he’d stolen from your bed — one he’d won for you at the arcade about a year ago. he watched as you walked around your room, hand running through your hair occasionally.

your room was a mess. your pink suitcase laid open on the ground near the bed, stray pieces of clothing and make-up products thrown over as you continued searching for whatever else you needed.

it was the day before your long-anticipated school trip. you were to be at the school to catch the bus at 7:30 in the next morning. kyung jun checked the time on his phone. it was nearing eleven. he would have to start heading home soon, even though he didn’t want to.

“kyung jun, have you seen my hair rollers? i can’t find them anywhere.” you were rummaging through a drawer next to your desk, not looking at him.

kyung jun sighed. “no. i told you not to pack last minute, dumbass.”

“hey, i have a lot of minutes left before we have to catch the bus!” you stood up and moved over to another cupboard. “hah! there they are.” you tossed that on the pile atop your suitcase as well.

kyung jun sighed and stood up, putting the plushie back where he’d gotten it from. he sat on the ground, in front of the suitcase, and sorted through the clothing and non-clothing items, putting them in two neat piles before he moved to fold the first shirt on top of the pile. he furrowed his eyebrows at the familiarity.

“you’re packing my shirt for the school trip?”

y/n was going through her closed again, not looking at kyung jun. “you got a problem with that?”

“tch, no.” he folded the shirt and put it inside the suitcase before moving on to the next one. “the hell you need all those clothes for? we’re going for a few days only.”

you finally looked back. “better safe than sorry!” then your eyebrows furrowed as you finally took in the situation. “are you folding my clothes?”

“what does it look like?”

you couldn’t help but smile at the sight. walking over, you dropped your tub of vaseline in the non-clothing pile then crouched down next to kyung jun, wrapping your arms around his shoulders from the side and pressing a kiss on his cheek.

he smiled, turning his head just enough so he can look at her from the corner of his eye. “what was that for?”

you shrugged. “you’re cute.”

kyung jun rolled his eyes, but his smile didn’t falter. “never say that in public.”

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

just some random thoughts. hope you liked! feel free to send other requests !

[k1mbe3rly]

WAAAAA HAII BESTIE IM BORED SO IM SENDING YOU ANOTHER REQUEST FOR HEADCANONS SQUID GAME WOMEN BC IM SO GAY FOR THEM FR FR 😼

Maybe them having an energetic and reckless s/o but when they're having sex or just making out or wtv she gets super serious ? Idk wtf is this but I'm craving it so 😺

Characters included: Sae Byeok(067) , Ji yeong (240) , se-mi (380) , jun-hee (222) , no-eul (guard 011) , young mi (095)

THANK YOU !! 😽😽

I LUV KITTYSS 😸😸😸 (I'm so random help)

hellurrrr

Squid game NSFW women hc

warnings: smut, little stories for each one basically ⚠️WLW⚠️

-Sae byeok

When Sae byeok started dating you, she was already aware of what she was getting herself into, She did notice your outgoing and talkative personality which attracted her in the first place, so the only one to blame was her. Until yall had sex one day, and you were a complete diffrent person. You were absolutely so serious about it till the point she wondered if you were even her real girlfriend.

When yall makeout, your lips were rough and fast, her lips quickly moving along in sync, her hand traveled everywhere including your pussy, she fingered you while making out as you moaned into her mouth, you than traveled your mouth to her jaw and to her neck and finally lifted up her shirt and roughly sucking on her tits.

- Ji Yeong

Ji yeong was almost the same as you, just more humorous, she liked making cheeky jokes, but most of all when yall had sex she would try to joke around, but you WERE not having it, you were so into it.

As you are her out aggressively she had her hand on your hair a bit panting softly “Holy- fuck baby slow down- your going crazy..fucking fast like uh.. like a train?” she said clearly trying to make a joke but couldn’t really think with your mouth basically eating her only sex soul out of her

- Se-mi (strap on)

Se-mi is kinda the same as Sae byeok, she knew was she was getting herself into the moment she saw you and your friends sneaking into somewhere. In which she didn’t mind your energetic behavior but what she didn’t know was that you were even more energetic in sex.

As you were riding her strap on for at least AWHILE, she was a bit stunned on how long you could go after she fucked you in many diffrent positions, her hands were on your hips following along your hips as they went back and forth, finally at least after 30 more minutes you finally stopped, ever since then she made sure to fuck you even more harder to get you tired out.

- Jun hee

Jun hee is the type to act serious in sex, but she didn’t know that you were serious as well, of course she didn’t mind but she was also serious even out of sex, and you were the complete opposite, she’s dommed you before and she’s used too it so once she finally let you dom her after awhile of begging she was JAW dropped.

You were fingering her like crazy fast, this was probably the loudest she’s ever moaned as she felt your fingers go in and out very quickly, she tried squirming her hips away but you’ve always pulled her closer, and maybe even some pussy grinding had her eyes rolled back

- No eul (strap on)

No eul has always been serious never stopped and honestly never will. She was already used to your friendly behavior and in the relationship yall took things slow, at first yall only made out, but she noticed the way you got completely silent when your making out and not spiting out jokes as you are when you aren’t making out, so when she had sex with you, she wasn’t that suprised.

She was fucking you doggy style as she was biting her lip, she doesn’t really make any sounds during sex so not really a surprise, after awhile of fucking you, her hips got tired as she stopped, panting but still inside you, her eyes widen a bit when she saw you fucking yourself back onto the strap on, your back arched as your ass slightly slams back onto her. She smirked at bit “Fuck you slut.. fucking yourself into me hm? you can’t enough or what?”

- Young mi

Young mi was the shy type, she honestly didn’t really care what you did as long as you stayed with her, she knew about your risky behavior like doing wild things, spray panting buildings, prank calling, or just pranks, maybe even stealing a bit, she obviously backed out when you asked if she wants to do it with you. The most youve probably done with her is eat her out, or she eats you out , you obviously dom her.

She was eating you out as she looked up at you, she heard small pants from you but not moans so that’s what worried her, she lifted her head “A-am i doing good?” she asked concerned you looked down at her and nodded “Yea- yea you are..just keep going” you said slightly shoving her head between your thighs as she quickly went back, she soon realized that you were just serious as hell during intimate moments

[idciminlove]

FIGHTER.

Part Eight - Like

Cinnamonacid on AO3

Kang Dae Ho x f!reader

warnings- themes of PTSD, father issues, mention of overdose (but not an actual overdose), grief, etc.

You make some new friends, and some old ones too.

Dae-Ho could still feel the warm press of your body against his. It wasn’t until he had you in his arms that he realized how small you were. Your presence was so strong, making you larger than life, like an angel or a goddess, but when he held you, you felt real. Like something attainable, something human.

You wanted to push him away at first, he could feel it. Your body tensed up, and he almost let you go, but then he felt you relax. Felt your head rest on his chest and your arms wrapped around his back, soft and gentle, as if you gripped him too hard, he would break.

You were like fire..all different kinds. A forest fire, wild, untamed and dangerous, burning anyone that got close, but also a fireplace, warm and inviting, comforting on a cruel, frigid night.

You were truly something else. He had never met anyone like you.

“Is everything okay?” 001 asked, bringing him back to reality. All of his other teammates were looking at him now, concerned from his unusual silence.

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Just got a little lost in thought, I guess.” He grinned, shifting his focus on their conversation instead.

–

Dae-Ho introduced himself (Dae-Ho - Dae as “huge” and Ho as “tiger,” of course) and listened to their names and the meanings behind them. He knew 456’s name was Seong Gi-Hun, since he had been called that by the other men. But he didn’t know the rest. There was 390, or Park Jung-Bae (meaning twice and righteous) who supposedly lives twice as righteously, 001, which was Oh-Young Il, his name coincidentally meaning zero one, (maybe that’s why they gave him the number), and Miss 222, Kim Jun-Hee. She didn’t know the meaning behind her name.

As they talked, he couldn’t help but gaze over at you, letting his attention drift once again. You were sitting on your bunk, all alone. He knew you probably preferred it, knew that you could handle yourself just fine, but it didn’t sit right with him, especially after the two of you had made up. Everything was okay between you two, so why couldn’t you join him?

Once again, he was standing in front of the group. He gestured to you. “Would it be okay if we had her join us?”

“I don’t know. She kinda seems like trouble.” Jung-Bae mumbled. “She got into a fight on the first day, and she doesn’t exactly seem popular around here. If we have her on our side, it might be harder to convince people to change their vote. How do you even know her, anyway?”

“She saved me in the first game. Of course, Gi-Hun was very motivating, but she was the one who really got me through it.” Dae-Ho admitted, slightly bashful.

It was the truth. Without you, he didn’t know what he would’ve done. He was in a bad way that game, with all the gunshots, blood, and screaming bringing back memories he had so desperately tried to repress. His hands were all shaky and he felt like he couldn’t breathe, and then you took his hand, and guided him through it. You truly had saved him, and he still doesn’t know why. All he knows is that he owes you one. The least he can do is look after you.

“She helped me too.” Jun-Hee chimed in. “She was the one who told me to join your group. She gave me the confidence to do it.”

Gi-Hun and Young-Il traded glances. Young-Il was the first to speak. “Sure, why not.”

Gi-Hun didn’t say anything, just nodded his head in agreement.

–

You could feel their eyes on you. Thanos and Nam-Gyu, glowering at you, watching you like a hawk watches its prey, circling like sharks in blood thirsty waters. You tried not to pay attention to them, tried not to show your fear because you knew the moment you did, they would win. So instead, you lied on your back, staring at the bunk above, gazing at the metal fixtures, and counting down the minutes until the next vote.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Dae-Ho’s head popped up from the side of the bunk, standing beside it, below you. “Hey.”

“You scared the shit out of me!” You practically jumped out of your skin, startled. You were so surprised that you almost hit your head on the bottom of the bunk above you.

“Oh, sorry. I thought you heard me.” He offered you his hand.

“What?” You asked, gazing at it hesitantly. What is this about? What does he want?

“Come with me.” It wasn’t like you had anything better to do, so you took his hand, letting him carefully help you down from his bunk. You expected him to let go of you once he had done so, but he didn’t. Instead, he kept holding your hand, leading you over to the group, the team he had been with in the pentathlon.

He finally let you go once you reached them. “You should meet my friends. This is Seong Gi-Hun, Oh Young-Il, Kim Jun-Hee, and Park Jung-Bae.”

You bowed politely. “It’s nice to meet you all.”

“Aren’t you going to tell us your name?” Jung-Bae inquired.

“Oh, yes, right.” You hesitated for a moment, gazing at Dae-Ho. He gestured to you encouragingly, a bright smile on his face. You took a deep breath and told them your name.

Jung-Bae repeated your last name. “Wait, like the famous MMA fighter?”

“Yeah. That was my Dad.”

You watched the older men’s expressions change, watched as it clicked. Who your father was, who you are, a major piece in the puzzle, falling into place. It all made sense to them now.

“Ah, the heavyweight champion, The Dragon. Gi-Hun and I were big fans. We would bet on his fights all the time.” Jung-Bae remarked, pumping his fist. “That explains how she’s so tough. Yeah, I can totally see the resemblance.”

You smiled softly. It was always such a bittersweet feeling when people recognized you and your father. There was always the awe and amazement, and then the pity. Your father had kept his family life private from the tabloids, so most didn’t know about you, and you liked that. You’d rather gain your own fame through blood, sweat, and tears, working your way up the MMA rankings instead of being known just for being someone’s daughter. What little information was known about your father was his death, rumors of his overdose spread like wildfire, whispers of him being a junkie, using during his career, when they didn’t know the true story.

No, they didn’t know anything at all.

“It was a shame what happened to him.” Jung-Bae added, pity and sympathy clear in his voice. Young-Il nodded in agreement.

Gi-Hun spoke, soft and quiet. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

You nodded, looking at the ground, unable to meet their stares. In your periphery, you could feel Dae-Ho’s eyes on you, and see his hand move, as if he wanted to reach out to you. You heard those words time and time again, so much that they lost their meaning. It’s a shame. I’m sorry. Like that would bring him back. Like it would make you feel better. You’re so tired of hearing it. You’re so tired of the pity and the guilt. You’re so, so tired.

Before your conversation could continue, the guards entered the room, thankfully shifting the focus to something else you had to worry about. They congratulated you on getting through the game, and clicked the remote. The piggy bank lit up and the bills fell in, the amount of money going up on the chart while the number of players went down.

20.1 Billion Won. 78 million won each.

The players around you complained. It still wasn’t enough.

The front guard tried to appease them. “Your concern about the prize money is completely understandable. However, we always leave the door open for you to explore other opportunities.”

A shiver went down your spine. You looked over at Thanos and Nam-Gyu. Nam-Gyu caught your gaze, a snake-like grin crossing his lips.

Two guards brought the voting podium into the front of the room. Everyone got into their lines. You sighed softly.

The cycle continues.