Player 303

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/62015689.

Rating: Mature
Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Category: M/M
Fandoms: 타인은 지옥이다 | Strangers From Hell (TV), Squid Game (TV 2021)
Relationships: Seo Moonjo/Yoon Jongwoo, Seo Moonjo & Yoon Jongwoo
Characters: Seo Moonjo, Yoon Jongwoo (Strangers From Hell), Player 456, Seong
Gihun, Player 001, Hwang Inho | Front Man (Squid Game),
Thanos/Player 230, Namgyu (Squid Game), Player 333, Lee Myunggi,
Players (Squid Game), Pink Soldiers (Squid Game), Kang Daeho (Squid
Game), Jungbae/Player 390, Player 120, player 007, Park Yongsik,
Guemja, Player 149, Player 100, Player 124, Original Characters, Hwang
Junho (Squid Game), Jongwoo’s mom (mi-kyung)
Additional Tags: Crossover, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical
Violence, Blood and Injury, Gore, Stalking, Emotional Manipulation,
Myung-gi is an asshole in this AU, sorry - Freeform, Squid Game Season
2, Moonjo is Back, Creepy Seo Moonjo, Possessive Seo Moonjo,
Jongwoo can’t catch a break, Angry Yoon Jongwoo (Strangers From
Hell), Jongwoo is Player 303, Eventual Relationships, Eventual
Romance, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, squid game AU,
Excessive use of jagiya, Sexual Tension, Alternate Universe - Squid
Game Fusion, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Literal Sleeping Together, Murder
Husbands, Minor Character Death, Slow Burn, Angst, Angst with a
Happy Ending, For some characters, idk how to tag angst sorry, Kissing,
Making Out, Feelings Realization, Domestic, Not Beta Read, Coming
Out, They’re married your honour!
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2025-01-06 Completed: 2025-03-08 Words: 169,590
Chapters: 16/16
 Player 303
by iz4hyun

Summary

Cornered by his crippling debt after the events of Eden, Jongwoo made the seemingly
innocent decision to join the Squid Games. But Jongwoo would have never guessed what
actually awaited him beyond those walls. Or more accurately, who awaited him.

OR

Jongwoo is involuntarily reunited with the one man who he was convinced had finally left
him alone.

🇷🇺 Русский Translation
(comment if you’d like to translate this fic & i’ll add it here!)
 Pre-Games
Chapter Notes

In this AU, the whole SFH story also occurred in 2023 and that is why Jongwoo is still
in his late 20’s. This also means Moonjo is still the same age as he was in the drama
despite it taking place in 2019. (AKA, the events of Eden only happened a month and a
bit before the Squid Game recruiters started looking for players.)

Please keep in mind: I’m writing these Squid Game scenes from memory, so if a few
scenes are a little OOC, I apologise! But I hope you enjoy it anyway. :)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

It had been roughly five weeks since the events of Eden, and Jongwoo was beginning to get
sick of his monotonous life.

Wake up, go to work, come home, sleep, repeat. It was one never ending cycle. And while he
hadn’t landed a prestigious job by any means, he was earning more than he had been working
under Jaeho. Honestly, he should be grateful that he had somehow landed another job and
was earning a stable income at all. His pay was enough for him to be able to afford another
studio room, and yet, he couldn’t be further than satisfied with his current situation. It was
just so boring.

While he had tried endlessly to forget what had occurred that fateful night, Jongwoo couldn’t
shake the memory of how invigorated he had felt. Finally letting out that rage and frustration
that he had built up since he moved to Seoul felt more than gratifying. It felt phenomenal.
And as much as he hated to give the man any more leverage over him, Moonjo had been
right. Jongwoo simply couldn’t deny how good it had felt to not to have needed to hold back
anymore.

But he couldn't just go around killing people. Jongwoo had - for the most part - reformed and
rejoined society. And if he was aiming to come off as a law abiding citizen who had most
definitely never killed another person, he would have to seek out that feeling through
different means.

So as any good man would do, he turned to gambling.

Jongwoo had never been into gambling his money away - usually because he had very little
money to gamble with - but he assumed that there had to be something about it that people
gravitated toward. He had heard that, like many other addictions, the dopamine release that
followed a gambling win was beyond stimulating. And how people would do almost anything
to experience that pleasure again, such as gambling away the mortgage to their home or their
college tuition. So maybe, just maybe, gambling would help Jongwoo experience that
unmatchable feeling again.

But as he got caught up in his mission to find that elusive feeling, Jongwoo was soon
drowning in debts. Somehow, in only a matter of days Jongwoo had gambled away
everything he had saved up and more. He was so desperate to find that feeling again that he
didn’t even think twice when a tall, tailored man walked up to him one day after work and
offered to play a game in exchange for money.

And as he walked away a couple minutes later with both a stinging face and a pocket full of
cash, Jongwoo reached out into his pocket and pulled out the man’s odd business card. He
flipped it over and read the number engraved onto the card, and then pondered.

This could be his chance. Jongwoo no longer had anything to lose, and as he felt the weight
of the money in his pocket, he realised that this could very well be the opportunity he needed.
After all, if all he had to do was play old children’s games, Jongwoo was beyond confident in
his capabilities.

How hard could it be anyway?

And so Jongwoo reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out his phone before swiftly inputting
the number. He pressed call and held the phone up to his ear and waited for the line to
connect. Once it did, an almost robotic voice followed quickly.

“Please state your name and date of birth if you would like to participate in the games.”

“Yoon Jongwoo. March 6th, 1996.” He responded quickly.

The person on the other line then informed him of where he was expected to wait that night
for when he would be picked up and taken to the games. And as Jongwoo hung up the phone,
he realised that it was too late to turn back now.

———that night———

The breeze was prickly cold and Jongwoo still shivered despite the thick jacket he had on.
Thankfully, before he could freeze to death, a van distantly approached. The lights were
blinding and Jongwoo held up a hand to block them, but they quickly dimmed as the van
pulled up beside him.

The doors swung open and Jongwoo hopped inside. He shut the doors behind him and looked
around at the other passengers who were strangely quiet. It was late at night, so perhaps they
had fallen asleep already? Jongwoo shrugged at the odd sight before he settled into his seat.

Suddenly, a hissing sound rang out throughout the car and an overwhelming amount of
contaminated gas appeared around him. He could feel his head becoming heavy and his
vision going hazy before he quickly succumbed to the effects of the gas. Jongwoo’s body
went limp as he fell completely unconscious, his head landing on one of the other passengers
beside him.

And then the van started up again before swiftly accelerating off into the distance.

———later———

Jongwoo’s eyes fluttered open as a distant melody filled his ears. He groaned as he propped
himself up, rubbing his eyes with his palms as he tried to come to his senses.

And as he dropped his hand and looked around, his breath hitched.

What the fuck?

His eyes darted across the large space filled to the brim with black, steel bunk beds.
Jongwoo’s attention then turned to himself - as he looked down at the turquoise jumpsuit he
had on. Where had the clothes he was wearing gone? And his belongings?

Jongwoo looked around and quickly found he wasn’t alone in his confusion. The people
beside him were also trying to understand where they had been taken to and why their clothes
had been changed.

And Jongwoo simply watched as people slowly started to make their way down into the open
space among all the beds, trying to gather what was really going on. Quiet murmurs and
conversations filled the silence of the room and Jongwoo even found himself beginning to
join the crowd of people below.

But as everyone crowded around and were actively surveying their surroundings, a loud
buzzer sounded and suddenly a door slid open to reveal a large cluster of pink…guards?
What the hell?

They marched toward the startled crowd in an unsettling amount of sync before abruptly
stopping. It was then that one of them, with a white square on their mask, stepped forward
and started an announcement.

Jongwoo’s mind began to wonder as the mysterious person spoke as he tried to fathom just
how many people were in this room with him. It had to be what, 300 people? 400? Either
way, he had not been expecting this many people to have joined the games too.

He was immediately brought back to reality when a man in the front row yelled out.

“Could I have my phone back? I have to invest in my crypto.”

His eyes fell on the back of a weirdly familiar head before the square-faced guard replied.
“Player 333. Lee Myung-gi, or more commonly known as ‘MG Coin,’ a youtuber who
encouraged his subscribers to invest in the cryptocurrency company, Dalmation. And when
the company crashed and both he and his subscribers’ investments failed, they all fell into
massive debt. Currently, he is $1.8 billion won in debt.”

The voice echoed throughout the vast room as a video played on the screen above them. It
was the man playing the same game Jongwoo had played. Getting hit, trying again, and then
winning the money. It was all the same.

Jongwoo watched from afar as this ‘Player 333’ immediately quieted down and dropped his
head in embarrassment before disappearing into the crowd. But the guard didn’t stop there.
Instead, Jongwoo watched as the stories of several other people who had chosen to speak up
replayed over the big screen. And whether they were $400 million won or $10 billion won in
debt, their stories all had one thing in common. The ddakji.

Jongwoo’s brows scrunched up at the odd connection before he pieced it together. So

everyone here was in some sort of debt and had been recruited to join these games by the
same tailored man? While it was strange, it wasn’t that far-fetched. Given that they were all
given a large wad of cash for simply winning a children’s game, perhaps this wasn’t going to
be any different. Perhaps they’d continue to earn more easy cash for every game that they
played.

But before he could dwell on the thought any longer, the pink guard concluded with one final
statement.

“The first game will be beginning soon. Good luck.”

And with that, a 30 minute timer appeared on the TV screen above them. The doors behind
the pink guards suddenly opened and they retreated inside before the doors quickly closed
after them.

Jongwoo stared absentmindedly up at the timer, and wondered what the first game would be.
Whereas the people around him had separated and either went back to their respective beds or
began to mingle with each other. It probably didn’t hurt to make a friend or two. Who knows
if these upcoming games were to be individual or group based.

Luckily for Jongwoo, he didn’t have to approach anyone as he felt someone behind him tap
his shoulder lightly. He turned around and much to his surprise, it was none other than Player
333. What was his name again? Lee Myung-jun? Lee Myung-hwan?

“Hello, I’m Lee Myung-gi.”

Ah, that’s it.

“Yoon Jongwoo, it’s nice to meet you.” He replied casually. And as Jongwoo inspected the
man more closely, he was almost startled at the alarming similarities between them. He had
noticed their similarities when the video appeared on the screen but Jongwoo didn’t realise
that they were this similar.
The other man also seemed to also pick up on their similar appearance before he cleared his
throat and spoke up.

“How old are you, by the way? I’m 25.” Myung-gi managed.

“Oh, I’m 27.” Jongwoo responded.

“Then may I speak casually with you?” Myung-gi’s reply came almost instantly and Jongwoo
nodded in response.

“Well then, I just wanted to say that we look eerily similar, hyung.” He practically blurted
out, but quickly followed it up with an awkward chuckle.

“Yeah, I noticed that. I didn’t expect to meet my doppelganger in here of all places.”
Jongwoo replied, a little lamely.

But it was true, what were the chances that he’d meet his doppelganger in the games?
Jongwoo didn’t even really believe in the whole doppelgänger thing in the first place, but
upon seeing Myung-gi, he quickly changed his mind.

Myung-gi let out a low chuckle before his face lit up in amusement.

“Oh! Even our numbers are similar!” He shrieked, reaching a hand out to point at Jongwoo’s
jumpsuit.

Number?

Oh, yeah. Jongwoo had yet to see what his number was. And as he followed the direction of
Myung-gi’s finger, his eyes fell on the number stitched into his turquoise jacket.

Suddenly, Jongwoo let out a loud, hearty laugh. Myung-gi furrowed his brows and looked
around, seemingly embarrassed by Jongwoo’s unexpected outburst.

There was no way that was his number.

His patch read an equally amusing and unbelievable “303”.

And as Jongwoo calmed down, he let out a sigh in disbelief. He returned his attention to
Myung-gi who was looking at him a little strangely.

“Oh, sorry.” He cleared his throat before concluding, “It’s a long story, but I just didn’t expect
that this was going to be my number. A coincidence, that’s all.”

Myung-gi gave him a half-hearted smile, most likely still a little weirded out by Jongwoo’s
sudden antics.

But despite Jongwoo’s outburst, they fell into a comfortable conversation. They discussed
how they had both ended up here, even if Jongwoo already knew Myung-gi’s situation thanks
to the guard from before. But regardless, it was nice to have found someone to talk to. They
both guessed and pondered what the next game could be and how they would go about
winning. And Jongwoo found himself smiling for the first time in a while. It had been a long
time since he had felt content like this.

His eyes wandered up to the timer above them, where it displayed a bright ‘10:23 MINUTES
REMAINING.’

Oh shit, time had gone by a lot quicker than he expected. And as his eyes fell back down to
Myung-gi, the younger man opened his mouth as if to say something.

“Hyung?”

Jongwoo hummed in response, encouraging Myung-gi to continue.

“I know we’ve only just met, but can I ask you for a favour?” He questioned a little
hesitantly.

“Yeah sure, what is it?” Jongwoo was a little confused as to what the request could be, but he
listened carefully anyway.

“Is it alright if I borrow your jacket? Just for the first game though! It’s just that 303 is my
lucky number and you know…” He trailed off but Jongwoo didn’t need him to finish to
understand what he meant.

A bit of a strange favour he thought, but it wasn’t anything Jongwoo couldn’t do, so he
obliged.

“Oh um, yeah of course.” And with that, Jongwoo took off his jacket and handed it over to
the younger man. Similarly, Myung-gi took off his own jacket and then they exchanged them.

“Thanks Hyung!” Myung-gi beamed and Jongwoo couldn’t find it in himself to care about
the odd request anymore. If it made the other happy, Jongwoo couldn’t be too upset. Plus, it
was probably a good thing that he wouldn’t have to see that number for a while. While it was
amusing, it was also just as scary. Coincidences seem to be hitting him left and right today.
Honestly, what’s next?

And as Jongwoo finished putting on the jacket, Myung-gi spoke up one final time.

“Well it was nice talking to you, hyung. Good luck.” And with that, they said their pleasant
goodbyes and went their own ways. Myung-gi headed off in some other direction while
Jongwoo made his way back to his bed. Maybe he could snag in a nap before the games
started. It was an optimistic thought, but Jongwoo was determined.

And as he neared the stack of beds that contained his own, he felt a firm hand cup his
shoulder. Jongwoo turned to see a slightly taller purple haired man standing beside another
dark haired man.

“MG Coin, how’s it going man?” His voice was almost comical. Then Jongwoo’s eyes fell to
the man’s number, 230, before he quickly returned the man’s stare in confusion.

“Who?” Jongwoo sincerely asked.

“Aw come on MG Coin! We’re your fans, don’t you remember? It’s me Thanos and…”
Player 230 turned to what Jongwoo assumed was his friend whose name he had seemingly
forgotten.

“Nam-gyu.” The other man corrected.

“Right, Nam-su.” He added. Jongwoo fought to keep back an eye roll at the man’s impolite
and most definitely intentional miscall of his friend’s name.

“Anyway,” he continued, “how could you seriously not remember? You were the one that
told us to invest in that stupid crypto currency that made us lose everything!” Thanos spoke
with an oddly upbeat tone, but Jongwoo knew it was meant to be somewhat intimidating.

“You’ve got the wrong person. Could you let go now?” Jongwoo responded placidly. He
could’ve been sleeping by now and these idiots had only held him up. At this rate, he may not
even have the time to get to his bed.

Thanos and Nam-gyu/Nam-su simultaneously scoffed at his response before the grip on his
shoulder tightened.

“Mr. MG Coin, I know you’re a little spacey up here,” he reached a finger out and tapped
harshly on Jongwoo’s forehead, “but this is new, even for you. Are you trying to cosplay as
an amnesiac or something?” Thanos practically laughed out the question.

“Look man, I already told you that you’ve got the wrong person. The games are about to start
so just let me go on my way.” Jongwoo ignored the question and reached a hand up to
Thano’s, before he forcibly unraveled the man’s grasp on him.

Thanos, surprised by Jongwoo’s sudden display of force, scoffed once again. But it was Nam-
gyu who spoke up this time.

“Lee Myung-gi, are you really asking for a beating?” He spat, quickly moving into
Jongwoo’s personal space.

Lee Myung-gi? He’s not—

Oh.

And as the puzzle pieces swiftly fell into place, Jongwoo couldn’t help but crack a smile at it
all. Ah, so that’s why he wanted to swap jackets. Myung-gi was being sought out by these
idiots because he had scammed them and now Jongwoo was the one being harassed.

Jongwoo looked around beyond the small crowd that had gathered amidst their obnoxiously
loud argument, before his eyes fell on the person he had been looking for.

Player 333.

Or well, Player 303 if you looked at the jacket.

Myung-gi had been watching them the entire time from afar, so when Jongwoo’s eyes fell on
him, he quickly averted his attention elsewhere.

And to think Jongwoo thought he’d made a friend. In the end, it had been too good to be true.
Everything that ever happened to Jongwoo was never that simple, and he should’ve known
better.

Jongwoo quickly focused his attention back on the two men in front of him who had now
inched forward and were doing their best to physically intimidate him. Myung-gi may have
been intimidated, but he certainly wasn’t.

“That’s not my name.” Jongwoo gritted out.

And before he could even register it, a fist collided with the side of Jongwoo’s face, causing
him to stumble back slightly. Once he had regained his footing, Jongwoo instantly recognised
the familiar irony taste that had now filled his mouth. He then leaned to the side, opening his
mouth before spitting the build up of blood that had accumulated on his tongue onto the floor
beside him.

Thanos, who had landed the punch, had been so caught up basking in the success of his
efforts that he was caught off guard when Jongwoo immediately landed a nasty right hook to
his cheek. Similarly to Jongwoo, he stumbled back and raised a hand to the now red and
sensitive area. But before Thanos could return the punch, it was Nam-gyu who reeled his arm
back before he lunged toward Jongwoo.

Jongwoo dodged the other man’s lackluster attempt as he simultaneously landed a harsh jab
at Nam-gyu's side, temporarily winding him. Thanos took his friend’s brief moment of
incapacitation to lurch into Jongwoo himself, sending the two toppling over backwards.
Jongwoo’s head hit the floor with a deafening thud, followed by a sharp pain that rippled
throughout his head.

Thanos scrambled to straddle him, and it wasn’t long before he was drilling punches into
Jongwoo. It wasn’t an ideal situation to say the least. But Jongwoo would rather die than let
this idiot get the better of him. And somehow amidst the continual hits, Jongwoo managed to
time a strong blow to the other man’s face, causing him to go flying back whilst clutching at
his now profusely bleeding nose.

But as he scrambled to his feet, Jongwoo noticed that Nam-gyu had also regained his breath
and was preparing himself to leap forward into Jongwoo again. So, he took the initiative
instead. Jongwoo ran up to Nam-gyu before he thrusted a leg into the man’s abdomen,
sending him tumbling back onto the floor. And Jongwoo didn’t waste a single second as he
focused on landing several kicks on the other’s body, leaving Nam-gyu groaning out in pain
as he tried to throw his hands up in a pathetic attempt of defence.

And even as the man beneath him slowly started to give into the pain and became weaker,
Jongwoo didn’t stop kicking him. If it hadn’t been for Thanos ripping him away from Nam-
gyu, Jongwoo probably would’ve beaten the man to death.
Thanos’ nose was still relentlessly bleeding when Jongwoo turned to face him. And suddenly,
Jongwoo found himself propelling forward into the purple haired man in a matter of seconds.
Similarly to Jongwoo only moments before, the sound of Thanos’ head hitting the ground
echoed through the vast space. It was then Jongwoo’s turn to scramble to hold down the other
man under him before he could retaliate. But instead of opting for his fists like Thanos had
done with him, Jongwoo slithered his hands around the man’s neck and mercilessly tightened
his grip.

He felt Thanos’ breath hitch under his fingers and it wasn’t long until Thanos was reaching
his hands up to Jongwoo’s, desperately trying to unravel his grip. Jongwoo only tightened his
hold, leaving the man beneath him to flail his legs out in panic.

And for a moment, Jongwoo felt it. That feeling he thought had been long gone. It was
electrifying and somehow Jongwoo felt his hands wrap around the man’s neck even tighter.
He couldn't help but chase the thrill of how the purple haired idiot heated up like a furnace
under his grip.

Jongwoo stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity. Thanos’ movements beneath him
soon became increasingly more erratic as he began to run out of breath, but it didn’t make
Jongwoo loosen his grip at all.

But suddenly, he felt a strong pair of hands on his shoulders that grabbed onto him and sent
him flying onto his back. Jongwoo landed harshly with a strained wheeze that left him
struggling for air. But as he quickly caught his breath again, he looked up to see who had
broken them apart.

An older man stood between the two and Jongwoo’s eyes drifted toward his number.

001.

“Enough!” His voice was loud and demanding, but in the meantime, Jongwoo had managed
to get to his feet.

“This has nothing to do with you.” He spat.

Jongwoo then felt the palm of the older man’s hand striking his cheek, followed by a piercing
slap that rang out shortly after. He was much stronger than he looked. Jongwoo, partly
stunned by the slap, swiftly came to his senses and peered up to see the older man quickly
closing the distance between them.

“Young-il, don’t!” A different voice cried out, effectively stopping the man dead in his tracks.

Jongwoo’s eyes darted around the crowd trying to find the owner of the voice before they
settled on a taller man with short black hair.

Player 456.

The man emerged from the crowd and hastily made his way over to the two, putting up both
his arms between them as if to prevent them from fighting any further.
Jongwoo cocked an eyebrow up at the sudden odd and heroic gesture, before he let out an
annoyed sigh. The feeling he had been chasing was now long gone and Jongwoo was already
missing its presence.

“There’s no need to fight! We can all get out of this together, so stop fighting with each
other!” His voice was stern but nevertheless full of hope.

“Gi-hun, didn’t you see that he nearly killed Player 230? I think I’m speaking for the people
here when I ask how we are supposed to feel safe knowing he’s walking around?” The older
man, or Young-il as he now knew, retorted rather aggressively.

Gi-hun then opened his mouth in return to say something but was interrupted by a loud
buzzer sound that blasted through the speakers. Everyone’s attention suddenly shifted from
the fight to the TV screen which was now flashing ‘00:00 MINUTES REMAINING’.

And not even a second later, the doors opened to reveal a much larger group of pink guards.

“The first game is about to begin. Please follow the guards.”

Jongwoo couldn’t tell if he had been saved by the bell or if he was annoyed by it. On one
hand, he certainly didn’t want to hear this Gi-hun figure ramble on about how they all needed
to befriend each other because friendship prevails above all and blah blah blah. But on the
other hand, he would have loved to try out his luck on Player 001 who had already proven
himself as an interesting opponent given his recent display of strength. So in the end,
Jongwoo was conflicted.

But he had no time to dwell on these feelings, as he soon found himself joining the line of
players leaving the room led by guards with various shapes on their masks. Jongwoo noticed
the strange architectural design of the new area that they had entered and how the colours
were almost blinding.

And while he wasn’t actively focused on it, Jongwoo could feel several sets of eyes on him.
Not to mention how the people surrounding him were keeping their distance from him.
Honestly, after what had just happened, he couldn’t even blame him. He had almost killed
two men in front of everyone.

Jongwoo knew it wouldn’t be good to linger on the thought, so he directed his full attention
to taking his photo. He absentmindedly wondered what it could be for before brushing the
thought off as it was now his turn.

And so Jongwoo took his photo bloodied, beaten, and black and blue. But soon after
everyone had taken their photos, the guards led them into a large open field.

He looked around in confusion as to what the game was supposed to be before his eyes fell
on the rather large doll in the distance. Suddenly, the green gates that they had come through
shut loudly, causing a wave of confusion to flow over the crowd. It was only a few seconds
later that a girl’s voice played out loudly over the speakers.
 “Here is the first game. You will be playing Red Light, Green Light. You are allowed to move
forward when ‘it’ shouts out ‘Green Light’, and stop when ‘it’ shouts out ‘Red Light’. If your
movement is detected afterward, you will be eliminated.”

The rest of the players quickly began murmuring and chatting, and Jongwoo couldn’t help
but overhear a few of their conversations.

“Red Light, Green Light? The thing we did as kids in the playground?”

“Yeah, I think that’s what she said.”

“Is this a joke?”

Then the voice played over the speakers again.

“Let me repeat the rules.”

Jongwoo didn’t listen the second time around as he was more held up on the fact that it was
true. Were they seriously going to be playing children’s games for money? There had to be a
catch. It couldn’t be this easy.

He watched as the doll in the distance slowly turned around and raised a hand to the tree
before the voice rang out again.

“Those players who cross the finish line without being eliminated within the five minute
playtime, will pass this round. With that, let the game begin.”

And immediately, the five minute timer above the doll began.

“Green Light.”

Chapter End Notes

Did I get the inspiration for this fic mid-writing a completely different SFH fic? Yes.
Did I drop everything and immediately smash out this chapter? Yes.

Anyway…i really hope you guys enjoy this! I have lots planned for the rest of this piece
so i hope you stay tuned 😊

(no beta reader, so if there are mistakes i apologise & pls lmk in the comments!!)

2025 JULY EDIT: update!! i’ve made another sfh x sg fic if anyone is interested :)) it’s
not as long as this one and only covers mjjw in the game ‘Keys & Knives’. if u’d like to
read it, check out my page :) (called “The Key to Survival”)
 Red Light, Green Light
Chapter Summary

Let the games begin.

Chapter Notes

I tried to keep most of the scenes the same for this chapter but the Red Light, Green
Light game ended up being a little different to how it was in the series. (same sorta
applies to the first voting scene after the game but still!) But don’t fret as I kept those
who survived the first game the same!!

Hope you enjoy!

(And for those metrically challenged, 1 metre = 3 feet & 3.37 inches.)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

The silence that followed the doll’s voice was deafening, and no one made an effort to begin
the game. But even amidst his confusion, Jongwoo heard a nearby scuffling of someone’s
feet before his eyes fell on a familiar figure a few metres in front of him.

Gi-hun.

The older man was now standing in front of the crowd, holding out his arms as if to tell
everyone to stop before he suddenly yelled out.

“Listen carefully!” His voice bounced off the walls.

“Red Light.”

Everyone froze subconsciously at the command, and Gi-hun seemed to tense up too. But
despite his nerves, he continued anyway.

“This is not just a game! If you lose the game, you die!”

A wave of both confusion and annoyance flooded over the players, and if it hadn’t been for
the ‘Red Light’ that had previously rang out through the speakers, Jongwoo wouldn’t have
been surprised if the crowd had shuffled around a bit more at Gi-hun’s sudden accusation.

“Green Light.”
Jongwoo squinted over at the odd man who’s shoulders relaxed ever so slightly at the doll’s
voice. It was then that players used the opportunity to voice their obvious doubts about Gi-
hun’s odd statement.

“What is he saying?” A man yelled out.

“Hey! What are you talking about?” Followed another.

“We’re going to die playing Red Light, Green Light?” A female voice shrieked, followed
shortly by an unamused chuckle.

“Yes, that’s right! If they catch you moving, they will kill you! They will shoot you from
somewhere.” Gi-hun continued hopefully.

Jongwoo couldn’t help but agree with the other players - what was he talking about? It was
just a kid’s game and he was just unnecessarily scaring everyone else. Not to mention he was
sucking up their time limit by pulling whatever this stunt was. And at the thought of the
timer, Jongwoo’s eyes drifted from the man onto the flashing numbers that displayed ‘4:32’
minutes remaining. It was a rather large field, and at this rate no one would get across if Gi-
hun didn’t stop his strange antics.

“That guy must be drunk. He says they’ll shoot us if we lose!” A younger woman scoffed.

“He sounds like my old man when he gets home drunk and starts talking crazy. Says there’s a
freaking bug in his head.” An animated voice accompanied by an awfully familiar mop of
purple hair added.

“Red Light.”

“If you get caught, you die! That doll’s eyes are motion detectors!” Gi-hun cried out, tensing
up at the doll’s command.

“See! Talking about devices.” The same comical voice muttered, despite freezing upon
hearing the voice ring out through the speakers.

“What the hell are you talking about?” A different man shouted.

“I think he’s trying to scare us so he can win the prize money!”

“Don’t pull any tricks, asshole!” A distant player yelled.

“Green Light.”

“You have to believe me! Do not be alarmed or panic! No matter what happens, do not panic
and start running!” Gi-hun continued.

Seemingly fed up with the man’s odd behaviour, Jongwoo found his feet moving forward
alongside the majority of other players. They were going to run out of time if they sat around
and listened to this idiot.
Jongwoo only managed to get a few metres ahead before he heard the voice in the speakers.

“Red Light.”

“Freeze!” Gi-hun suddenly bellowed, almost causing the players surrounding him to flinch in
surprise.

“Well done! You just need to stay calm like this! We just have to move and stop at the right
time. Then we can all win. We can all survive together!”

“Green Light.”

Everyone shuffled forward a few more steps before abruptly stopping. Jongwoo noticed that
Gi-hun had yet to move from his initial position but he quickly ignored it. Who cares if that
weirdo was left behind.

“Red Light.”

“Don’t move and stay still! Just relax!” He yelled out again.

They were probably only a third of the way there, and Jongwoo’s attention returned back on
the ticking timer above the doll. It flashed a bright ‘3:52’ minutes remaining. Shit, they really
needed to get a move on. At their current pace, it would be a miracle if they reached the other
side within the ever decreasing time limit.

And out of the corner of his eye as he wasn’t stupid enough to fully rotate his head, Jongwoo
heard the distant scream of a young woman and he watched as she flailed her arms around as
if a bug had landed on her.

Suddenly, a thundering bang ricocheted off the walls, followed shortly by the loud thud of the
woman’s body.

“Player 196, eliminated.” It was a different voice that played over the speakers this time.

Jongwoo’s breath hitched at the disturbingly familiar sound, temporarily bringing him back
to his military days. He was too far away to see the true state of the woman, but surely not,
right? Maybe it was just some fucked up joke.

And just like Jongwoo, the sudden noise had also startled the other players and nearly caused
them to jump back in shock. Thankfully, the doll’s voice rang out over the speakers once
again.

“Green Light.”

“Don’t panic! Whatever you do, don’t start running!” A familiar voice yelled.

Though still a little confused about what had just occurred, the crowd shuffled forward
nonetheless. Jongwoo watched as an older woman approached the eerily still girl on the dirt
floor, most likely checking to see if she was okay. It was then that an ear piercing scream
unexpectedly rang out.
“Red Light.”

Caught a little off guard by the woman’s reaction, Jongwoo managed to keep his cool while
watching as the woman swiftly spun around and began running away from the girl’s body.
What—?

Another loud bang bounced off the walls, followed by the familiar thud of a body.

“Player 035, eliminated.”

And while Jongwoo couldn’t turn his head to see exactly why she had ran, he quickly got an
idea as the man in front of him jumped far too much at the second bang. But before the man
ahead could even register what had happened, a third bang boomed and he was sent tumbling
backwards as the bullet travelled through his forehead. The man’s blood splattered onto the
side of Jongwoo’s face, and it took all of Jongwoo’s strength to not immediately bring his
hands up to wipe the blood off.

People say that one’s fight or flight response kicks in when the body perceives an oncoming
threat, but Jongwoo’s body did neither. Instead, he froze.

And then chaos erupted in the air. But unlike Jongwoo, the players around him began
screaming, before they themselves were turning around and trying to run back to the green
gates that they had come through. Jongwoo, still frozen by the shock of what he had just
witnessed, clenched down hard on his teeth as he tried to not accidentally jump at the
rampant amount of gunshots ringing out across the field.

What the fuck?

And as countless bodies dropped around him, Jongwoo didn’t dare to move a single inch of
his body. He’d be damned if he went out like this. But after what felt like an eternity, the
gunshots stopped.

“Green Light.” The doll’s voice played over the speakers innocently, but no one moved. For
obvious reasons.

It was then that he heard a familiar voice speak up, one that he had seemingly forgotten
during the chaos.

“We’ll also die if we don’t make it to the other side on time too!” Gi-hun yelled out, his voice
cracking but still prevailing.

Upon hearing this news and despite their crippling fear, everyone - Jongwoo included -
inched forward a few steps. After what they had all just witnessed, they weren’t going to take
chances in what was or wasn’t possible anymore. Fuck, they really should’ve listened to that
idiot when he was rambling on before. And then it occurred to Jongwoo almost instantly.

Wait, how did he know—?

“Red Light.”
The remaining players stopped dead in their tracks before Gi-hun yelled out again.

“Freeze!”

And everyone did. No more shots rang out and Jongwoo could practically hear a pin drop in
the air because it was that quiet.

“Green Light.”

Everyone ran forward a few more metres before abruptly stopping once again.

“Red Light.”

“Freeze!”

Blocking out Gi-hun subconsciously, Jongwoo found his eyes drifting up to the timer once
again, which now displayed a concerning ‘2:27’ minutes remaining. Holy shit, they were
seriously running out of time. They had only just exceeded halfway and they still had a large
chunk of area to cover before the time was up.

Jongwoo quickly realised that he would need to pick up the pace a lot more and cover more
distance when it was time to move. Otherwise, he’d be joining his fellow players on the floor
with a bullet through his head.

So that’s what he did. And not to Jongwoo’s surprise at all, the other players seemed to also
pick up on their quickly draining time remaining and picked up the pace too. In his peripheral
vision, Jongwoo had noticed that a few of the players had formed single file lines and were
travelling behind one another. Gi-hun had said something about how getting behind a bigger
person would interfere with the doll’s motion sensors but Jongwoo had accidentally ignored
the man as he had been too paralysed by his fear to listen.

And as the remaining players made their way across the rest of the field, they essentially
established a routine. The doll would yell out ‘Green Light’ then everyone would sprint
forward, in a their single file line or not, before coming to a complete stop upon hearing the
doll’s voice play out over the speakers. Gi-hun would then yell out something along the lines
of ‘Freeze!’ or ‘Don’t move!’, even though it was practically a common understanding
among the players to do either of the two. And then they would repeat the cycle again.

This newly formed routine also caused the amount of players being eliminated to come to a
halt. If they just kept this up then no one else would die and—

Fuck!

Jongwoo nearly choked on the air as he saw how much time was remaining. ‘00:42’ seconds
to be exact.

They couldn’t have been more than twenty-five metres away from the finish line, but time
was catching up to them. And fast.
As a few more cycles of their routine played out, Jongwoo’s heart nearly bursted out of his
chest at the mix of adrenaline and fear coursing through his veins. They were cutting it too
close. Would they even make it?

15 metres now.

00:36.

“Red Light.”

00:29.

“Green Light.”

10 metres.

00:23.

“Red Light.”

00:18.

“Green Light.”

5 metres - holy shit.

00:12.

“Red Light.”

Jongwoo couldn't have ripped his eyes away from the timer even if he tried. Was he going to
make it?

And then, as if it was music to his ears, he heard the doll’s voice play over the speakers.

“Green Light.”

00:07.

7 seconds. He had 7 seconds to reach the finish line.

Jongwoo used every single piece of strength within him to propel himself forward.

00:04.

His legs moved for him and time seemed to slow down as Jongwoo neared the finish line
closer and closer with every step he took.

00:03.

He wasn’t going to make it.

00:02.

Fuck, fuck, FUCK!

00:01.

With the doll already turning around, Jongwoo’s feet left the ground in a split second as he
leapt over the finish line. He crashed onto the dusty ground and gasped for air at the sudden
collision.

00:00.

He did it. He actually made it.

Jongwoo quickly propped himself up on his elbows as he overlooked the unlucky few players
who had yet to cross the finish line. And just like Gi-hun had predicted, gunshots rang out
and their bodies fell to the floor with a scattered but nevertheless deafening thud.

“Players 154, 267, 341, 199, 402, 013, eliminated.”

But before anyone could even catch their breaths, a pair of doors behind them slid open to
reveal yet another posse of pink guards. They informed the remaining players that the first
game had finished and that it was time to return to their sleeping quarters.

And as Jongwoo rose to his feet and began to follow the guards, he couldn’t help but look
back at the field that was now densely littered with the bodies of the fallen. Fuck, that
actually just happened.

The walk back to the room they had woken up in was nothing but silent. Seemingly grappling
with what they had just witnessed, Jongwoo noticed as the players around him failed to keep
their distance from him like they had once done before the game started. Honestly, Jongwoo
was in the same boat as them. He had totally forgotten about his sudden violent outburst
earlier and how he was mere seconds away from killing those two men. And he would’ve
forgotten about the whole ordeal if it hadn’t been for the aching in his face to coincidentally
return, effectively reminding him of what he had done.

And as the familiar room filled with steel bunk beds came into view, Jongwoo relaxed ever so
slightly. All he wanted to do at this point in time was go to sleep. Maybe he would gladly
forget about everything that had just happened once he woke up and he’d be none the wiser.
But even Jongwoo knew that he was thinking too optimistically.

The other players either retreated to their respective beds or regrouped with each other after
everyone had returned. And those who had made friends held each other that little bit tighter.

Jongwoo’s mission however was completely different. His eyes searched the room for a
particular face before he found him. Myung-gi.

And as Jongwoo hastily crossed the room over to where Myung-gi was sitting on his bed, he
noticed how the younger man tensed up upon seeing him. Jongwoo stopped only a few feet in
front of the man who was now visibly trembling.
But instead of saying anything, Jongwoo simply held his hand out. Myung-gi flinched at the
movement, quickly bringing a hand up to his face in case he needed to defend himself, before
staring confusedly at Jongwoo’s hand.

“My jacket?” Jongwoo bluntly asked.

And realisation hit Myung-gi like a speeding truck as he scrambled to strip out of Jongwoo’s
jacket. He hurriedly plopped the jacket into his hand before Jongwoo quickly did the same.

Putting on the jacket that was rightfully his, Jongwoo then turned his back to the younger
man and began to walk off.

Myung-gi, a little concerned by Jongwoo’s lack of confrontation, yelled out a half-hearted

apology.

“I’m sorry, hyung!”

Jongwoo stopped dead in his tracks but didn’t spin around. After everything he had done,
Myung-gi still had the audacity to speak casually to him. What an asshole.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. Just leave me alone.” Jongwoo replied.

The younger man behind him was a little stunned at Jongwoo’s response but he didn’t make
an effort to stop him as Jongwoo continued to walk away. Because in the end, Myung-gi was
not worth it. Yeah he had fucked Jongwoo over and nearly caused the death of two men, but
it wasn’t enough to justify any violence. And it was probably due to the fact that Jongwoo
didn’t want any more sets of eyes on him if he attacked someone else, but he ignored the
latter and convinced himself that he was merely being the bigger person out of the two.

And as he reached his bed, Jongwoo slumped down onto it before staring off into space. Yeah
no, he definitely wasn’t going to fall asleep any time soon. However, he was quickly brought
back to reality when a handful of pink guards emerged from the doors on the distant stage in
front of him.

Naturally, the players scurried back in fear of the mysterious guards. Jongwoo too found
himself flinching slightly upon the sight of the brightly coloured figures.

It was then that the square-masked guard stepped forward.

“Congratulations for making it through the first game. Here are the results of the first game.”

Suddenly, the TV screen above them displaying the player count begins to rapidly decrease.
As it came dwindling down, the guard continued to speak.

“Out of 456 players, 91 players have been eliminated. 365 players have completed the first
game.”

Jongwoo stared at the screen as it finally hit 365, only further confirming that this was in fact
not some fucked up dream and that it had really just happened.
“Congratulations again for making it through the first game.” The guard concluded.

It was then that an older woman emerged from her hiding spot before swiftly falling to her
knees.

“Sir! Please don’t kill us!” Jongwoo peered down at her jacket that read ‘149’.

“Please don’t kill us. I beg you! As for my son’s debt, I will do whatever it takes to pay you
back! Please forgive us!”

She then turned to what Jongwoo assumed was her son and loudly said, “Don’t just stand
there. Beg for his forgiveness!”

And Player 007 didn’t hesitate to comply.

“I’m sorry! Please forgive me! I promise I’ll pay it back.”

Jongwoo watched from his bed as many new people propelled forward, got to their knees and
begged for the guards to have mercy.

“There seems to be a misunderstanding.” The guard replied.

A mix of “Please don’t kill us!” and “Please spare us!” filled the room as even more players
came forward to beg for their lives.

“We are not trying to harm you. We are presenting you with an opportunity.” The guard
spoke bluntly. Suddenly, a voice yelled out above the crowd.

“Clause three of the consent form!”

Silence.

“The games may be terminated upon a majority vote.” Gi-hun stood up in his spot, causing
everyone’s attention to quickly fall on him.

“Correct?” He shouted.

“That is correct.” The guard confirmed.

“Then let us take a vote right now.” Gi-hun replied hopefully. Jongwoo had totally forgotten
about the consent form that they had signed when they got here. He had made the poor
mistake of glancing over the four clauses, but he was glad at least one person was paying
attention.

“Of course. We respect your right to freedom of choice.”

And as the guard finished, Jongwoo could hear the relief rush over the crowd.

“But first, let me announce the prize amount that has been accumulated.” The guard then
pointed a remote control up at the ceiling, where it began to rumble before opening to reveal
a golden…piggy bank? What the hell?

An almost game-like digital melody rang out as it descended from the ceiling. Then, just as
swiftly, stacks of cash began to fall from the long tube above it and it slowly started to fill up.

Upon seeing the influx of cash piling up, players began to move away from their initial
hiding spots to try and get a better view of the odd container. And like moths to a flame, the
players gazed into the golden light, seemingly captivated by the abundance of money falling
out. And honestly, Jongwoo was just as entranced by the sight as everyone else. Then, the
guard continued.

“The number of players eliminated in the first game is 91. Therefore, a total of 9.1 billion
won has been accumulated.” The guard paused, but resumed shortly after. “If you quit the
games now, the 365 of you can equally divide the 9.1 billion won and leave with your share.”

“How much is that?” Jongwoo felt his eyes drift to an older man who’s number, ‘100’, was
splayed out on the back of his jacket.

“Each person’s share would be 24,931,500 won.” The guard confirmed.

“Fuck. We almost died and they’re giving us 24 million? That’s fucking bullshit.” It was
Nam-su. Or wait, was it Nam-gyu? Ah, whatever.

Jongwoo’s eyes then fell on the familiar purple haired figure who was standing beside the
man.

“Twenty million? You said 45.6 billion!” Thanos yelled out, anger and frustration clear in his
voice.

“The rule is that a hundred million won will be accumulated for each eliminated player. If
you choose to play the next game and more players are eliminated, the prize amount will
increase accordingly.” The guard replied placidly, not an ounce of emotion present in their
voice.

“How much will it be if you survive until the end?” Player 100 spoke up again.

“As I already told you, the total amount of prize money for all 456 players is 45.6 billion
won. Those who make it through all six games will equally divide the 45.6 billion won.”

Interesting.

“So, if you’re the only one to survive, you get 45.6 billion?” The man standing beside Player
100, or Player 226, asked.

“That’s correct.” The guard’s confirmation of this fact caused the crowd to break out in an
equal mix of excitement and incredulity at the promised amount of money.

Jongwoo wouldn’t mind having a little extra cash in his pocket. If 45.6 billion won could be
considered ‘extra cash’ that is.
“So we can take a vote again and decide to leave after the next game?” Player 226
questioned.

“As promised in the consent form, you can take a vote after each game and decide to leave
with the prize money accumulated up to that point. We always prioritise your voluntary
participation.”

The players began murmuring among themselves again before the guard finished.

“Now, let’s begin the vote. If you wish to continue the games, press the O button. If you wish
to end them, press the X button.”

They were now huddled together in the space between the beds where a bright blue ‘O’ and a
deep red ‘X’ were illuminated on the floor in front of them.

Jongwoo absentmindedly wondered what his decision would be. 24 million won certainly
wasn’t enough to cover his debt, so would it even be worth it to leave? And while he was a
gambler, Jongwoo wasn’t all too keen on betting on his chances on being able to survive yet
another game. But he was soon brought out of his conflicting thoughts by the guard’s robotic
voice.

“The vote will be held in reverse order of your player numbers.”

He looked down at his own number, 303, and relaxed a little. He had the time to decide.

“Player 456.”

And with that, Jongwoo watched as Gi-hun made his way through the crowd before he
approached the podium with the buttons. And to no one's surprise, the man’s face lit up in a
bright red colour whilst the X number on the TV screen above increased by one. And after
Gi-hun reached out his hand to receive the X patch he had been given and attached it to his
jacket, he made his way to stand on the X side.

And for the next one hundred votes or so, Jongwoo watched as the faces of the players ahead
of him either lit up with blue or red. His eyes fell on the counter that displayed a practically
dead even vote between both sides.

“Player 302.” The guard announced.

Oh shit, he was next. Jongwoo had spent the time waiting for his turn mindlessly watching
what the people in front of him had voted for rather than figuring out what he wanted. And as
Player 302 hesitantly pressed the O button and was on his way to the O side, Jongwoo
cleared his throat in an attempt to compose himself.

But just as Jongwoo was preparing for when his number would inevitably be called out, Gi-
hun spoke up.

“Wait a minute, everyone! You can’t do this. Come to your senses! Don’t you see?” He had
stepped between the two opposing sides who were now both giving him strange looks.
“These aren’t just any games. We will all die if we keep playing! We have to get out of here
now. With a majority vote, we can! We must stop here!” Gi-hun begged desperately.

“Who do you think you are?” Suddenly, Player 100 emerged from the crowd holding up an
angry finger at Gi-hun.

“Why do you keep egging people on like that? You scared us by saying they’d shoot us
before the game even began!” He spat.

An older woman from the O side stepped forward and claimed, “He was going on about how
we’d die, and I almost did because I got so nervous!”

“How did you know that they were going to shoot us? Are you one of them?” Player 226
shouted out, quickly making his presence known.

“Are you conning us all by pretending to be a player?” Player 100 continued before he
shoved Gi-hun to the side and focused his attention on the guards.

“Who is this guy? Did you plant him to mess with our heads?” He snapped.

“That’s uncalled for.” This time, it was a player from the X side that came forward to Gi-
hun’s defence. Jongwoo had seen the man hanging around Gi-hun earlier so he assumed that
whoever this Player 390 was happened to be his friend.

“We wouldn’t have won the game and survived if it weren’t for him!” He angrily pointed
around the room.

“And you! I saw how scared you were. Your legs were shaking. You should thank him, not
treat him like a fraud!” His attention turned to Player 226 who rolled his eyes at the older
man’s accusation.

“And who the hell are you? Are you conspiring with him?” The younger man retaliated.

Jongwoo sighed in annoyance at the unnecessary display of masculinity. Could he just get his
vote over and done with? Was this really all that necessary?

But before the two men could get into any real altercation, the old lady from before emerged
from somewhere in the crowd. Oh, it was her. The one who came here with her son.

“Come on now. Please don’t do this! None of us would be alive if it weren’t for this
gentleman. So enough with the greed. Let’s put our lives first and get out of this place!
Okay?” She begged as she put her hands together in a prayer-esque fashion.

And with that, both sides erupted in either agreement or disagreement with the woman’s
statement, with both sides trying to out-cheer the other. Instead of joining in, Jongwoo’s eyes
fell back onto Gi-hun who, for the most part, looked like he was about to burst.

And then he did.

“I have played these games before! I have done this before!”

He paused, leaving only a deafening silence to engulf the once rowdy and obnoxious crowd.

“I knew about the first game because I had played it before! I played the games here three
years ago! And everyone who was with me, died here!”

This sent an array of scattered chatter throughout the room. Jongwoo’s brows also furrowed
at the man’s sudden confession. But as crazy as it sounded, it did make sense. How would he
have known about the doll if he hadn't played the game before?

“Hold on.” Player 226 interjected.

“If they all died, how did you survive alone?” And when he received no response from Gi-
hun, he continued. “Wait, are you saying you were the sole winner?”

“That’s right. I was the final winner.” Gi-hun confirmed. It was then that the crowd erupted
once again in a mix of shocked gasps and unconvinced murmurs.

“If we continue the games, every single person here, just like all the people back then, will
die in the end.” Gi-hun tried, but it seemed nobody was going to take him seriously. This was
quickly proven as Player 100 scoffed right in his face before speaking up.

“Bullshit. If you were the sole winner, it means you won 45.6 billion won. If you really did,
why’d you come back here?”

Gi-hun didn’t respond.

That’s a good point, actually. If it were Jongwoo, he would’ve taken the money and run off
somewhere so he could start a new life. Maybe he would've gone back to Busan and bought a
house near his mother. Maybe, just maybe, he’d get a second chance at life. He’d be able to
move so far away from Seoul that the painful memory of what happened there would fade
away until it merely felt like a dream he had once had long ago. That would be nice.

“That’s right! He’s lying! Cut the crap!” A female voice shrieked out.

“He’s a total nutcase!” Another shouted.

“If someone like you can win, so can I!”

It was then that Jongwoo noticed Thanos strutting down the aisle between the two opposing
sides until he was face to face with Gi-hun. Jongwoo knew he looked like shit, but Thanos
looked even worse. And he halfheartedly fought back the urge to crack a smile at the man’s
unruly appearance.

Thanos then crossed his arms smugly before he declared, “If you really won, it actually
works better for us. You can give us some tips on how to beat these games.”

“That’s right! We have a previous winner with us, so what do we have to worry about? Come
on, let’s do this!” Player 100 added, as he turned around and encouraged the other players to
take his side. And they did as a loud cheer from the O side filled the air.
Gi-hun, seemingly realising that those from the O side were not going to budge in their
thinking, turned to where Jongwoo stood among the several other players who had yet to cast
their vote.

“Please, I’m begging you. We have to get out now! If we keep playing, more people will
die.”

Suddenly, he reached his hands out and grabbed onto the shoulders of the man beside
Jongwoo.

“That could be you! We have to stop this now and get out of here.”

And unbeknownst to Gi-hun, Jongwoo watched as one of the guards quickly approached the
man before settling the barrel of their gun into Gi-hun’s back. Silence immediately fell over
the crowd.

“From here on, we will not tolerate actions that disrupt the voting process.” The square-mask
guard announced.

“Now, let’s resume the vote.” They added.

“Player 303.”

Jongwoo nearly jumped at the mention of his number before he quickly snapped out of it and
started to make his way down the aisle between the two sides. And it was at this point that the
unwelcome stares from the other players that had mysteriously vanished after the first game
returned. As he walked down the aisle closer to the voting podium, he couldn’t shake the
feeling of having quite literally everyone’s eyes on him. And while one can argue that when
players were voting all attention was on them anyway, Jongwoo knew that his attention was
for an entirely different reason.

He stopped in front of the podium and looked down at the two buttons. Jongwoo then looked
up at the counter on the TV screen that displayed a practically even share of votes for each
side.

What should he do?

If he pressed the O, maybe there was a chance he’d somehow make it through the next game
and then he could always vote to leave after the prize money had increased accordingly. But
on the other hand, if he pressed X, he’d be thrown back into his miserable life. His debt-
ridden, monotonous life. And was that really the life he wanted to live?

And as his face lit up in a bright blue colour, he received the O patch from the guard before
swiftly attaching it to his jacket. Because in the end, Jongwoo had come to a not-so startling
truth.

He had nothing to live for. There was no one waiting for him when he got back and his life
was far from worth living. He had already fucked up in so many ways and it’d be a miracle if
the whole Eden ordeal didn’t come back to bite him in the ass one day. So he did the only
plausible thing a man could do in his situation and voted to continue the games.

And as the other O voters quickly cleared out of his path as he made his way into the crowd,
he ignored all the lingering stares that burned into the back of his head from both sides.
While these two groups were divided, they were most certainly united on steering clear of
Jongwoo.

He found a spot near the back of the group and then waited for the next person to be called
out. This could take awhile.

“Player 304.”

He had chosen quite a shitty spot if he wanted to be able to see each of the voters walking
down the aisle, so Jongwoo found himself going up on his toes and trying his best to see who
the next voter was.

The man was tall and had long black hair, and for a moment, Jongwoo almost fell back at the
seemingly alarming similarities of the player. Moonjo was dead. Gone. Never to return.
Jongwoo had sworn he killed him that night and he would be damned to let whoever this
person was change his mind. And who knows, maybe he just happened to also meet
Moonjo’s doppelganger in here. It was a slim possibility, but it was also entirely possible
given his own one-in-a-million experience meeting who could’ve been his long lost twin.

But as Jongwoo had been distracted by his thoughts, Player 304’s face lit up a bright blue
colour before he attached the O patch onto his own jacket. And then he turned around.

And…

Fuck.

There’s no fucking way.

Moonjo’s eyes darted around the O crowd rapidly before they settled on Jongwoo’s, causing
him to wobble on his feet at the sight of the man.

He was supposed to be dead.

Jongwoo killed him.

But there he was. Staring at Jongwoo.

Moonjo was alive. In the flesh and much too close for Jongwoo’s comfort.

And as Moonjo made his way through the crowd toward him, Jongwoo felt himself turning
away from the man before shoving his way through the other players.

This wasn’t happening. Maybe it was when he hit his head after the first game because he
had to be dreaming. It couldn’t be happening.
 Jongwoo received several death stares from the players whom he pushed out of the way but
he didn’t care a single bit. He had to get out of there and—

Fuck, he should’ve pressed X when he had the chance. If he had known that Moonjo -
fucking Moonjo - was in here with him, he wouldn’t have hesitated to press that stupid red
button. He fucked up. Again.

Jongwoo didn’t dare to turn his head to see if the man was following him, so he instead
directed his full attention to getting as far away from the man as possible. Suddenly, Jongwoo
bumped face first into someone.

It was Player 001.

Jongwoo tried his best to ignore the man and walk around him, but he completely blocked the
way and prevented him from continuing.

“You know 303, you’re scaring all the other players and—”

“Shut the fuck up and move!” Jongwoo interrupted as he practically spat out the words.

And when the older man didn’t make any effort to get out of his way, Jongwoo found himself
forcibly trying to push him to the side. Young-il, though initially a little startled by the man’s
sudden force, didn’t hesitate to push back.

“You don’t understand! Let go of me!” Jongwoo shrieked but the older man in front of him
didn’t seem to be willing to listen to his pleas.

And then Jongwoo suddenly felt a cold hand cup his right shoulder. A touch that was all too
familiar to Jongwoo.

“Jagiya.”

Chapter End Notes

WOAH THIS CHAPTER WAS A LOT LONGER THAN I THOUGHT IT WAS

GONNA BE….

But Hi Moonjo, fancy seeing you here 😝 But anyway, i just wanted to say a HUGE
thanks to you all for all the love and support on the first chapter. It was super fun writing
this one too and i hope u enjoy!

And did i have to go back and watch a few episodes to remember what the characters
said to each other for a few of the scenes? Yes. but that’s not a crime 😠

ANYWHOOOOOOOO! Again, if u find any mistakes please let me know. But other
than that, please enjoy!!
edit: as i was rereading this i realised that i totally FUCKED up the voting thing. It’s
meant to go from player 456 - 001 and i did player 302, 303, 304 ☠ Am i gonna change
it? No… so just ignore it guys ❤ (im so silly how did i not notice before 3)
 Intermission
Chapter Summary

Player 304 arrives.

Chapter Notes

OK, I confess. When I first thought of writing this fic, my ideas only went up to where
we left off in chapter 2 so this time around it was a LITTLE more challenging to write.
BUT FEAR NOT! I now have an idea of where I want this fic to go.

Anywho, I hope you enjoy! (thanks for all your support and lovely comments, y’all are
the BEST!)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Jongwoo stiffened under the icy touch, and his once angry demeanour had quickly dissipated
into one of terror. He felt utterly paralysed under the older man’s grasp, and it was now the
second time that his body had failed to engage his fight or flight response.

Young-il, seemingly taken aback by Jongwoo’s sudden mood change, shifted his eyes to
Moonjo as he simultaneously dropped his hands from pushing back against Jongwoo. Only
receiving an emotionless expression from Moonjo in return, Young-il refocused his attention
on the ever frozen man in front of him.

“…Do you know this man?” He managed, clearing his throat to try and break the tension that
had seemingly sprung out of nowhere.

But Jongwoo couldn’t get his mouth to move. It was like he couldn’t function properly - his
mind flooding with an overwhelming amount of painful thoughts and memories just at the
mere touch of the not-so-dead man behind him.

And so when Jongwoo failed to answer him, Young-il looked around and realised just how
quiet the crowd had become. Followed shortly by the realisation that the attention of both
sides had quickly fallen onto the trio.

Jongwoo had to do something. Anything. He’d be a fool if he just stood there and allowed
Moonjo to waltz back into his life after all this time.

Moonjo then let out a contented hum before he slid the hand from Jongwoo’s shoulder and
wrapped it around his wrist instead.
“Come with me, Jagiya.” He purred, with the man’s use of the pet name earning the two a
few odd glances from the other players around them.

Jongwoo immediately ripped away from Moonjo’s hold before turning around to face him.
Despite the crippling fear and horror that washed over him at the sight of Moonjo so up close,
Jongwoo persevered.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” He spat. In response, the corner’s of Moonjo’s lips curled up,
leaving only a smug expression to cover his entire face.

Jongwoo could hear a few of the players around him shifting uncomfortably at what seemed
to be a very strange but personal reunion between the two men.

He had to get away from Moonjo. And now. Jongwoo worried that if he stared at the older
man’s face any longer he’d snap and do something irrational. He was already disliked by the
rest of the players, so he certainly didn’t need to give them another reason to hate him.

Jongwoo found himself turning his back to Moonjo before pushing past Young-il, who made
no effort to stop him this time around, and disappearing deeper into the crowd. And to no
one’s surprise, Moonjo followed him.

The attention soon switched back to the voting as one by one more players casted their votes.
At the very least, Jongwoo was glad that he was no longer in the limelight anymore.
However, he still felt a few lingering stares on the back of his head as he and Moonjo made
their way through the crowd and toward the stacks of steel beds, but it was nothing like
before. And as Jongwoo neared the particular stack of beds that contained his own, he
stopped. Moonjo, who had been following closely behind, also stopped in his tracks and
Jongwoo could feel the man’s eyes drilling into the back of his head.

Dropping his head, Jongwoo then let out a defeated sigh. As much as he didn’t want to,
Jongwoo knew that there was no point pretending that the man didn’t exist. Moonjo was here,
and standing right behind him.

“How—,” Jongwoo began before cutting himself off and turning around to face the man,
“You’re supposed to be dead.” He purposefully spoke quietly, hoping that no one would be
able to eavesdrop on the conversation that they were about to have.

“I told you that we’d be together forever.” Moonjo’s response was almost immediate, his tone
velvety and rich with satisfaction.

“But I killed you!” Jongwoo felt the words involuntarily slip off of his tongue before he
could catch himself.

It was then that Moonjo let out a low, amused chuckle at Jongwoo’s declaration. A few
seconds passed before he spoke up again.

“I’m afraid not, jagiya. But you were close.” And with that, Moonjo reached a hand up to his
jacket’s collar and pulled it down to reveal a faint shiny line across the otherwise smooth and
pale complexion of his neck. Jongwoo couldn’t help as his eyes fell on the healed scar, a
rampant reminder of his true violent and dangerous nature.

“You’ve forever left a mark on me, jagiya.” Moonjo continued before eventually zipping his
jacket back up. Jongwoo’s eyes lingered a little longer on the man, fully taking him in.

It was so strange seeing Moonjo in something other than his long, relatively baggy black
clothing and out of his typical environment. And for a fleeting moment, Jongwoo thought
that the man even looked approachable in his new get up. But unfortunately for Jongwoo, not
a single other player in this room would ever know just how wrong that really was. He’d
probably just look like an asshole for treating the man so rudely because in their eyes,
Moonjo just wanted to be ‘friends’ with him. And there was simply nothing Jongwoo could
do about it. Moonjo had mastered the ability of using this carefully curated version of himself
to charm and lure people in, and Jongwoo was certainly no stranger to it. He hoped that
Moonjo would use this opportunity to harass someone else, but even Jongwoo knew that was
a stretch. He had nowhere to run now and Jongwoo was sure that Moonjo would use this to
his advantage.

Suddenly, he was snapped out of his trance by Moonjo’s deep voice.

“Jagiya?” He questioned, clearly observing how Jongwoo had yet to take his eyes off of him.

And instead of indulging the man, Jongwoo simply turned his back to Moonjo and made his
way over to his bed. While he had a plethora of burning questions to ask him, Jongwoo
needed some time to just think. Without Moonjo near him.

So as he climbed up the ladder to his bed on the very top, Jongwoo looked down at Moonjo
who was staring up at him intently. He stopped before realising that Moonjo may very well
follow him up, and then yelled out.

“If you follow me, I will push you off. Without hesitation.” He emphasised the last few words
harshly and watched from above how Moonjo’s once smug expression soon turned into
disappointment.

And with that, Jongwoo, hoping that Moonjo was smart enough to take his threat seriously,
resumed his climb up the ladder. Eventually, he reached the top and plopped down onto his
bed exhaustedly. Jongwoo then laid his head down on his pillow and stared absentmindedly
up at the ceiling. How was he going to go about the rest of the games now that he knew
Moonjo was in here with him?

But it was when he fully came back to his senses and heard the distant buzzer sounds of
either the O or X votes that Jongwoo realised it. There was still a chance. He could go home.
Upon the sudden realisation, Jongwoo shot up in his bed and squinted at the TV screen in the
distance.

At this stage, the votes were almost dead even, with the score being the O side with 148 votes
and the X side with 152. His eyes drifted down to the two opposing crowds that had
practically doubled in size since Jongwoo had left. And as he did the maths in his head,
Jongwoo realised that there were now only 65 people left who had yet to cast their votes.
Somehow, despite his previous reservations, he found himself rooting for Gi-hun’s message
to have gotten through to the other players. It was no longer about the money anymore,
Jongwoo just desperately wanted to get out of here and away from these people. But more
importantly, away from Moonjo.

And for the next 50 odd voters, Jongwoo’s eyes were glued to the screen. He watched as each
side took turns in rapidly increasing before the other soon caught up and then repeated the
cycle all over again. While there were too many money hungry people in here, there were just
as many players who wanted to leave while they were still alive. It was too nerve-wracking,
too troubling, and all too even for Jongwoo’s liking.

And as the remaining voters dwindled down to the last three players, Jongwoo could barely
contain his nervous twitching. The X side was currently in the lead, and if the remaining
players kept this up, they’d be able to walk out of here unscathed and safe. The scores read
the O side with 180 votes and the X side with 182. It was only a fractional lead, but it was
better than nothing.

“Player 007.” The guard’s voice played out over the speakers loudly, almost sending shivers
down Jongwoo’s spine in a swirling mix of anticipation and unease.

Jongwoo watched as the curly haired man walked down the aisle and up to the podium. He
hesitated for a moment, before his face lit up in blue and the O vote counter increased by one.
Jongwoo let out a strained sigh.

181 vs 182 now.

“Player 004.”

His eyes then fell on a woman who had just approached the podium. She hovered her hand
over the X button before quickly pressing down on the other one, her face lighting up in a
vibrant blue light as she did so.

Fuck.

182 vs 182 now.

It was dead even.

“Player 001.”

Each opposing side turned to look down the aisle at Young-il. And almost immediately, each
side erupted in cheers, chanting out their respective votes hoping to sway Young-il. And as
the older man swiftly made his way past the rowdy players and toward the podium, it
suddenly went deathly silent.

Jongwoo could barely watch.

Young-il lifted his head to peer up at the even count of votes on the TV screen before he
quickly returned his attention back on the two buttons in front of him. And as he lifted a hand
out and hovered it between the middle of the two buttons, a nervous wave of gasps washed
over both sides.

Jongwoo found himself scooting closer to the edge of his bed, his gaze never once leaving
the man. This was it. And for a split second, Jongwoo earnestly thought that they had a
chance. His breath hitched in anticipation and he felt his knuckles go white at just how tightly
he was gripping his bed frame.

But then Player 001 made his decision.

The deafening sound of the O buzzer rang out through the speakers and Jongwoo watched as
the number clicked over.

183 vs 182.

He felt his stomach drop.

The O side roared in scattered applause and cheers while the X side stiffened, their
disappointment evident in a chorus of subdued murmurs.

Jongwoo didn’t want to believe it. He couldn’t.

Feeling his once tight grip on the bed frame quickly loosening, Jongwoo fell back onto his
bed, his head landing harshly on the pillow behind him.

He really won’t be able to escape Moonjo. He was trapped. Inherently regretting his decision,
Jongwoo couldn’t stop worrying how there was no guarantee that he would even make it
through the next game alive. But knowing Moonjo, the bastard would somehow find a way
for both of them to survive just so he could torment Jongwoo for longer. If Moonjo had
narrowly escaped death once already, he’d surely do it again.

But Jongwoo’s despair was short lived, as the square-faced guard began a new announcement
that echoed loudly throughout the space.

“The voting has concluded, and as stated in the consent form, the majority vote wins.
Therefore, the games will continue tomorrow. We thank you for your cooperation.”

And with that, the guards retreated back through the doors they had initially emerged from,
leaving half of the room satisfied and the other far from it. Players eventually dispersed and
either returned to their beds or continued to mingle with others. Jongwoo found his eyes
glued to the ceiling once again, subconsciously blocking out nearby conversations until they
were nothing more than intelligible and muffled noises.

Jongwoo’s handle on time was soon struggling, as he was unsure just how long he remained
like that for. It had to have been a few hours, but he didn’t really know for sure. And just like
the casinos he had frequented before he was thrown into this mess, there weren’t any
windows nor any clocks around for him to gather an idea of exactly what time of day it was.

He had completely zoned out, so when out of the corner of his eyes he noticed all the other
players shuffling back down to the front, he quickly snapped out of his daze. Jongwoo sat up
and his eyes drifted to the masses lined up behind tables where a guard was handing out what
seemed to be a water bottle accompanied by a gold metal container. Could this be dinner? Or
maybe it was breakfast. Eh, who fucking cares. Jongwoo just knew that his stomach rumbled
upon the glorious sight of what he assumed were supplements.

Jongwoo leaned his body over the side of his bed and peered down, with Moonjo surprisingly
nowhere in sight. And if he was to be honest with himself, while he absolutely hated the
man’s presence, it was even scarier when Jongwoo didn’t know where he was. If Moonjo was
in his view, Jongwoo would have a better chance at being able to defend himself if the man
tried something. So Moonjo’s sudden disappearance just meant that Jongwoo would need to
be on his guard until the man resurfaced later on.

He hooked his legs over and began descending the ladder before he quickly reached the
bottom. Jongwoo contemplated heading over to the X side before he was promptly reminded
of the O patch secured tightly by the velcro on the right side of his jacket. He sighed,
remembering his awfully misjudged and poorly timed vote, before he began to make his way
over to one of the lines on the O side.

When he reached the front of the line, the guard handed over the water bottle and the strange
golden container and Jongwoo was soon making his way back to his bed. Still no Moonjo in
sight, and Jongwoo felt that he’d strain a shoulder muscle at just how tightly he was tensing
them. Where the hell was he?

Trying to drop the thought, Jongwoo refocused his attention on the container in his hand. It
was heavy, so that was a good sign at least. Probably unlike many other players, Jongwoo
wasn’t even remotely phased by the gore he had just witnessed but rather his stomach was
aching at just how empty it felt. It certainly wasn’t a flex that he’d be able to walk around
gloating about to people, so he just kept to himself as he neared the familiar stack of beds. He
did one last scan of the room around him before he began climbing up the ladder once again.

Seriously, was Moonjo trying to fuck with him? Jongwoo quickly reeled in the question. Ah
actually, what a stupid question. Of course he was.

And as Jongwoo sat down on his bed, he opened up the golden container probably way too
excitedly for someone who had just witnessed a bloodbath first hand. His eyes fell on the
seemingly average assortment of cold rice, vegetables, seaweed, and meat in front of him.
But on top of it all rested a rather delicious looking sunny side up egg and a spoon. The meal
reminded Jongwoo of his school days where his mother would pack boxed lunches for him.

He then shoved a heaved spoonful of the various foods into his mouth. It was cold. Almost
icy cold. And in any other circumstance, it would’ve put Jongwoo off. But right now, he
couldn’t care less. His stomach was yelling at him to eat and he felt like he was going to die
if he didn’t eat soon. It was undeniably bland and could use a variety of different spices and
seasoning, but he definitely couldn’t complain too much. It wasn’t bad, just average at best.
So Jongwoo persevered through his plain, cold meal as he practically inhaled the rest of it at
lightning speed. He then washed it down with some water, but he made sure not to drink too
much of it and ration it. Who knows if he was going to get another one. Or if he was going to
be allowed to use the bathroom anytime soon.
And as he sat quite content with a now satiated appetite, he heard a familiar voice somewhere
below him. He leaned over the side before quickly realising who it was.

Nam-gyu. And wait, was that Myung-gi too?

“Enjoying your food?” Nam-gyu was standing over him, watching as Myung-gi tried to
ignore him as he continued to shovel spoonfuls of his food into his mouth.

While they were at the bottom of a stack not far from him, they were speaking loud enough
for Jongwoo to catch pieces of their conversation. But Jongwoo was nosy, and he quickly
found himself climbing back down the ladder and finding a spot to eavesdrop on the
conversation without being seen by either man. This could be interesting.

“I couldn’t eat. After seeing everyone get shot dead, you still have a damn appetite?” Nam-
gyu spat. Myung-gi swallowed the remaining food in his mouth before he replied.

“That crypto ruined my life too. That’s why I’m here, to make money.” He responded before
refocusing on shovelling even more food into his mouth.

That was until a familiar purple haired man walked up to the two of them.

“That’s right! You’d better make a lot of money. Because of that damn coin, I lost over 500
million won, the money I earned from busting my ass rapping.” Thanos added, actively
seeking out Myung-gi’s eye contact. But the younger man didn’t make an effort to raise his
head to return the lunatic’s stare.

“I lost 300 million won.” Nam-gyu pitched in, but he was ignored as Thanos continued on his
rant.

“You’d better win the games and make a load of money to pay us back.” He spat, causing
Myung-gi to finally lift his head and reciprocate the intense eye contact.

Jongwoo had to give it to the two idiots, they were very determined. Even despite their prior
beating that almost cost both of their lives, they were still eager to make Myung-gi pay for
what he did. And if they hadn't been a bunch of assholes, Jongwoo would’ve admired their
persistence. He was also a little surprised to see the two men up and at it as if nothing had
happened in the first place. They were still banged up and bruised, but for the most part, it
looked like they were back to their old selves. But even what could be seen as an act of
courage by an outsider, Jongwoo realised that they were more stupid than brave for coming
back for round two. It wouldn’t even surprise Jongwoo if he found out that they were on
something this whole time.

Wait, hold on.

Had they realised that they were now talking to Myung-gi and not Jongwoo? Or were they
still convinced that he and Player 333 were the same person?

Jongwoo instinctively leaned in closer now that things had gotten just that little bit more
interesting. The two idiots hadn’t even realised that it was Jongwoo who they had hassled
earlier, not Myung-gi. But now, Jongwoo eagerly awaited to see how this exact situation
would play out for Myung-gi. Would he lash out just like Jongwoo had or would he be more
reserved and take it on the chin? Jongwoo’s eyes narrowed on the trio as he patiently waited
for the scene in front of him to unfold.

“I get it. Can you go away now? I’m trying to eat—” Myung-gi began before his container
was suddenly snatched by Nam-gyu.

“You little shit, eating like a fucking pig.” He seethed.

“Give it back.” Myung-gi’s voice was stern but obviously not enough to persuade the other
man.

“No.” Nam-gyu retorted.

It was then that Thanos grabbed the container out of Nam-gyu’s hands and spoke up.

“You want to eat this so badly? Then Thanos will feed you!” And with that, Thanos quickly
grabbed a handful of food before smashing it into Myung-gi’s face harshly. Left coughing
and spitting out food that had been forcibly shoved down his throat and nostrils, Myung-gi
looked up at the man in a clear rage. It was now that Jongwoo was glad he had traded his
jacket back with Myung-gi, as there was now an abundance of rice and other gross food
smears all over the younger man’s jacket. That was going to start to smell very bad, very
quickly.

“Good, isn’t it?” Thanos mockingly asked, which only left Myung-gi more angry and
irritated.

Nam-gyu and Thanos began laughing before Myung-gi suddenly catapulted himself onto the
purple haired man, causing the two to crash onto the floor behind him.

The attention of the rest of the players soon fell on the pair who were now aggressively
wrestling it out on the open floor, shouting a plethora of insults and slurs at each other as they
did so. Nam-gyu quickly ripped Myung-gi off of Thanos and he stumbled back before
regaining his footing swiftly. Now this was beginning to look awfully familiar to a different
fight that had broken out before the first game. And as far as other players were concerned, it
was the same three people who were fighting again.

Jongwoo, who had now changed his position ever so slightly so he could get a better view,
watched from afar as the fight began. And while Myung-gi was angry and determined,
Jongwoo was on a completely different playing field. And it seemed that Thanos and
Namgyu had also noticed the difference as they easily managed to throw Myung-gi onto the
ground before they began to absolutely beat the shit out of him.

And Jongwoo made no effort to go and help the man. Why would he? Myung-gi had fucked
him over just to avoid these lunatics. It then dawned upon Jongwoo why Myung-gi even went
out of his way to set up such a scheme in the first place - he was weak. Myung-gi couldn’t
handle these guys on his own, so when he saw Jongwoo and noticed their alarming
similarities, he didn’t hesitate to dump his problems onto Jongwoo and run off. And as
Jongwoo watched the two guys take turns in landing strong kicks to Myung-gi’s lower
abdomen and ribs, he struggled to find a single inch of his body that felt even remotely bad
for the man. It took every bit of Jongwoo’s strength to suppress his laugh because it was
unbelievably satisfying watching all of Myung-gi’s bad karma finally catch up to him. The
fucking asshole deserved everything that was coming his way.

By now, a rather large crowd had gathered around them and Jongwoo watched as a few of the
spectators hesitated to step in to stop the violent beat down. It was then that someone
emerged from somewhere in the crowd, loudly yelling out.

“Boys, what are you doing in the middle of mealtime?”

It was Player 001.

Again.

Jongwoo couldn’t hold back as he rolled his eyes. Seriously, him again? Did he want a medal
for ‘most fights stopped’ or something? Jongwoo had been wildly entertained watching
Myung-gi being absolutely obliterated by the two men, so Young-il’s second heroic
interference was more than annoying. Why did he always feel the need to pry into other
people’s business? It didn’t even concern him.

“No fights during mealtime. There are elders present, so mind your manners.” He continued,
and Jongwoo let out a quiet scoff at the man’s words.

“And two against one? Aren’t you embarrassed?” Young-il added. By now, he had made his
way over to the two men who had now focused their attention on him, leaving Myung-gi as a
groaning and bruised mess on the floor behind them.

“You’re lecturing me when you ended up in this shithole too? Dude, stop running your mouth
and take care of your own damn kids.” Thanos replied, the irritation in his voice evident.

“What did you just say?” Young-il’s voice this time around was a bit quieter, but nonetheless
still possessing the same amount of tension as before.

“I said save the lecture for your own damn kids.” Thanos spat, getting up in 001’s personal
space.

And before Jongwoo could even register it, Young-il reached out and grabbed the purple
haired man by his neck, causing a surprised breath to leave Thanos at the man’s sudden
hostility.

“Son of a bitch!” Nam-gyu screeched out as he ran up to Thano’s aid. He didn’t get very far
though, as Young-il landed a sharp kick to his shin that sent the man hopping back in pain.
Jongwoo could almost feel the man’s pain from where he stood. It was certainly a weak spot
that caught many people off guard when struck. Young-il then fully extended his leg out and
kicked Nam-gyu hard, sending him flying backwards onto the floor next to Myung-gi. He
rolled around and clutched his shin, groaning out loudly in pain.
Thanos then ripped himself free of 001’s grasp, stumbling back before quickly running up to
him again to try and land a punch on the older man. But unfortunately for Thanos, Young-il
swiftly swerved out of his trajectory and darted forward with a jab that struck his abdomen
violently. Temporarily winded by the punch, Thanos was bent over at the waist clutching at
his stomach before Young-il grabbed one of his arms and twisted, quickly sending him down
to the floor harshly. 001 then landed a few more kicks at the man’s side before he lowered
down over him. He placed a single hand around Thanos’ throat while he reeled back the other
one as if he was going to punch him again.

And then Jongwoo saw it. Those eyes.

Jongwoo had instantly recognised that familiar look in the man’s eyes. He’d seen it countless
times in Moonjo’s and he’d felt the exact same way many times before.

However, it seemed that Jongwoo was too captivated by the familiar sight to have noticed the
slender hand that had been resting idly on the lower curve of his back. Exactly how long had
it been there and why hadn’t he noticed sooner…?

“He’s like us, jagiya.”

And Jongwoo’s breath hitched as he felt Moonjo’s warm breath graze over his ear and the
hand on his back pressing into him harder. Immediately, this caused Jongwoo to come
hurtling back to reality as he realised his current situation. He turned his face to the side
instinctively and was horrified when his nose almost brushed against Moonjo’s.

Jongwoo leapt back almost immediately and out of Moonjo’s hold. They had been standing
way, way too close to each other. If Jongwoo had done so much as move even an inch or two
forward, there would be no doubt that his lips would've met Moonjo’s.

He felt his body involuntarily shudder at the thought before his attention was quickly brought
back to the fight in front of him as the crowd around him began to applaud. With both men on
the floor, Young-il had now stood up and looked around as the crowd celebrated his heroic
act.

But Jongwoo didn’t clap. Instead, he found his mind wandering back to Moonjo’s words. He
turned back to face the older man, who was now at a much more acceptable distance, before
he questioned him.

“What do you mean?” Jongwoo asked, but deep down even he knew what Moonjo had been
talking about. His body almost recoiled at the word ‘us’ but Jongwoo fought back to let it
show.

“You saw it too. In his eyes.” Moonjo countered softly.

And he did. Jongwoo had seen that all too familiar look in Young-il’s eyes.

“I think he knows more than he’s letting on.” And much to his dismay, Jongwoo found
himself speaking casually with Moonjo. “He’s strong too. I felt it first hand.” He concluded
with.
“Oh I know, jagiya. I was watching.” Moonjo practically purred and Jongwoo suddenly felt a
lump in his throat.

Shit, he had totally forgotten that Moonjo had been there the whole time too. It had skipped
his mind, really. Not only had Moonjo watched him almost murder those two idiots, he had
also managed to survive the first game too. How had he not noticed him before? Sure, there
were a lot of people in here with him, but Moonjo’s presence was undeniable. But knowing
the guy, Moonjo probably would’ve lurked in the shadows until it was the right time to pop
out and catch Jongwoo off guard. And as much as he hated to admit it, Moonjo had done just
that. He had caught Jongwoo incredibly off guard.

Instead of commenting any further on the matter, Jongwoo instead dismissed the man as if he
hadn’t said anything in the first place. This earned him an amused smile from Moonjo, which
made Jongwoo swiftly snap his head to the side to avoid the man’s overwhelming eye contact
that followed.

It was by now that the ruckus of the fight had died down and people began resuming what
they had been doing before the fight broke out. Most players returned to finishing their meals
while others just lingered in the open area between the beds. Jongwoo then wondered what he
should do to fill the time. But his time to ponder was short lived, as a familiar voice played
out over the speakers.

“Ten minutes until lights out.”

Oh, how convenient.

And with that, Jongwoo spun around, completely ignoring Moonjo, and began to make his
way back to his bed. Once he had climbed up the ladder and propped himself up on his bed,
Jongwoo just watched from afar as all the other players did the same. He didn’t make an
effort to get snug in his bed or anything because he knew that he wouldn’t be sleeping
tonight. Or any other night for that matter now that Moonjo was somewhere around here.
Moonjo had once again vanished out of his sight, and Jongwoo would be a fool if he went to
sleep not knowing where the man was. It would make him inherently tired in the morning,
sure, but Jongwoo wasn’t nearly stupid enough to let his guard down around the older man.
Who knows what he could try during the night.

It was then that the lights went out rather loudly and Jongwoo was left in the dark. Or well,
mostly the dark. There was still the light of the O and X illuminating the floor and the glass
piggy bank on the ceiling was also radiating off light that coated the room in a warm, golden
colour. He could also just make out a faint light coming from each of the bathroom doors. So
there was enough light to practically see the players adjacent to him, but not quite enough to
clearly perceive anyone else beyond that. A little part of Jongwoo was glad that the room
hadn’t gone completely pitch black, as it would allow him to be able to see if anyone - only
Moonjo really - was coming close anywhere near him.

This was going to be a long night.

Staring out into the same space for hours on end was surely going to mess with his mind, so
Jongwoo was delighted when he saw the silhouettes of two women heading over to the
bathroom door before they began pounding on it loudly. He didn’t know who the two women
were from his current position, but then again, he didn’t really care. But unfortunately for
Jongwoo, their conversation with the guard in the small window of the door was far too quiet
and far too muffled for Jongwoo to clearly hear any of it. He sighed, quickly realising that he
wouldn’t be getting any entertainment for that night. What a shame.

Then, Jongwoo debated whether he should let his eyes rest for a couple minutes or not. They
were beginning to sting because of just how long they had been open for and Jongwoo was
almost worried that they’d start playing tricks on him if he didn’t close them soon. It was
only going to be for a few minutes anyway, right? It had been an hour or two already and
Moonjo had yet to pull anything. Maybe the other man just went to sleep like the rest of the
players. And so, without giving it much further thought, Jongwoo let his eyes fall shut. And
upon the blissful feeling of his eyes falling shut, Jongwoo realised that OK maybe he would
need a little longer than a few minutes…

But before Jongwoo could succumb to his slumber, he felt the end of his bed dip under a new
weight. Jongwoo’s eyes jolted open instantly, and almost too violently. Even with the lack of
light, Jongwoo immediately knew who it was.

Moonjo.

Instinctively, Jongwoo shuffled back into his bed frame until he couldn’t move any further.
How had he not heard the man climbing up the ladder? And wait, had he been waiting for
Jongwoo to fall asleep all this time? But even as it crossed his mind, the thought failed to
surprise Jongwoo at all. He was almost 100% certain that Moonjo had always watched him
sleep at Eden, so why would it be any different now? The fucking creep.

“I told you that I’d push you off if you followed me up here and I wasn’t fucking kidding!”
Jongwoo hissed, trying to keep his volume to a minimum.

Moonjo merely cocked his head at Jongwoo’s statement before he replied.

“Do it then.” Moonjo whispered and even despite how quiet he was, Jongwoo could tell that
he had meant every word of it.

And Jongwoo thought about it for a second. It was pretty much a guaranteed way to get
Moonjo to fuck off, and for good this time. No more of him popping up out of nowhere after
Jongwoo thought he was dead for all this time. However, he quickly reeled in the thought as
he began to think more logically.

“Trust me, I don’t want anything more. But it will not only wake up the others, but it will
scare them. And if they wake up and see a dead body at the bottom of my stack, they’d
immediately put two and two together before everyone would jump me!” Jongwoo spat, still
at a respectable volume.

It was a perfectly valid excuse. People were already scared as is, and if they woke up to a
body, they’d absolutely go off the rails. Jongwoo wasn’t particularly keen on being jumped
by 364 other players either.
Moonjo simply let out a quiet chuckle in response.

And as Jongwoo internally debated the matter once more, Moonjo used his brief moment of
distraction to begin inching forward closer to him. Upon realising the older man’s sudden
movement, Jongwoo snapped.

“Don’t come any fucking closer!” He seethed entirely too loudly. And almost immediately,
Jongwoo could hear the nearby shuffling of players who began stirring in their sleep.

Oops.

But much to Jongwoo’s surprise, Moonjo stopped. The older man’s sudden compliance
caught Jongwoo off guard as he watched him lean back into his previous position against the
other side of his bed frame. Jongwoo had been prepared to fight right then and there if the
man had come any closer, but it was strange when he didn’t need to. Moonjo had never really
listened to Jongwoo before, so he was a little taken aback to say the least.

And so there they were - in the same bed only a short distance away from each other.
Jongwoo thought about making a run for it, but it would mean he’d have to go over to
Moonjo’s side to reach the ladder, and he certainly wasn’t going to do that. And he wasn’t
stupid enough to jump to his death either. So now he was absolutely, incredibly fucked.

Moonjo’s eyes on him were piercing, and Jongwoo couldn’t find it in himself to return the
intense eye contact. It was just too much. He had to do something - anything - but he just
didn’t know what. Writhing uncomfortably under the man’s gaze, Jongwoo found his mouth
opening before he even realised it.

“Where were you all that time?” And it slipped off of his tongue too quickly for Jongwoo to
catch himself.

Moonjo, seemingly surprised by Jongwoo’s sudden question, contemplated his answer for a
few moments before he replied.

“Around.”

…Really? Was Moonjo seriously going to do this?

Jongwoo didn’t fight back the annoyed sigh that left his lungs shortly after.

“Don’t be vague, asshole. Tell me.” Jongwoo hissed. It was a little concerning why Jongwoo
was so upset at the man in the first place. Why did he care where Moonjo had been?

Moonjo then let out a low, contented hum at Jongwoo’s quiet retaliation.

“My apologies, jagiya. I don’t mean to hide anything from you.”

Still not a proper answer. And Moonjo seemed to quickly pick up the displeased expression
now plastered across Jongwoo’s face before he decided to continue.
“If you must know, I went into hiding. And up until now, I’ve just been all over the place.
Motel to motel, place to place.” He concluded with.

And Jongwoo guessed that this would be as good of an answer as he’d get for the time being,
so he decided not to pry into the matter any more. Instead, he then opted for a different
question.

“Why’d you come here?” It was a question that had been lingering on Jongwoo’s mind ever
since he first saw Moonjo in here. Was he in debt too?

“For you, jagiya.” And Jongwoo should’ve known that was going to be Moonjo’s answer. It
was always that.

“Fuck off. Seriously, what made you end up here?” Jongwoo did his best to ignore the man’s
previous comment and hoped that he would clear things up a bit more this time around.

“I’m not in any debt, if that’s what you’re wondering.” The reply came almost immediately.

“Then why…?” Jongwoo’s voice trailed off as he looked at Moonjo in confusion.

“I already told you before, I came here for you.” At this point, the corners of Moonjo’s lips
had curled up into an annoyingly smug smirk.

“Bullshit. How would you have known I'd be in here too?” Jongwoo instantly followed up
with. Unless…?

“I have my ways.” He muttered. That was incredibly, annoyingly vague. So Jongwoo took a
stab in the dark.

“And tell me, was stalking me one of these ‘ways’?” Jongwoo quipped.

“Perhaps.”

Of course it was. Even jumping from place to place, Moonjo still somehow made the time to
get his daily dose of stalking Jongwoo in.

“So what, you ran after that man in the tailored suit and got a card for yourself?” Again,
another stab in the dark.

“Precisely.”

And it took every fibre of Jongwoo’s being to not propel forward at the man. Of course
Moonjo had been stalking him all this time. Of course Moonjo had followed him into the
games. But of course, it was Moonjo after all.

Jongwoo dropped his head, accompanied by a disappointed sigh leaving his mouth shortly
after. So he hadn’t been lying. Moonjo really was here for Jongwoo after all.

And all of a sudden, Jongwoo didn’t want to keep talking anymore. He hadn’t really wanted
to in the first place, but he certainly didn’t want to now. Jongwoo kept his head down,
 refusing to acknowledge the other man any further, and leaned back against his bed frame.
The distant shuffling of nearby sleeping players had soon come to a halt, and it was silent
once again. Jongwoo could feel Moonjo’s eyes drilling into him but he did his best to ignore
it. Just what, 5 or 6 more hours of this? Great. Just great.

It was then that Jongwoo’s body began thinking for itself - much to Jongwoo’s dismay. His
eyelids were becoming increasingly heavier and his head somehow dropped even lower than
it had been before. Jongwoo’s body ached and he could quickly feel himself succumbing to
the day’s worth of both physical and mental exhaustion. His breaths became deeper and
slower, and Jongwoo couldn’t help as his breathing accidentally began lulling him to sleep.
Jongwoo knew that Moonjo’s eyes had never once faltered away from him but he was too far
gone for it to concern him. Because in the end, he was fighting a losing battle.

And soon enough, Jongwoo found himself falling fast asleep in the presence of the most
terrifying man he knew.

Chapter End Notes

I wonder how long Jongwoo will keep telling himself that he absolutely despises
Moonjo’s presence. Coz wdym u fell asleep with the man only a few feet away from u
☠ Tch tch tch, he’s so silly sometimes!!

The next chapter will be about the six legged game and stuff that follows it, so stay
tuned! I initially planned to get it over and done with in THIS chapter, but as i continued
to yap, I realised that i should probably break it up somewhere.

I hope u enjoyed this update! I love writing this story. To me, Moonjo is always a

AND he’s a weirdly obsessive psychopath. But i hope im doing him justice here!!
And i think going forward from here things are going to get quite interesting! I’m
🤞
difficult character to write because u quite literally have no idea what he’s thinking

excited to write about the whole Myung-gi/Jongwoo situation w/ thanos & namgyu
AND the Jongwoo/Moonjo/Player 001 dynamic. (mr frontman can’t hide from mjjw!!
they know what he’s truly like because they’ve PLAYED THESE GAMES BEFORE!!
ok sorry i had to say it. i love the current squid game s2 memes, they’re so funny)

but once again, THANK U SO MUCH FOR UR SUPPORT!! I love reading all of your
lovely comments and it really helps me to lock in and write more of this story. I hope i
continue to satisfy you all 😊

And who knew writing two sfh fics simultaneously could prove to be quite the
challenge? Jk, i knew what i was signing up for. But the amount of times i go to write
something in THIS fic that only makes sense in my OTHER fic is unfathomable. Almost
slipped up a few times but im holding out Thpugh i must say, it’s kinda helpful as i
can sometimes take words from certain scenes and use them for the other fic. Honestly,
it’s a win-win situation!! Ok i’m rambling..hope u enjoyed!
p.s. that last line was inspired by a diff sfh fic i read but i can’t find the author/name of it

🤩
:(( but if ur reading this author, UR SO COOL & I LOVED UR FIC!! (clearly if i can
remember that line so vividly )
 Six-Legged Pentathlon
Chapter Summary

Let the games begin.

…Again.

Chapter Notes

I was hoping to cover both the second game & the second voting scene in THIS chapter,
but as i continued to yap on, I realised that it wouldn’t be happening. But regardless, I
hope u guys enjoy!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

A melodic song played out over the speakers and Jongwoo felt his eyes fluttering open but
then quickly straining at the sudden bright lights beaming down onto him. His body fought to
come back to his senses before his eyes settled on the figure only a few feet in front of him.

“Good morning, jagiya.”

God fucking dammit. When had he fallen asleep? And as Jongwoo studied the man’s face a
little closer, he noticed how Moonjo’s eyebags had gotten a little darker. Which only meant…

And…of course he had watched Jongwoo sleep. What a creep.

Jongwoo cleared his throat, hoping it would wake him up a little more, before he finally
spoke up.

“Uh- Uhm…morning?” His voice was hoarse as he stumbled over his words. Nice one.

And that all too familiar smug look on Moonjo’s face swiftly returned at Jongwoo’s trembly
response.

“Are you hungry?”

Jongwoo immediately perked up at the man’s words. He was acting as if he hadn’t eaten in a
week and was on the verge of starvation. And as if right on cue, Jongwoo’s stomach
grumbled loudly in response to Moonjo’s question. Gosh, how embarrassing.

This earned Jongwoo a low, amused chuckle from the man opposite from him.
“Alright, we better get a move on. Their supplies are running out.” Moonjo continued.

It was then that Jongwoo’s eyes drifted over to the open space between the beds where
several lines of players were waiting just like they had been last night. Shit, how long was he
asleep for? He had nearly slept through breakfast and Moonjo would’ve done nothing to
wake him up. Frankly, if it was up to Moonjo, Jongwoo wouldn’t be surprised if he’d prefer
to watch him sleep forever. Jongwoo quickly brushed the thought off, not wanting to give it
any more attention and turned back to the man in front of him.

“Okay.” He didn’t really know what to say and simply waited for Moonjo to begin climbing
down the ladder first. Sure Jongwoo had been stupid enough to fall asleep in the man’s
presence, but he wasn’t that dumb to crawl over the top of Moonjo just to get to the ladder.

And as Moonjo realised Jongwoo was waiting for him, he promptly swung his legs over the
side and began to descend the ladder. Jongwoo shuffled closer to the side of the ladder before
he peered down. He was going to wait until Moonjo was at the bottom before he would begin
climbing down the ladder. Jongwoo couldn’t trust the man enough for him to not pull
something on his way down. And once Moonjo hit the bottom, it was then Jongwoo’s turn to
swivel his body over the side and make his way down the ladder. He could feel Moonjo’s
eyes on him the entire way down but Jongwoo did his best to ignore it until his feet were
safely planted on the floor below him.

Then, they both made their way over to the O side and joined a line. Jongwoo
absentmindedly wondered what could be on the menu this morning. Would it be in a golden
container like last time? Jongwoo’s mind soon filled up with the various breakfast options he
was hoping he’d get before he finally made his way to the front of the line. And it was…

A bread roll and a carton of milk.

Oh.

He took the two items from the guard, a little disappointed. Perhaps Jongwoo had hyped up
the breakfast options a little too much as this was certainly not what he had been expecting.
How on Earth was this supposed to fuel him up for the day?

Jongwoo decided he couldn’t be bothered to climb the ladder back up to his bed, so instead
he plopped down on a set of stairs nearby. And much to his dismay, Moonjo promptly sat
down next to him.

Trying to ignore the man’s presence, he ripped open the plastic packaging to the bread before
biting down into it. Jongwoo had expected it to be bland like yesterday’s meal, but it was
pleasantly sweet. And OK, maybe it wasn’t as bad as he was making it out to be. Honestly, it
reminded Jongwoo of something he’d get from a bakery. Then, he found his mind wandering
to a fond memory of how his mother had once taken him and his brother to a patisserie and
they were allowed to pick out one of the several, delectable looking pastries. And Jongwoo
found himself smiling involuntarily at the memory. Life was so much simpler back then.

“What do you think the next game will be?” Moonjo’s voice quickly broke the silence
between them, effectively bringing Jongwoo out of his train of thought and back to reality.
Jongwoo shrugged before replying, “I don’t know. But if they’re all going to be old children’s
games, I’m sure we can just try to remember what we used to play as kids. It’s bound to be
one of them.” And dammit, he was speaking casually with Moonjo again.

Moonjo let out a hum in agreement, before the silence that had once engulfed them returned.

Jongwoo’s eyes soon fell on the carton of milk in his hand. He was never that fond of milk to
begin with, and the thought that it could very well be his last drink ever left a grimace on his
face. How unfortunate. But despite his dislike for the substance, Jongwoo needed every bit of
energy he could get. So, he persevered. And after a few minutes or so, he had finished the
grim liquid. Sculling all that milk in one sitting probably wasn’t good for his body but it was
the least of his worries.

He quickly refocused all of his attention on trying to guess what the next game could be. And
as he filtered through his memories, Jongwoo realised that there were just so many games
that it could be. Like for example, would it be individual or group based?

But suddenly, a familiar voice rang out over the speakers.

“The second game will begin in ten minutes.”

Well then, not long until he found out either way. There was no point stressing himself out
over trying to figure out what the game could be, so Jongwoo simply sat in silence until the
timer went off. And for a moment, he had totally forgotten that Moonjo was sitting right there
beside him. He had been scarily quiet and still, so when Moonjo stood up to follow the
guards to the next game, Jongwoo almost flinched at his sudden movement.

And as they all made their way through the familiar oddly shaped and coloured room,
Jongwoo couldn’t help as his nerves began to exponentially rise. It just as quickly occurred to
him that this could be his last time walking up these colourful steps, and to be honest, it
scared Jongwoo. He didn’t want to die like this. It was…embarrassing. Dying to a child’s
game was certainly not something he would enjoy putting on his gravestone.

In Loving Memory Of: Yoon Jongwoo.

Cause of Death: Red Light, Green Light.

He shuddered at the awful image. Jongwoo would be damned if he went out like this, so he’d
do everything in his power to not succumb to such an embarrassing fate.

The unfortunate thought soon passed and the guards led them into an even stranger looking
room. And almost immediately after opening the doors, playful music began to play out from
the speakers and filled the silence of the room. The walls were a nostalgic blue colour, and
had been painted with what looked to be classroom windows. Jongwoo’s eyes then fell on the
two large rainbow circles on the dirt floor in front of him. All in all, it looked eerily
reminiscent of a track field outside of an elementary school.

And as the rest of the players piled in, Jongwoo’s eyes darted around the room before his
eyes fell back on the entrance that they had just come through. His eyes focused on the words
“Strongly, Energetically, Firmly” that were displayed underneath the timer. Ah, so it was
meant to be some sort of school environment. Jongwoo was quickly brought back to his
elementary school days where he remembered how his teachers would use similar phrases to
try and encourage the students to do their best at sports events or during physical education
class. So…was it going to be a race or something?

Jongwoo’s time for guessing was short lived as a woman’s voice echoed throughout the
room.

“Welcome to your second game. This game will be played in teams. Please divide into teams
of five in the next ten minutes.”

The players around him, who were just as confused by the strangely designed room, soon
broke out into a series of whispers and murmurs.

“Let me repeat.”

And just like last time, Jongwoo blocked out the woman’s reiteration of the rules as he
realised that this may be harder than he had once expected.

“Please divide into teams now.” The green doors that they had walked through immediately
closed, causing people to temporarily divert their attention to the loud noise of them shutting.
But soon enough, players refocused their attention on beginning to move around to try and
find other teammates.

“Stay here, jagiya. I’ll be back.” Moonjo spoke up suddenly.

“What—?” But before he knew it, Moonjo had already disappeared into the crowd and
Jongwoo was left standing there alone.

That was odd.

While he was a little surprised at Moonjo’s abrupt decision to run off somewhere, Jongwoo
knew better than to rely on the man to come back. For as far as he knew, Moonjo could’ve
just fucked off somewhere and left Jongwoo to fend for himself. He wasn’t stupid enough to
trust the man to come back anyway. So Jongwoo began making his way through the crowd,
stopping every so often to ask if he could join a group.

But his efforts proved futile. All the groups he had approached simply turned their backs
upon seeing him or just flat out said no. He knew they were in an elementary school
environment but fuck, why were they all acting like they were 10 years old? If they didn’t get
a team of five before the timer ended, they’d be fucked too! Everyone was being far too
picky and Jongwoo hoped that karma would reach them soon enough.

However, Jongwoo couldn’t exactly blame them for not wanting him on their teams. He had
consistently proven - even if the second time had been Myung-gi’s fault - to be violent and an
issue among the other players, so having an unreliable teammate probably wasn’t what
people were looking for. Upon this revelation, Jongwoo thought that he should probably
regret what he did a little bit more. It was clear that his impression on the rest of the players
put him at a large disadvantage for quite frankly any of these games. But in the end, he
couldn’t find it in himself to feel even a little bit of remorse for either Thanos or his little
minion. The idiots had it coming, really.

And soon enough, Jongwoo found himself standing alone in the midst of the crowd. Again.
However, suddenly he felt a hand wrap around his wrist.

“Jagiya, come with me.”

Even if Jongwoo wanted to retaliate, Moonjo was soon pulling him through the crowd before
he could even try. It was only a few moments later that they abruptly stopped in front of two
other guys that Jongwoo had never seen in his life before.

“I found one.” Moonjo spoke up, causing the two men’s gazes to fall onto Jongwoo, looking
him up and down intently.

“Okay, thanks Moonjo. We’ll just wait until Suho comes back with his recruit so then we can
choose our last teammate.” One of them replied.

What the fuck? Since when did Moonjo have the time to make friends here?

It was then that whoever this Suho figure was returned with his own recruit. And it was…an
old man?

The two other men shared Jongwoo’s confused stare upon seeing the elderly man before one
of them cleared their throat.

“Alright then. I guess we need to decide who to choose…” His voice trailed off, trying not to
sound too obvious at the fact that they probably already had an idea of who they were going
to pick to join their team.

Moonjo and Suho then left Jongwoo and the older man side by side before they walked up to
the two other men. They huddled in a small circle and began discussing their options.

“Seriously Suho? Why’d you pick up an old man?” One of the men argued. And it seemed
that Jongwoo was going to be able to hear their entire decision making process as their
attempts to whisper were both poor and unsuccessful.

“I panicked! Everyone else was already in groups and he was the only one standing around!”
Suho retorted defensively.

“Okay fine, whatever. I think we all know who we’re going to choose, so let’s just let the old
man be on his way.” And with that, the circle broke and they all turned to look at Jongwoo
and the man beside him.

Thank god Jongwoo was up against an old man because this was practically an easy wi—

“Hey wait, Taehyung. Isn’t that the guy from before…?” Suho whispered into the ears of one
of the other men.
“What the hell are you talking about?” He quickly snapped back.

“You know! The one who beat up those two guys…” Suho continued, not whispering at all.

Oh shit.

Jongwoo watched as all eyes fell on him, inspecting him closely.

“Oh wait, you’re right. It is him.” The man, or Taehyung as he now knew, commented.

And almost immediately, they huddled back into a circle. Surely they could let it slide for just
this once—

“Dude, I don’t think we should have him on our team.” One of the men said.

“Yeah, what if he tries to sabotage us? He’s a lunatic!” Taehyung added.

“I didn’t really want the old man on our team but I think it’s better than having him on it.”
Suho spat, emphasizing the word ‘him’.

It was at that very moment that Jongwoo began to regret his previous violent outbursts just a
little bit. Would Jongwoo beat up those two idiots again? Yes, without a doubt. Would it feel
good to lose this vote to an elderly man however? No, absolutely not.

And when Jongwoo went to open his mouth to defend himself, Moonjo cut him off.

“I respect your worries, but taking the older man over him would be an unwise decision, I’m
afraid.” This effectively stopped the other men in their tracks as they turned to face Moonjo
inquisitively.

“How so?” Suho asked.

“He’s strong and quick on his feet. What if the upcoming game is strength based or requires
some sort of agility? He’d be a valuable asset to our team.”

The three other men contemplated Moonjo’s statement for a moment before one of them
spoke up.

“You raise a good point Moonjo, but how can we trust him? You saw what he did to those
two guys!”

Even just by looking at the man’s back, Jongwoo could tell that Moonjo had that stupid smirk
on his face.

“Yes, I did see that.” Moonjo paused before continuing, “But I know the man, and he’s not
foolish enough to hurt his own teammates. That would only put him at a disadvantage too,
no?” He concluded with, leaving the question to linger in the air for a few seconds.

Jongwoo almost catapulted himself into the man at his irritating claim, but he held back as he
realised it would only prove the point of the other men’s opinions of him being an unreliable,
impulsive person. And as much as he hated to say it, Moonjo was helping him here.

The men began to exchange whispers that Jongwoo couldn’t quite hear before they
eventually opened up the circle again. Jongwoo could feel his heart racing as the stares of the
men darted between him and the older man. Surely they weren’t stupid enough to choose an
elderly man over him? Even just by looking at him, he might not even make it to the game
before he kicks the bucket!

“Player 303, you’re with us.”

And a wave of relief washed over Jongwoo upon hearing the man’s delightful words. The
older man beside him huffed in frustration before he wobbled off somewhere else. Jongwoo
went to step closer to the group before Suho held out his hand and stopped him.

“But if you try to sabotage us, we’ll kill you before the guards do.” His tone was stern and
Jongwoo knew that he meant it. But Moonjo was right, why would he deliberately go out of
his way to put his team at a disadvantage by hurting them? Yeah maybe he had undiagnosed
anger issues and a scarily violent nature, but he wasn’t an idiot. He knew that for certain.

“Right, got it.” He managed, clearing his throat to try and break the tension.

And for the next couple minutes, the three other men made comfortable conversation where
Moonjo would chime in every so often. Jongwoo didn’t even bother trying to join in because
he knew his presence wasn’t exactly welcomed in the first place, so he stayed silent. But
Jongwoo couldn’t help as his eyes began to wander and settled on watching Moonjo interact
with the other men. It seemed too…normal? Jongwoo knew better than anyone that Moonjo
was a charismatic man and people opened up to him unknowingly, but just seeming him
interact like a normal human being like this was just weird.

It was almost as if Moonjo had felt Jongwoo’s eyes on him, as he turned to face him almost
instantly. Jongwoo quickly diverted his attention elsewhere and Moonjo let out an amused
chuckle beside him. Cursing himself out internally, Jongwoo begged that something -
anything - would happen just so Moonjo’s piercing gaze on him would stop.

Suddenly, the ten minute timer above them beeped loudly, soon followed by a female voice
playing out over the speakers.

“Time for team selection is up.”

Saved by the bell.

And soon enough, the guards were motioning them to sit in their teams in lines within one of
the rainbow circles. Once everyone had found a place to sit, the voice rang out again.

“The game you will be playing is Six-Legged Pentathlon. You will start with your legs tied
together. Each member will take turns playing a mini-game at every ten meter mark, and if
you win, the team can move on to the next one. Here are the mini-games.”

The crowd went deathly silent as the woman explained each of the mini-games.
“Number one, Ddakji.”

“Number two, Flying Stone.”

“Number three, Gong-gi.”

“Number four, Spinning Top.”

“Number five, Jegi.”

“Your goal is to win all the mini-games and cross the finish line in five minutes. Please
decide players for each mini-game.”

And as the voice stopped, an immediate array of muffled murmurs and whispers rang out
among the players.

Jongwoo leaned forward and looked at the other members of his group.

“Is anyone particularly good at any of them?” Suho questioned, leaning forward to make it
easier to chat amongst each other.

“Minjae, didn’t you say that you won at the ddakji more times than the recruitment guy did?”
Taehyung suddenly blurted out, almost startling the other men beside him.

“Oh yeah, I did! I’m pretty good at it so I’ll do the ddakji, then.” The man, or Minjae,
confirmed.

The rest of the group nodded their heads in agreement before Taehyung spoke up again.

“Damn, we really should’ve gotten a girl on our team or something. They’re usually better at
gong-gi…” Taehyung trailed off, before dropping his head in defeat.

“I can do it.”

Everyone’s heads snapped to Suho who had brought his hand up as if to indicate he was
happy to volunteer.

“I taught my little sister how to play when we were younger because she was upset that all
her friends could do it and she couldn’t.” Suho shyly said. The other men looked around
slightly at the man’s sudden confession before Taehyung chimed in.

“It’s settled then! Suho, you’ll be doing the gonggi!” He expressed rather excitedly.

Jongwoo quickly realised that he would have to pick one of the mini-games to play sooner or
later. Sure he had played them all when he was younger, but he wasn’t particularly an expert
at any of them. However, Jongwoo decided to go for the one that he thought would be the
easiest.

“I can do the jegi.” Jongwoo declared, causing the group’s attention to swiftly fall on him. “I
used to play it with my brother when we were little.” He didn’t know why he was sharing the
personal memory with these people, especially as they most likely didn’t care about anything
he said.

But even so, they nodded their heads in response to Jongwoo’s statement. It was then that
Moonjo spoke up.

“I’ll do the spinning top.”

The rest of the group, Jongwoo included, once again nodded their heads in approval.

“Alright then, I’ll do the flying stone game.” Taehyung concluded.

Jongwoo noticed how the rest of the men relaxed ever so slightly at Taehyung’s words. So at
least now everyone had been assigned a mini-game, and it was just merely a matter of
waiting until it was their turn to compete.

In Jongwoo’s peripheral vision, he watched as Suho used nearby rocks to practice the flip
technique for gong-gi. It was a shame that there was nothing around for Jongwoo to practice
with though. He hadn’t touched a jegi in years and he was bound to be rusty. But soon
enough, he was brought out of his thoughts by the female voice echoing throughout the room
from the speakers.

“Teams one and two, get ready.”

And so Jongwoo watched from afar as a team of five from each circle stood up and made
their way over to the start of the colourful track. It quickly occurred to Jongwoo that his team
would be one of the last to compete, given their position at the very back of the circle. That
gave them time to prepare at least.

The guards then secured each of the team’s legs together by thick, metal chains and locked
them with a padlock. Even if they tried, there was no way that anyone would be able to get
out of those cuffs. The two teams broke out into a mix of “Let’s go!” and “Come on!”, and it
was obvious that they were trying to hype themselves up for whatever was about to come.

“Let the game begin.” The woman announced over the system.

A nearby guard held a pistol up to the air before triggering it, sending a loud bang to ricochet
off of the walls, officially signaling the beginning of the race. Then, the five minute timer
started.

And immediately, both teams worked to walk forward in unison, often chanting out which leg
to put out first to ensure that they wouldn't accidentally fall over. Soon enough, both sides
reached the first game. A guard stood waiting with the blue and red squares in a wooden
tray.

Jongwoo’s eyes kept darting between each team before his attention was quickly brought to
Team Two as they were loudly cheering. They must have flipped the ddakji already.

“Pass.” The voice echoed out, accompanied by a nearby guard making an ‘O’ with their
hands above their head.
But the members of Team Two quickly came to realise that they couldn’t stand around
celebrating, and prepared to move onto the next mini-game. And so they immediately began
making their way to the next game where another guard stood, but this time with a stone in
the wooden tray that they were holding. Jongwoo found his eyes drifting toward Team One
who had yet to pass the ddakji. They still had plenty of time but it surely wouldn’t be good to
waste so much of it on the first game.

So instead of watching Team One continually fail, Jongwoo returned his attention back to
Team Two where one of the men was now preparing to throw the stone. The other stone
couldn’t have been more than a meter or two away from them, but even Jongwoo knew it
wasn’t that simple. Whoever it was throwing it had to have excellent hand-eye coordination
to be able to knock over the stone piece.

“Please do not stand on the line.”

Upon hearing the woman’s voice, the man quickly shuffled his feet back behind the white
line before he reeled his arm back and threw the stone. And Jongwoo watched as it bounced
over the other stone piece, completely missing it.

“Another stone!” The man yelled out, turning to the guard shaking with adrenaline. But
instead of receiving another stone, the guard simply pointed out at the one he had just thrown.

Oh, so that's how it was going to work.

The rest of the team shouted out angrily before they then proceeded to make their way over to
the stone. However, they had failed to walk in unison this time around, which caused them to
all come tumbling down to the floor. Jongwoo watched as they struggled on the floor for a bit
before they managed to get back up onto their feet and back to where they had started with
the stone in hand.

So missing would prove to be a grave mistake as it would only suck up the time for every
time they would have to go back and retrieve the rock. Jongwoo just hoped that Taehyung
was watching this too and realising that it would be in his best interest to hit the stone on his
first try.

And for the next odd three throws or so, Jongwoo watched as they continued to miss. The
time was quickly running out and Team Two was still stuck on the second mini game. And
Jongwoo couldn’t even hold back the grimace that splayed out over his face when he saw
something trickling down the man’s pants and into a puddle on the floor beneath him. Was
he…pissing himself?

However, before Jongwoo could fully take in the sight of a grown man pissing himself in
front of everyone, Team One erupted in a loud cheer. Jongwoo turned his head to face them
and realised that they had managed to pass both the ddakji and flying stone first and were
already making their way over to the next game. He didn’t particularly want to continue
watching an adult man piss himself so Jongwoo’s attention was soon glued on Team One as
they approached the gong-gi stage.

“For Gong-gi, you must pass all stages and catch all five stones at the end.”
And with that, the guard handed over the brightly coloured stones alongside a small table.
Team One immediately bobbed down and it was an older woman who began trying her luck
at the mini-game.

She managed to successfully throw up three stones and catch them before she fumbled the
fourth and it rolled away.

“We don’t have time for this! Hurry!” One of her teammates shouted.

“We can still make it. Stay calm and focus!” Another one added, trying to encourage the
woman rather than threaten her like one of her other teammates had done. They all looked up
at the timer which read a bright 3:32 minutes remaining.

Team Two had yet to pass the flying stone stage and were getting increasingly more agitated
after each miss. And Jongwoo could only imagine how much adrenaline and fear was
coursing through their veins.

By now, the older woman from Team One had made it to the last stage so all she had to do
now was land them all on the back of her hand. And as she threw the stones up in the air,
Jongwoo found himself subconsciously leaning in closer to see if she could pull it off. But
Jongwoo watched as only four stones landed safely on the back of her knuckles while the
remaining one bounced off onto the table.

She tilted her head up to the guard who immediately crossed his arms, replicating an ‘X’
symbol.

“Fail. Please start over.”

Team One began shouting out a mix of curses and angry words before the woman scrambled
to try again. And for Team Two, it was a similar situation. After having missed the stone for
the millionth time, one of the man’s teammates grabbed him by his jacket and shook angrily.

“You son of a bitch! How could you miss that? You said you were good at this!” But before
the man could continue his angry yelling, another teammate tapped on his shoulder and
shouted at them to go and get the stone.

Jongwoo drifted his attention back to Team One who was now only a step or two away from
completing the mini game. This time, the woman had successfully managed to land all five
stones on the back of her hand. She was shaking tremendously and her teammates were
yelling at her to continue.

“Finish it!”

“Shut up!” She screeched, causing them to fall silent as she prepared herself to do the final
step and catch all five stones in her fist.

And…she did it.

Team One roared and she held her trembling hand up to the guard that swiftly made an O
with their arms.
“Pass.”

They hugged each other before they quickly scurried to their feet. However, it seemed that
they were so overwhelmed by their excitement that they came toppling over onto the floor.

Suddenly, Team Two erupted in cheer. Although, their celebration was short-lived.

“Fail.”

“But it was a hit!” One of them argued desperately.

“You stepped on the line.”

And almost immediately, the heads of all five men dropped to see that his foot had in fact,
stepped on the line. The teammates slowly looked up with tears brimming their eyes before
the man who threw the stone was violently shaken again.

“You idiot! You stepped on the goddamn line!”

“We don’t have time! We’ve got to go!” A different man yelled out.

“Damn you!” The guy managed before their team was quickly shuffling forward to retrieve
the stone once again.

Jongwoo felt like he was going to get whiplash at how fast his head was snapping to see what
each of the teams were up to. And with 1:52 minutes remaining on the clock, Team One
approached the fourth game. Spinning Top.

The man shakily wrapped the string around the wooden cone before he slipped and it
completely unraveled. The rest of the team immediately reassured the man and told him to try
again. After all, they were doing pretty well for time. If they managed to get through this
game in the next try or so, they’d reach the finish line.

And as the man successfully wrapped the string around the wooden piece, he reeled his arm
back before letting go and sending it flying forward. Jongwoo watched from afar as the piece
failed to spin and just rolled around on the floor until it eventually stopped.

The team immediately began moving forward to retrieve the piece, but far too out of sync,
which caused them to come crashing down to the floor.

And by now, the teams that had yet to compete were all standing up and edging closer to see
if they were going to pass or not. Since Jongwoo was at the back, he found himself rising to
his feet as well. Even if he wasn’t the one competing, Jongwoo felt his heart racing as if he
was. Were they going to make it?

For the man’s second attempt, he raised the wooden piece to his mouth and placed a good
luck kiss on it. Then, he swung his arm back once more and sent it flying forward only for it
to…spin! Team One cheered upon seeing the wooden cone successfully spinning on the floor
in front of them.
“Pass.”

Jongwoo found his attention drifting over to Team Two’s side where he watched as the man
finally hit over the stone. However, not much of a cheer followed as the team was all sobbing
profusely.

“Pass.”

Jongwoo’s eyes then focused on the timer above them that read a disheartening 00:06
seconds remaining.

Holy shit, where had all the time gone?

Both teams stiffened as several armed guards stepped in front of them before raising their
guns to point up at them. And once the timer sounded with an ear piercing beep, the female
voice announced over the intercom.

“Your time is up.”

Team One and Two began stumbling backwards before the guards were quickly emptying
rounds into them. The rest of the players immediately began screaming and scurrying to get
as far away from the guards as they could. Jongwoo found himself flinching upon hearing the
gunshots echo throughout the room.

And once the shots stopped, the female voice played out over the speakers again.

“The following players have been eliminated. Players 016, 045, 178, 189, 198, 254, 286, 342,
395, and 416.”

The remaining players, including Jongwoo, had all crouched down and were covering their
eyes after the shots rang out. But it was when a man stood up and yelled out that brought
everyone hurtling back to reality.

“We should have left! We’re all going to die now! We’re all going to die because of those
who voted to continue!” He shouted angrily.

A few more people stood up and loudly shared their anger but Jongwoo blocked them out.
His head dropped to see the O patch secured tightly on his jacket before he tilted his head
back up and looked at the bodies of the first two teams lying motionlessly on the floor.

Yeah, they were fucked.

“Attention, please.” The woman’s voice echoed.

“Please wait while we tidy up the venue.”

And only a few moments later, the doors opened up and multiple forklifts entered the room
carrying several black boxes laced with pink ribbons. Jongwoo watched as the guards began
unlocking the chains securing the players together before they were quickly lifted into one of
the boxes. Once all players had been placed into a box, the forklifts carried them back
through the doors that they came from, shutting closely behind them. All that remained of
Team One and Team Two were the prominent puddles of blood left over on the colourful
track from whatever stage they had managed to reach.

“The next teams, please get ready.”

Jongwoo then watched as the two groups of five from either side hesitantly stood up,
obviously still a little shaken by what they had just witnessed. But soon enough, just like the
previous two teams, they began quietly hyping each other up to prepare themselves for the
upcoming games. Once they had been tightly secured and locked in by the chains, Jongwoo
noticed how both teams interlocked with each other’s arms. Would anyone be able to make it
through all five games in time?

And as the starting pistol went off again and the timer began, Jongwoo didn’t want to look.
He just couldn’t. After watching the previous two teams, Jongwoo felt like his heart was
going to explode at just how much adrenaline was going through his body. He wasn’t even
competing yet and he still felt this uptight and nervous. It wouldn’t be healthy to put his body
through all of that again, so he dropped his head and tried to wait out the time.

He could distantly make out some cheering that was usually followed by a “Pass” or either
angry yelling that was soon accompanied by a “Fail”, but he couldn’t actively watch. And
while the players around him were beginning to cheer and chant for one of the teams that was
seemingly flying through each of the stages, Jongwoo still kept his head down. However, his
decision to avoid watching it all again soon came to an unexpected end as his head shot up at
the sound of a slap echoing throughout the room.

It was followed shortly by another harsh slap before a taller woman bent over and picked up
the spinning top piece and grabbed a hold of a different woman’s jacket.

“If you give up, I will kill you before your gods do.” She snapped.

The other woman who she was holding onto then nodded her head quickly, blood trickling
out of her nose at the sheer force of the taller woman’s slaps.

And despite his previous reservations, Jongwoo found himself edging closer to see if the
woman would be able to pull it off. The crowd was deathly silent as she swiftly wrapped the
string around the wooden piece and threw it forward, successfully spinning as it landed.
Jongwoo couldn’t help as he joined in on the loud cheers that escaped the other players upon
seeing the team advance forward.

“Pass.”

They immediately began shuffling to the final stage, jegi. The taller woman grabbed ahold of
it before the guard held a hand out in front of her face.

“You must kick the jegi five times.”

She immediately turned to the rest of her team and whispered something he couldn’t quite
hear before she swivelled her body to face the crowd and said something else. Jongwoo
didn’t hear what she initially said but seeing as the rest of the players were now facing him
all of a sudden, he guessed that she had asked them to turn around. Perhaps she had stage
fright and didn’t want anyone watching her? Jongwoo brushed the thought off before he
turned around too.

The crowd immediately went quiet as everyone began to focus on trying to hear the sound of
the jegi being hit.

Clack. One.

Clack. Two.

Clack. Three.

Clack. Four.

Just one more, she only needed to hit it one more time to pass. Jongwoo was almost
trembling in anticipation but he fought back and waited to hear that final hit.

Clack. Five.

The crowd, including Jongwoo, erupted in applause and cheers before they quickly turned
back around to face the team.

“Pass.”

Everyone began chanting as the team neared the finish line closer and closer. If it hadn’t been
a life or death situation, Jongwoo would’ve enjoyed it all. The atmosphere was invigorating
and everyone was unified as they cheered and motioned for the team to finish the final stretch
of the race as quickly as possible. They only had a few seconds left on the clock to cross the
finish line.

And when they all simultaneously pushed past the pink ribbon hanging over the finish line,
the timer beeped loudly and sent the crowd roaring in a mix of excitement and relief.

The team quickly fell to their knees sobbing out of happiness and Jongwoo watched as the
players around him began ecstatically hugging and holding each other in exhilaration.
Jongwoo felt his eyes subconsciously drift to Moonjo before he realised that the man was not
sharing his excitement and was rather just looking down at him in amusement. Immediately,
Jongwoo stopped his cheering and instead returned to a stand still position before he cleared
his throat awkwardly. He had totally forgotten that Moonjo had been there the whole time.

And as for the next couple games, the crowd’s enthusiasm never once faltered. More and
more teams were passing through all five games and everything was seeming like it was
going to be okay. Sure a few teams got the short end of the stick and didn’t make it through,
but the remaining players who had yet to compete were determined to not let it phase them.
And as the remaining teams dwindled down to the last four, the cheering from the other
players had significantly reduced. Jongwoo had felt invincible watching the handful of
previous teams make it through their turns unscathed, so when it dawned on him that he was
next to compete, his breath hitched in his throat.

Soon after the third and fourth final teams began their turn, the sound of gunfire engulfed the
room. They had both failed to reach the finish line, coming up just short of the white line.

Watching as their bodies were carried out in those familiar black boxes, Jongwoo couldn’t
help but tremble ever so slightly. He could die. Right here, right now. And it wasn’t even
totally up to Jongwoo, so he was having to rely on the skills of his other teammates to help
pull them through to the next game.

“Jagiya, relax. Don’t stress yourself out.” Moonjo’s voice came unexpectedly, along with the
hand on his back that began to move in slow, soothing circles.

But before Jongwoo could do anything about it, the female’s voice rang out.

“Last teams, get ready.”

And soon enough, their group was whisked off to the start of the rainbow and densely
bloodied race track where their ankles were quickly chained together and locked. It didn’t
even take Moonjo a second to take the opportunity to intertwine his arms with Jongwoo’s,
leaving him both perplexed and probably a little irritated.

The room had become eerily quiet now that there were no players remaining. A part of
Jongwoo was glad that no one was left to watch them but at the same time, he also missed
how encouraging the presence of the other players had felt. It was just Jongwoo’s team and
the other one now.

Come to think of it, who was on the other—

“Guys! We’ll see you again at the finish line! Victory at all costs!” Player 390 shouted out
from across the room as he held up an encouraging fist to symbolise that he was rooting for
their team. And as Jongwoo narrowed his eyes on the other team, he realised just who was on
it.

Gi-hun, Young-il, Gi-hun’s friend, Gi-hun’s friend’s marine friend, and some other woman
too. Player 222 it seemed, according to her jacket.

He had unwillingly overheard the conversation between the two marines earlier that day but
had yet to catch either of their names. So for now, Jongwoo only knew them as friends of Gi-
hun.

“Yes! We’ll see each other again! Fighting!” Taehyung’s loud response brought Jongwoo’s
attention right back to the game at hand. Who cares about the other team, he just needed to
survive.

The rest of his team members interlocked their arms with each other and prepared to begin.
And once the pistol went off for the final time that day, they wasted no time in walking over
to the first game in an unmatched sync.
Minjae snatched the two squares from the guard’s tray before he plopped the red one down
on the ground. Suddenly, he pulled his arm back before sending the blue ddakji crashing
down on top of the red one. It flipped almost immediately.

“Pass.”

Jongwoo and the rest of the team cheered excitedly before zeroing in on quickly advancing to
the next stage, flying stone.

“You’ve got this Taehyung!” Suho cried out.

Taehyung grabbed the stone from the tray and held it tightly in his hand. He bent over at the
waist and squinted at the stone in the distance, most likely trying to measure up how much
force he would require to successfully knock it over.

Then, Jongwoo watched as he tossed his stone before it promptly bounced and hit over the
other rock.

“Pass.”

Shit, they were doing incredible for time. If they just kept this up, they’d make it to the finish
line without any issues.

And as they waddled over to the gong-gi station before swiftly bobbing down, Jongwoo
couldn’t take his eyes off of Suho as he began throwing the stones up in the air and catching
them with a startling pace. And holy shit—

It couldn’t have been more than 30 seconds before Suho was opening up his palm to the
guard in front of them to reveal all five stones safely in his grasp. The rest of the team looked
at each other in shock at Suho’s lightning fast pace before the woman’s voice broke them out
of their trance.

“Pass.”

They all jumped up in excitement and Jongwoo felt a glimmer of hope spark in his chest.
They were actually going to make it. Jongwoo drifted his attention to the timer above him
which read a relieving 2:01 minutes remaining. Perfect timing.

And as they neared the fourth station, Jongwoo felt his eyes settle on Moonjo beside him. He
watched as Moonjo’s nimble fingers made quick work of the string, wrapping it around the
wooden piece before securing it on the top tightly. Jongwoo couldn’t help but be captivated
by the man’s agile movements, his eyes following every step Moonjo took.

“I believe in you, Moonjo. We still have time!” Taehyung blurted out, shaking due to both the
adrenaline and fear coursing through him.

Moonjo then swung his arm back before letting go of the spinning top, leaving it to
successfully spin upon landing on the floor.

“Pass.”
The team erupted in cheer and Jongwoo brushed off the fleeting feeling of annoyance at how
Moonjo seemed to be capable of doing anything before his attention was abruptly brought
back to what awaited him ahead.

It was his turn next.

Once they reached the final stage, Jongwoo reached out a shaky hand and took the jegi out of
the tray. He only had to hit it five times. It couldn’t be that hard, right?

Clack. One.

Clack. Two

Clack. Three.

However, Jongwoo had kicked it too harshly on his third hit, sending the jegi crashing down
to the floor with a deafening thud. His team shook angrily in fear before Suho gave him some
amazing words of encouragement.

“Hurry the fuck up you son of a bitch!”

And with that, Jongwoo swallowed the bile that had built up in the back of his throat before
he let out a sigh and tried to focus. His eyes darted up to the timer that read an alarming
00:31 seconds remaining. What the fuck? Why was time traveling so fast all of a sudden?

“Stop looking at the timer and just get a fucking move on!” This time it was Taehyung that
snapped at him. And so, Jongwoo quickly threw up the jegi for his second attempt. If he
fucked up now, there would be no way that they’d be able to make it to the finish line on
time.

Clack. One.

Clack. Two.

Clack. Three.

Clack. Four.

Just one more and they’d be out of here. But much like his previous attempt, Jongwoo
accidentally kicked the jegi too harshly on his fourth hit and he watched in horror as it went
flying out in front of him.

They were utterly, and totally doomed.

But before he could even process it, his foot was moving forward seemingly on its own.
However, Jongwoo soon realised that it was Moonjo who had used the leg chained to
Jongwoo to lurch both of their legs forward in order to land the fifth and final hit.

Clack. Five.
It worked. It fucking worked.

“Pass.”

The rest of the team burst into cheers before quickly gathering themselves to close the gap
between them and the finish line. Jongwoo felt his body moving purely on adrenaline as they
neared the pink ribbon closer and closer. His eyes drifted to the timer that displayed 00:08
seconds remaining.

But they had come too far to not cross the finish line. And as they stepped through the pink
ribbon, the sound of the timer finishing filled the room, signaling the end of the last round.

Jongwoo and the rest of his team erupted into a mix of relieved sobs and triumphant cheers as
they realised that they had made it. Well, mostly everyone did. Jongwoo was too stunned to
care how Moonjo was simply just standing there and watching him jump up and down in
excitement.

His eyes soon settled on the team opposite him who were also celebrating. And despite how
he wasn’t particularly fond of anyone on the other team, he couldn’t help but crack a smile
upon seeing them. It was good to see that they had made it through too.

The walk back from the game this time around was not silent at all. Taehyung, Minjae, and
Suho walked up front and reminisced about how each of them had performed so valiantly.
There were lots of compliments being thrown around about how good everyone had been, but
Jongwoo had yet to hear any directed at him. But to be honest, he didn’t care. He shouldn’t
care either. Jongwoo had almost gotten them all killed with the stunt that he pulled, and if
Moonjo hadn’t stepped in, they wouldn’t currently be walking out of there, but rather being
wheeled out in five black boxes. He didn’t deserve to be complimented, really.

And once his eyes fell on a familiar room filled up with beds ahead of him, Jongwoo let out a
relieved sigh that he hadn’t realised he was holding in. But his moment of relief quickly
disappeared as he looked around at the disappointed faces at the sight of their two teams
filing in.

“They don’t seem happy to see us.” Young-il declared. It was aimed at Gi-hun but he spoke
rather loudly so Jongwoo could hear him anyway. And he couldn’t agree more. These people
certainly were disappointed that they had survived.

But Jongwoo ignored the lingering stares as he continued to make his way to his bed. After
what he had just been through, Jongwoo was mere minutes away from collapsing out of
exhaustion. He just wanted to go to sleep.

However, Moonjo was walking in front of him and Jongwoo quickly noticed that he was also
walking toward Jongwoo’s bed. This certainly won’t do. Jongwoo tried to quickly think on
his feet as to how to get the man to fuck off without making a scene. And since he couldn’t
yell at Moonjo or forcibly stop him without earning the attention of the surrounding players,
Jongwoo settled on the next best thing. …Sort of.

“Thank you.” And as soon as the words left his mouth, Jongwoo instantly regretted it.
 Moonjo immediately stopped dead in his tracks before swiveling around to face Jongwoo.

“Hm? What was that?” He questioned, trying to sound sincere.

“Fuck off. Don’t make me say it again.” Jongwoo spat.

“I’m afraid I didn’t quite hear you the first time, jagiya.” Moonjo responded with a smile on
his face that suggested otherwise. Of course Moonjo was going to fuck with him.

“Thank you…for earlier.” Jongwoo purposely mumbled, hoping that the other man wouldn’t
hear him. However, it seemed that he did anyway.

“Anything for you, jagiya.” Moonjo cooed, the smile on his face only growing even bigger.

Jongwoo gritted his teeth in response. He should’ve just kept quiet.

“Just don’t follow me, got it?” Jongwoo managed, as he completely ignored the man’s
previous comment before he swiftly pushed past Moonjo and resumed his journey back to his
bed. And on his way back, Jongwoo’s mind began to wander. Even if Moonjo had brushed
off helping Jongwoo as a simple act of loyalty or kindness, he still felt that the man would be
expecting something in return.

Jongwoo was now indebted to Moonjo, and that certainly couldn’t mean anything good.

Chapter End Notes

And nearly 9k words later, game 2 is DONE!! I didn’t realise just how much i yapped on
in this chapter, so i apologise if u were expecting a more drama/action-packed chapter.
BUT DON’T WORRY!! In the next chapter, jongwoo talks with a few of the other
players. *cough cough* player 222 and myung-gi *cough cough* But anyway….!
Things are getting quite interesting now and I have a bunch of ideas that i want to carry
out in this fic, so STAY TUNED LOVELIES!!

Did anyone reading the scene where it was down to Jongwoo or the older man think that
it reminded them of being chosen last for a dodgeball game? No? Just me? Hmmm. Well
i thought it was quite amusing. Jongwoo or the senile old man? Choices, choices,
choices.

P.S. for the whole “strongly, energetically, firmly” thing, i read in an article somewhere
that the story behind those words were what i wrote about. (+ i used google translate to
translate the korean letters) SO IF THERE’S ANY KOREAN READERS OUT THERE
AND I MADE A FOOL OF MYSELF, i apologise!! Blame the internet 😡 Kidding

Okay but i really do hope that you enjoyed this chapter despite my constant yapping! It
was super fun to write. :3 Anyway, thanks again for all your support and i just love
reading what u all have to say. ❤
 Intermission - Part 2
Chapter Summary

Jongwoo continues to try and convince himself that he hates Moonjo’s presence, but it is
failing. Miserably.

Chapter Notes

Bit of shorter chapter this time, but I hope you enjoy regardless!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

And as Jongwoo stared mindlessly up at the ceiling above his bed for what felt like the
millionth time, he couldn’t tell how long it had been since they had gotten back from the
second game. Whether it was an hour or only 10 minutes, Jongwoo wouldn’t know. Time was
funny here. Moonjo had seemingly taken Jongwoo’s request seriously, as he was yet to grace
him with his presence.

But if he was going to be honest with himself, Jongwoo didn’t like the mixed signals that
Moonjo was giving him. It was either Moonjo would be dangerously close to him and would
flat out refuse to leave his side, or he’d fuck off to god-knows where for god-knows how
long. And never in between. But then again, even for a person like Moonjo, this place was
sure to mess with people a little. It certainly messed with Jongwoo, that’s for sure.

Suddenly, a rather urgent matter in his lower body came to his attention, causing him to
spring up on his bed. He had to piss. Really bad. Come to think of it, when had he gone to the
bathroom last? And as Jongwoo sifted through his memories as he made his way down the
ladder, it occurred to him that it had been quite some time. As in before the games even
started ago. That surely can’t be good for his bladder.

Upon arriving at the men’s bathroom door, Jongwoo knocked on it loudly and a guard with a
triangle face soon popped up shortly after. The guard led him to the bathroom where
Jongwoo entered and…

Oh, god. This place was weird.

The floors and walls were tiled with a turquoise finish while the bathroom stalls and urinals
were detailed in pink. Honestly, who was designing all of these rooms? They had done a
great job at making the place look entirely unappealing and uncomfortable.
And so Jongwoo did his business as quickly as humanly possible, aiming to leave the strange
bathroom behind as fast as he could. There was no reason to loiter around, let alone in a
bathroom of all places, and waste time fondling the sinks or anything like that. Was it odd
that he was so weirded out by the bathroom? Possibly. But surely anyone with two eyeballs
could see that this was no ordinary bathroom.

Leaving the strange room as he simultaneously wiped his hands dry on his pants, Jongwoo
returned his attention back to the more familiar and less oddly designed room full of beds.
But before he could even get a couple meters away from the door, a woman stumbled to her
knees in front of him. Jongwoo’s eyes fell to the number displayed on the woman’s jacket
before he quickly jumped forward to help her.

Player 222.

“Miss? Miss! Are you okay?” Jongwoo inquired as he shuffled around to the front of the
woman and looked her clearly in her eyes.

“Go away! I don’t need your help.” She spat, rather rudely.

Jongwoo couldn’t help as his brows furrowed in confusion. He was only trying to help, so
what was with the attitude?

“But miss, I really think you should lie down somewhere. You’re looking a little pale and—”
He tried before she swiftly cut him off.

“Myung-gi, I told you to go away! I don’t want your help so just stop!” She lifted her head to
meet Jongwoo’s eyes, annoyance and anger evident in her voice.

Jongwoo’s jaw instinctively dropped and formed an ‘O’ shape at the woman’s statement.

What the fuck? Did everyone here seriously think that he and Myung-gi were the same?
Surely they didn’t look that similar, right?

He sighed, dropping his head in disbelief temporarily before lifting it and replying.

“I’m not Myung-gi. He’s Player 333, remember?” Jongwoo said, and he watched as her eyes
fell to the number on his jacket. The woman’s cheeks then flushed a little before she quickly
cupped a hand over her mouth in embarrassment.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry! You two just look so—”

“Similar, I know.” Jongwoo finished with an unamused expression on his face. This whole
“I’m not Myung-gi, he is!” thing was seriously starting to get out of hand and it was
beginning to annoy Jongwoo. Are people really that unobservant? They had two completely
different numbers and not one person batted an eye? Jongwoo internally rolled his eyes at the
stupidity of his fellow players.

“So please, let me help you over to your bed. It would be rude of me not to.” And despite
Jongwoo’s mild irritation, he knew that he should just get over it and help her. She looked
like she was unsteady on her feet to begin with anyway.
“Alright, thank you.” She squeaked out, probably still a little embarrassed after having yelled
at an innocent man.

Jongwoo then found himself wrapping an arm around her waist and letting her use his
shoulder as support before he was pulling her up to her feet. Her free hand immediately
retreated to her stomach and Jongwoo couldn’t help cock at an eyebrow at it. And as they
began to slowly wobble over in the direction of the woman’s bed, Jongwoo cleared his throat
before speaking up.

“May I ask you a question?” He inquired, before she weakly nodded her head.

“How do you know Myung-gi?” The words spilled out of his mouth but Jongwoo couldn’t
find it in himself to feel any sliver of regret. And in Jongwoo’s mind, he had every right to
know seeing as she had mistaken him for Myung-gi in the first place. Her tone was rather
aggressive too and it led Jongwoo to believe that there was some undisclosed secret between
the two players.

“He’s my ex, and also the one that got me here in the first place. I invested in the crypto coin
he was marketing, so I lost everything too.”

Ah.

“Is he the father?” And as soon as the words left his mouth, Jongwoo felt the woman tense up
slightly beside him. However, shortly she hummed in response and Jongwoo took that as a
yes.

Why on Earth was a pregnant woman here? All of this stress surely couldn’t be good on the
baby.

“How’d you know I was pregnant?” Her voice was meek and quiet.

“Well, you always had a hand on your stomach so I kind of just guessed.” Jongwoo replied
with an awkward chuckle.

She gave him a half-hearted smile before she fell silent once again. Jongwoo felt his mind
wander as they continued to wobble closer and closer to her bed.

So Myung-gi and his ex, his pregnant ex, were both in here together? And it was Myung-gi’s
failing crypto coin that had landed them both in here? How interesting.

However, Jongwoo was abruptly ripped out of his thoughts as he felt the weight of Player
222 under him suddenly lighten.

“Here, let me help.”

Jongwoo’s head snapped to face…

Moonjo.

Oh, for fucks sake.

Player 222 seemed to be equally as startled by Moonjo’s sudden appearance before she
opened her mouth to speak.

“Oh it’s fine, really! I don’t think two people are that necessa—”

“I insist.” Moonjo interrupted before swiftly hooking his head under the woman’s other arm.

“Alright…” She trailed off and turned to Jongwoo, confusion splayed out all over her face.
And Jongwoo simply stared back at her with the exact same expression.

Suddenly, Jongwoo felt as Moonjo unraveled his hold on the woman’s waist, causing his arm
to fall idly back by his side. This time, Jongwoo’s eyes darted to Moonjo who was staring
ahead as if nothing had happened.

Jongwoo clicked his tongue quietly at Moonjo’s childish antics before he refocused his
attention on getting to the woman’s bed. And to be honest, their journey back was a little
inelegant. Moonjo was far too tall so he was bent down at an awkward angle that was still far
too high for the woman while Jongwoo was at a perfect height for her. So as they stumbled
unnaturally over to a particular stack of beds that Jongwoo assumed was where her bed
rested, he almost celebrated when the woman spoke up.

“This is me.” She said, bringing the hand off of Jongwoo’s shoulder to point at the bed on the
third level of the stack.

“Did you need me to help you up to your bed too?” Jongwoo offered. And for a moment, it
seemed that the woman was contemplating his offer. However, it was someone forcibly
ripping apart the trio that cut her opportunity to answer Jongwoo’s question short.

“Junhee, get away from him!”

And as Jongwoo spun around to see just who exactly had pried them apart rather
aggressively, his eyes quickly fell on a familiar face.

Oh, it was Myung-gi.

“Are you alright, Junhee? Did they hurt you?” Myung-gi’s back was to him and he was
desperately clinging onto the woman who simply rolled her eyes upon seeing him.

“I’m fine! What do you want, Myung-gi?” She spat before she wrenched his hands off of her.

“You shouldn’t trust people so easily! What if they really did hurt you?” Myung-gi cried out.

Jongwoo scrunched up his face in response to the man’s question. And when he went to open
his mouth to defend himself, Moonjo beat him to it.

“That’s awfully rude.”

Upon hearing his voice, Myung-gi immediately swivelled to face the two men with a hostile
look on his face.
“And who the hell are you?” He snapped, his eyes glancing over Moonjo’s figure quickly.

“Does it matter?” Moonjo countered bluntly.

“Well, yes! You and him were probably trying to take Junhee away to hurt her!” Myunggi
stammered out, emphasizing the word ‘him’.

“Hm, that’s different from how I saw it.” Moonjo cocked his head, which only sent the other
man firing up even more in irritation. And for probably the first time in his life, Jongwoo was
glad that Moonjo had a knack for annoying people. He was an expert at getting on people’s
nerves enough to make them eventually snap. Unfortunately, Jongwoo knew this very well.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Myung-gi spat with a tone that Jongwoo guessed was
aiming to sound menacing. It fell short though.

“Well, at least from where I was standing, it was Jongwoo who came to her aid when she first
collapsed, no? Or perhaps I saw it wrong? You two do look awfully similar.” And while
Moonjo spoke with an unnervingly indifferent tone, Jongwoo knew that the man was
enjoying every second of this.

“Shut the fuck up! You don’t even know what you’re talking about!” Myung-gi screeched in
retaliation.

Moonjo opened his mouth to respond before Jongwoo found himself placing a hand to the
older man’s chest to stop him from continuing to indulge the angry man. And it worked.
Moonjo’s mouth fell shut almost immediately and he looked down in amusement at
Jongwoo’s hand resting casually on his chest.

“Look Myung-gi, it wasn’t my intention to cause any harm to…” he trailed off and his eyes
landed on the girl who was now just standing awkwardly behind the man before concluding
with, “Junhee, right?”

She nodded her head and Jongwoo immediately continued after dropping his hand from
Moonjo’s chest. He could feel Moonjo’s stare on him but Jongwoo was too preoccupied to
care.

“Right, Junhee. So you can calm the fuck down, alright?” Jongwoo’s attempt to sound
indifferent wasn’t nearly as successful as Moonjo, so the irritation in his voice was as clear as
day.

“Calm down? You’ve got to fucking joking! You’re telling me to calm down when my
pregnant girlfriend—”

“Ex-girlfriend.” Junhee corrected, but Myung-gi continued to ramble, seeming to

conveniently ignore her correction.

“—is walking around with a psycho that goes around beating people up? Fuck you!” He
concluded angrily.
“And you didn’t try to do the same? Or did we,” Jongwoo motioned between him and
Moonjo, “see that wrong too?”

Myung-gi’s mouth immediately clamped shut before a very satisfying silence engulfed them.
The man shifted awkwardly on his feet and any previous attempt to appear intimidating had
seemingly vanished.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Jongwoo scoffed, amused by Myung-gi’s sudden mood
change. Moonjo’s eyes had been glued on him the entire time but Jongwoo was enjoying this
too much to care.

“Well then, now that you’re here to finally help out your pregnant ex-girlfriend, we’d better
get going.” Jongwoo soon followed up with before he turned to face Junhee who looked as if
she was trying to hold back a laugh.

“Junhee, take care. I wish you the best of luck for your pregnancy.” He gave her warm smile
before quickly dropping it as he spun his body to face a deathly silent Myung-gi.

“And Myung-gi, I just hope that you’re a better father than you are a friend.”

And with that, Jongwoo subconsciously found himself grabbing onto Moonjo’s wrist before
dragging the man away from the couple. Once they had managed to get far enough away
from Junhee and Myung-gi - but mostly Myung-gi - Jongwoo realised that he had yet to let
go of Moonjo’s wrist. And in a heartbeat, Jongwoo unraveled his hold on the man’s wrist
before dropping his hands to his side awkwardly.

Fuck, why did he do that?

Moonjo had, not surprisingly, cocked an eyebrow up at Jongwoo’s sudden touch before he
spoke up.

“We?” Moonjo’s tone was mocking, and it took everything in Jongwoo just to not deck the
man right then and there.

“Shut up.” Jongwoo rebuked. However, his words lacked the venom that he hoped they
would have. Moonjo then let out an amused chuckle before he continued.

“Jagiya…” His voice was low and velvety, and contained far too much adoration for
Jongwoo’s liking.

Then Moonjo stepped forward, easily closing the already short distance between them, before
his hands settled on the curves of Jongwoo’s waist.

Jongwoo felt his breath immediately hitch at the contact, and before he could even process it,
Moonjo was already pulling him in closer. He could feel the blood rushing up to leave a rosy
flush on his face almost instantly as one of Moonjo’s hands on his waist reached up to cup his
cheek.

Oh fuck—
Suddenly, a group of guards emerged from the doors, effectively gaining the attention of all
players.

Saved by the bell. Again.

And in a heartbeat, Jongwoo immediately swatted away Moonjo’s hand and pried off his
other hand from off of his waist. Jongwoo ignored the disappointed whine that left the older
man’s mouth at his sudden retraction as he pushed past the players surrounding him and
hopefully out of Moonjo’s sight. But before Jongwoo could dwell on exactly what the fuck
just happened - or what nearly happened for that matter - the square-masked guard began to
talk.

“Congratulations to all of you for making it through the second game. Here are the results of
the second game.”

And with that, the guard lifted the remote up to the ceiling and pressed a button. The ceiling
opened up once more, and soon enough, the golden piggy bank was descending out of the sky
again. The guard continued to speak as new stacks of money were poured into the glass bank,
and once again, all the players were hypnotised by the sight.

“In the second game, 110 players were eliminated. The prize money accumulated up to this
point is 20.1 billion won. Since there are 255 players remaining, each person’s share is
73,823,530 won.”

The crowd began to murmur quietly at the guard’s words before one man yelled out and said
what everyone was probably thinking.

“Wait what? It’s still under 100 million? It’s not even 80 million.”

“Only 110 people died? Is that all? Did you count them right?” This time it was a female’s
voice, and Jongwoo’s eyes darted around the room to try and find the owner of the voice.
Though, he was unsuccessful as someone else began talking and he lost his chance to locate
who the voice belonged to.

“That’s all? But you shot all those people!” Another player shouted.

“It was more than that!” Jongwoo’s eyes then fell on the owner of the gravelly voice, who
was none other than Player 100.

“Count them again!” The man beside Player 100 yelled out angrily.

“Fuck. I almost died twice, and that’s all I get? I’d get more money than that if I let
somebody beat me up!” A different player screamed.

The crowd then began sharing their angry opinions with each other loudly before the guard
interrupted.

“I completely understand your disappointment. However, we always keep the door open for
you to pursue new opportunities. You will now take a vote to decide whether to continue the
games or not.”
And with that, Jongwoo’s attention was quickly diverted on the doors opening behind the
group of guards where the voting podium was being wheeled in.

“Whether to continue the games for a bigger prize or to stop here is entirely your choice.
Please feel free to exercise your right to choose in a democratic manner.” The guard added
monotonously.

Soon enough, players were already moving to stand in the spot that they had been waiting in
last time they voted. Jongwoo began moving with them and much to his surprise as he
whipped his head around to scan the room, Moonjo was nowhere to be found.

Was the man some sort of magician? How could he disappear like that so quickly? Wait…
why did Jongwoo care whether he was gone or not?

“This time, the vote will begin with Player 001. So Player 001, please cast your vote.” The
guard’s voice effectively brought Jongwoo out of his trance and he watched as Young-il
emerged from somewhere in the crowd and began walking up to the podium.

This was going to take awhile. Again.

Jongwoo watched as the man hovered his hand over the middle of the buttons before pressing
down hard on one of them. A digital melody rang out from the speakers and Young-il’s face
immediately lit up in red, and the X counter went up by one on the TV screen.

Oh, Jongwoo wasn’t expecting that from him.

Young-il ripped off the O patch from his jacket and handed it over to the guard who gave him
a new X patch in return. Patting it into the velcro, Young-il then swiveled around and made
his way over to the X side.

Maybe people were finally coming to their senses and they’d be able to go home? Jongwoo
could get away from it all and he’d no longer be trapped here with Moonjo.

And so Jongwoo watched as the next 60 or so players placed their vote, and much like last
time, it was relatively even. OK maybe not everyone had come to their senses like he had
once thought. Seeming to realise that not enough people were voting to end the games,
Jongwoo watched as Gi-hun pushed through the crowd before he tried to yell out.

“Everyone—” He managed before someone else cut him off.

“Are you all out of your minds?” It was Young-il. He was now standing in the aisle between
both sides and everyone’s attention had quickly fallen on him.

“You still want to keep going after watching all those people die? Who’s to say you won’t die
in the next game?” He paused, letting the question linger in the air for a few moments before
he continued.

“We have to stop. We’ll all die if we keep going! Come to your senses, and leave with that
money. You’ve got to survive first, or there won’t be a next step.” Young-il concluded.
“What do you think we can do with a mere 70 million?” And Jongwoo rolled his eyes at who
the voice belonged to. Player 100.

Jongwoo was getting deja vu at just how similar this voting sequence was to their previous
one. But despite it all, Player 100 was seriously getting on Jongwoo’s nerves.

“I don’t know how much you owe, but for most people here, that doesn’t even cover 10% of
their debt. Am I right?” The older man turned to the O side and it immediately erupted in
scattered murmurs of agreement.

“There’s no next step for us! That money won't change anything!” Player 100 continued.

Jongwoo fought back the “Well not everyone is 10 billion in debt, you fucking moron!” that
dared to leave his mouth. But seriously, how does one get that badly in debt? How
embarrassing.

“Yes, he’s right!” A man’s voice yelled out.

“That’s right!” Another player shouted.

“With that amount of money, I won’t last long!” One of the men beside Player 100
announced loudly.

“It was 25 million after the first game, and now it’s 78 million! After one game, the amount
more than tripled! If we play one more game, the prize will be at least 240 million!” Player
100 cheered.

The O side began nodding their heads in agreement and Jongwoo watched as the players who
had yet to vote around him also began to look as if they were pondering the man’s statement.

“But I can’t do this anymore! Please, please let me out of here! I really…I really want to go
home. I don’t want to die…” Jongwoo’s eyes fell on Player 095, a frail woman who cried as
she spoke.

The crowd shifted uncomfortably at the woman’s tears before it was a man from the O side
that spoke up.

“Young lady. You’re young, so you’d probably have another chance. But I don’t.” He croaked
out.

“Please...” Player 095 tried, still crying profusely.

“My family and I have no future. My business failed and now I owe over 500 million. I’ve
got to make at least half of that here if I want a real shot at a fresh start.” The man continued,
with tears now flowing from his eyes.

It was then that Player 001 butted in.

“What if you die? If you die here, your family won’t even get your body. Then it’d be the end
for you and your family! Don’t you see?” Young-il yelled out, irritation clear in his voice.
But before the man could respond to Young-il’s question, a few more players emerged from
the crowd who had yet to vote.

“Don’t get fucking scared people! Ddakji, Red Light, Green Light, Spinning Top. It’s not like
the games are that difficult!” It was Player 226. He then turned to face the crowd from where
he emerged from.

“Look. There are still 255 players. Way more than half of us survived! We’ve made it this far,
so let’s do this one more time!” He continued, raising up an encouraging fist into the air.

“You make such a good point, young man.” Player 100 walked up to him and placed a hand
on the man’s shoulder before continuing. “That’s right! We’ve all played the games well and
survived until now! Now, let’s play one more game! Just one more, and that’s it. Let’s play
just one more game!” He concluded as he held up a single, symbolic finger up into the air.

“Yeah, let’s play one more!” Player 226 screamed out.

And with that, both the O side and majority of the players who had yet to vote began
chanting “one more game” loudly and Jongwoo immediately knew that he was fucked.

For the next however many votes went by, Jongwoo watched as the players ahead of him
voted for either X or O. At first, it was still looking pretty even. But as time progressed, it
was looking increasingly more grim.

“Player 303.”

Upon hearing his number, Jongwoo pushed past the players in front of him and made his way
up to the podium before he immediately pressed the X button. His face lit up in red and he
ripped off the O patch from his jacket before handing it over to the guard in front of him. And
as he secured his new patch onto the velcro of his jacket, Jongwoo spun around and began
walking over to the X side.

Jongwoo knew that every vote mattered, but at this rate, it was looking pretty one sided no
matter what happened.

“Player 304.”

Jongwoo’s eyes instantly fell on the familiar tall man who was now walking down the aisle
between the two sides. What was Moonjo going to choose? But, he didn’t have to wait long
to find out. He watched as Moonjo’s face lit up in a vibrant blue colour and the O counter on
the TV screen went up by one.

And of course Moonjo wanted the games to continue. Jongwoo should’ve known better.
Moonjo was twisted in the head and he was probably enjoying all of this.

Moonjo swiftly made his way to the O side and Jongwoo felt his head drop down, trying to
avoid Moonjo’s attempts at finding him among the crowd. He didn’t know how he’d be able
to approach Moonjo after what had happened before all of this.
And for what felt like ages, the final buzzer of the last player casting their vote finally echoed
throughout the room. Jongwoo lifted his head up and to no one’s surprise, Gi-hun’s face was
illuminated in a deep, red colour.

But it was no use.

Jongwoo’s eyes drifted up to the TV screen and his stomach dropped, even if he knew it was
already coming. It was 116 votes for the X side and 139 votes for the O side. Suddenly, the
guard began to speak.

“The results are 139 for O and 116 for X. Based on the majority vote, we’ll proceed to the
third game tomorrow. Thank you.”

And as people either defeatedly or triumphantly began dispersing from the crowds on either
side, the guards retreated back through the doors they came from before they shut loudly
behind them.

What was he going to do? It was clear that staying here was messing with Jongwoo’s mind
enough for him to nearly…whatever, it does it matter. Maybe if he just tried to ignore
Moonjo until it was all over? It would be difficult but Jongwoo was determined. He couldn’t
let Moonjo get close to him again.

Jongwoo’s eyes darted around the room as he made his way back to his bed. Unfortunately
for him, there really wasn’t a place in here for Jongwoo to hide from Moonjo. So his bed was
his best option, even if Moonjo was more than capable of just joining him on it either way.
Although, at the very least, Jongwoo was a little grateful that his bed was on the top of his
stack. That gave him a chance to be able to see Moonjo climbing up the ladder before he’d
reach his bed.

So when he eventually reached his bed, Jongwoo fought to stay as vigilant as possible. He
wouldn’t be caught off guard by Moonjo any more.

A few hours passed and Jongwoo watched from afar as the rest of the players were lining up
to grab their dinner for the night. A part of Jongwoo wanted to join them because he was
feeling a little peckish himself, but that put him at risk of coming back to his bed with a
certain someone waiting there for him. So Jongwoo opted for the latter and was happy to
sacrifice his meal if it meant that he wouldn’t have to see Moonjo.

But suddenly, out of the corner of his eyes, a hand curled over the side of his bed. Jongwoo
jolted up and began scurrying over to the end of his bed where the hand was. But before he
could even yell at the older man to fuck off, Moonjo was already hoisting himself up onto
Jongwoo’s bed. He landed with a loud thud before he found Jongwoo’s eyes and spoke up.

“You should eat, jagiya.” Moonjo then fished out an egg and a green bottle of soda from his
jacket pocket before offering it out to Jongwoo.

His eyes jumped between the offering and Moonjo, who was now sitting way too close for
Jongwoo’s liking, in confusion.
“What about you? And I don’t feel like eating anything tonight.” Jongwoo asked, trying to
subtly decline the man’s offer. Wait, why was he being so polite to him anyway?

“I have my own.” He replied bluntly and nodded to his jacket pocket that had a familiar egg-
shaped and bottle-shaped outline on it.

Jongwoo scrunched his face up in confusion and contemplated for a moment before
responding.

“How did you get two servings? Wouldn’t they recognise you the second time around?” He
managed, looking at the man bewilderedly.

“If they recognised me, they didn’t say so. But I don’t think there’s a rule that prevents
anyone from going up for seconds either.” Moonjo’s response was almost instant.

The confusion on Jongwoo’s face quickly dissipated, and despite his previous efforts, he
found himself taking the egg and bottle out of Moonjo’s hands. Whatever. He’d be damned if
he let this man prevent him from eating dinner. He needed the energy anyway.

Moonjo seemed to be pleased at Jongwoo’s decision as a smirk crept up from the corners of
his lips. Jongwoo then shuffled back until his back was against his bed frame, effectively
widening the distance between them by several feet. Jongwoo ignored how the man cocked
an eyebrow up at him before he began picking at the shell of his egg.

And so the two ate the rest of their shitty and lackluster excuse of a dinner together in silence.
Jongwoo wasn’t particularly keen on starting a conversation with the man, so he never
bothered to try and Moonjo did the same. And as much as he hated to say it, it was a
comfortable silence between them. He didn’t feel uptight or the need to stay completely
vigilant around Moonjo at that moment, and it sort of worried Jongwoo.

However, even with his worries, the silence continued beyond their dinner and further into
the night. Moonjo made no attempt to return to his own bed, so Jongwoo guessed that it
would just be another repeat of last night. And that didn’t sit right with Jongwoo at all.

Soon enough, the lights flickered off and they were once again left in the dark, with the only
light coming from the golden piggy bank hanging up in the sky.

“You should get some sleep tonight.” The words spilled out involuntarily from his mouth.
Although, as Jongwoo thought about it more, it probably didn’t hurt for Moonjo to sleep too.
It wouldn't be smart to try and play all of these games on a total of 0 minutes of sleep.

Moonjo simply chuckled quietly before he spoke up.

“Thank you for your concern jagiya, but there’s no need. It’s more than enough for me if
you’re the one who’s well rested.” Moonjo whispered.

Jongwoo furrowed his brows and the man’s clearly flawed logic. He just wanted an excuse to
watch Jongwoo sleep, didn’t he? Yeah…he did.
 “Fine then. But don’t complain when you’re too tired to do anything tomorrow.” Jongwoo
retorted, completely ignoring the man’s comments before he settled under the covers of his
bed.

There was no use trying to shoo the man away, so Jongwoo would just have to hope that
Moonjo doesn’t try anything funny in his sleep. He had to…trust him. Yuck.

Jongwoo then forced his eyes shut and tried to brush off the lingering thoughts. It had been a
long day. And with everything that had happened - from the game to Myung-gi to Moonjo to
the vote - Jongwoo knew he wouldn’t last much longer before he would eventually fall
asleep.

Much like the night before, Jongwoo’s breathing began to slow as he got closer and closer to
falling unconscious. But before he could fall asleep, he distantly felt the weight at the end of
his bed move before it settled right next to him. And if he had not been as far gone as he
currently was, Jongwoo probably would’ve fought against how Moonjo had lifted his blanket
up before he slotted himself under the covers closely beside him. Moonjo then slithered an
arm around Jongwoo’s waist, pulling him closer and holding him as if he was a delicate piece
of fine china.

But in his final conscious moments, rather than trying to free himself from the man’s hold,
Jongwoo found himself leaning into Moonjo’s warmth before he swiftly fell into a
comfortable slumber in the presence of the most terrifying man he knew.

Again.

Chapter End Notes

fooling anyone buddy. 🙄

WOAH THERE GUYS!! THATS PRETTY GAY!! Haha but fr tho, Jongwoo ur not
Having dinner with ur “greatest enemy” my ass

As I was writing this, I realised that in the actual series, the players only get one meal a
day and I had given them both a breakfast and dinner ☠ I didn’t know what else to write
as a dinner option for this chapter, so it was a little throwback to S1 with the egg and the
green soda bottle! So yeah, oopsies.

SEALING THE DEAL 🤩

THESE TWO IDIOTS ARE GETTING CLOSER AND CLOSER TO FINALLY
I have an idea on when it will occur but you guys will just
have to wait ;) Does this count as a slow burn? Eh whatever, i’m adding it to the tags
anyway.

Thanks for all your support guys!! I really hope u enjoyed this chapter even if i gave u
blue balls from the almost-kiss between mjjw HAHAHA

My final thoughts on this chapter: Fuck Myung-gi 🥰

p.s sorry if u got multiple notifications for this chapter, ao3 was messing with me and
telling me that i was still only on 4 chapters and not 5 so…yeah hopefully u guys can
actually see this lol
 Mingle
Chapter Summary

Jongwoo teams up with some familiar faces for the third game.

Chapter Notes

IM SORRY FOR THE WAIT LOVELIES!! Idk why but I found writing this chapter so
much harder than the rest, so I apologise for the wait! In compensation, here is 8.5k of
words! I was hoping to write more but i wanted to cut it off somewhere so i’d be able to
have something to write about in the next chapter. But for this chapter, THE GIRLS
ARE FIGHTING!! And then not really because Jongwoo can’t remain mad at Moonjo
for the life of him.

Anyway, hope u enjoy! Sorry to keep you guys waiting 🥲

P.S = The mingle game strays a LITTLE away from canon (just like what numbers are
called out), but no one new dies so don’t fear!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

As a distant melody played out over the speakers, Jongwoo groaned reluctantly as he fought
to open his eyes. When was the last time he had slept so well? Jongwoo didn’t feel an ounce
of tiredness, but rather he felt refreshed and well-rested. But even so, he didn’t want to get
up. For some reason, Jongwoo was just so warm.

And as soon as the thought crossed his mind, Jongwoo came crashing back into reality as all
five of his senses came back to him in a heartbeat. Jongwoo’s eyes pounced open before they
settled on a sleeping Moonjo only a few inches away from his own face.

What the fuck?—

He darted his eyes across the man’s sleeping figure before Jongwoo’s eyes then fell on the
hand that was pressed casually up against Moonjo’s chest. His hand. And almost
immediately, Jongwoo retracted his hand as gently as possible, hoping that he wouldn’t wake
the other man up as he did so. He really didn’t want to deal with Moonjo quite just yet—

“Good morning, jagiya.”

The deep voice sent a startling shiver down Jongwoo’s spine - partly because Moonjo was so
close that he could practically feel the vibrations of the man’s voice bounce off of the
mattress. The mattress that they were sharing. What the fuck was he doing?

Jongwoo snapped his head back up to the man before he felt his eyes instinctively widen
upon seeing just how close they were. Moonjo had that stupid smirk plastered across his face
and Jongwoo internally cursed himself out at how he had let himself get into this predicament
in the first place. And when Jongwoo opened his mouth to say something in return and
nothing followed, he quickly realised that it was no use and he should just focus on trying to
get away from Moonjo instead.

Turning his body away from the older man, Jongwoo immediately jolted up in an upright
position before he began trying to unravel himself from Moonjo’s legs that were effectively
pinning him down from the waist down. God, when did that happen?

But before he got very far, Jongwoo felt a large hand wrapping around the back of his head
before it pulled him back down by his hair. And on his way down, Moonjo had somehow
managed to flip himself over from his previous lying position on the bed to instead straddle
Jongwoo by the hips. Moonjo then placed his free hand beside Jongwoo’s head to help prop
himself up, while he weaved the fingers of hand tucked behind Jongwoo’s head through his
hair tenderly.

“Let go of me!” Jongwoo hissed as he writhed erratically under Moonjo, desperately trying to
push the man away by his chest. But it was no use. Even amidst the struggle, Jongwoo did his
best to ignore just how good the man’s fingers playing with his hair felt.

“And if I don’t?” Moonjo’s words were laced with an overwhelming amount of playfulness.
They were only inches away from each other, so Jongwoo could feel the man’s breath grazing
against his face as he spoke.

“I- I’ll throw you over the edge!” Jongwoo stumbled over his words, his voice lacking the
intimidating tone that he had been aiming for.

“What are you waiting for then?” Moonjo responded, using the hand behind Jongwoo’s head
to pull him in closer. Jongwoo couldn’t stop the blood that immediately rushed up to his
cheeks at the man’s inherently close proximity. His brain was a melted mess and Jongwoo
could barely gather enough brain cells to form a decent counter argument.

“People are watching!” Was what he settled on, suddenly blurting it out. Whether they were
or not, Jongwoo didn’t care. Even with their current proximity, Jongwoo managed to avoid
Moonjo’s piercing gaze by turning his head to the side. Moonjo was just too close, he
couldn’t do it—

“So?” Moonjo’s reply was almost instant. And it wasn’t long until Jongwoo felt the slender
fingers retreat from behind his head to instead slither around his jawline before Moonjo
pulled his chin to face him, forcing Jongwoo to return his intense eye contact.

“Moonjo, you know why I can’t! Don’t be fucking—” But before Jongwoo could finish,
Moonjo began to lean in closer before he stopped mere centimetres away from his lips.
Jongwoo’s breath hitched and he immediately froze. If he moved - at all - their lips would
surely meet.

Suddenly, Moonjo’s once smug expression turned to one of…disappointment?

“Jagiya, what’s happening?” Moonjo whispered before he pulled back entirely, leaving
Jongwoo both stunned and dumbfounded at the man’s sudden retraction. He returned to his
initial position of straddling Jongwoo by the hips.

“…What?” Jongwoo stammered out confusedly. What was he getting at now?

“You’ve become soft.” And soon as the words left the older man’s mouth, something inside
of Jongwoo twitched.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” He spat, not even bothering to try to hide the anger
that had clearly entered his voice.

Jongwoo had not become soft. Did holding back because he didn’t want to scare everyone
really make Jongwoo soft? Jongwoo thought at the very least it was a calculated move to
ensure that he wouldn’t be jumped by other players while he slept. But Moonjo didn’t think
so?

“You know what I mean, jagiya.” Moonjo bluntly replied.

“I don’t actually. Care to enlighten me?” Jongwoo immediately snapped back. Yeah he knew
what Moonjo was talking about, but he wasn’t going to give the man any more of an edge
over him by telling him that.

Moonjo cocked his head to the side at Jongwoo’s snappy retort before he sighed.

“Kill who you want to kill. Why do you hold back from your full potential?” Moonjo
answered, studying the man in beneath him with unamused eyes.

“Because I’m not like you! I don’t just go around killing random people—” Jongwoo tried
before Moonjo swiftly cut him off.

“But you nearly did.”

“What?” Jongwoo seethed angrily.

“Player 230 and 124.” Moonjo placidly replied. And as all the memories came hurtling back
to him, Jongwoo did his best to play it off.

“No, that’s—,” he tried before cutting himself off, “You’re wrong. You saw it all wrong.”

“Jagiya, don’t lie to me.” Moonjo muttered, a bit of irritation creeping into his voice.

“I’m not!” Jongwoo retorted.

He was.
“I was watching you.” The older man, who was still studying Jongwoo with his eyes intently,
countered.

“So? That doesn’t mean anything.” Jongwoo spat back hoping he sounded composed rather
than distressed.

Suddenly, Moonjo began leaning in closer to Jongwoo. But something about the look in his
eyes had Jongwoo feeling uneasy. This wasn't like last time, something was different and
Jongwoo just couldn’t quite put his finger on it until the man spoke up.

“Tell me then, did it not feel good as you squeezed the air out of that man? Did you not feel
his temperature rise up into your fingers circling his neck? Did you not revel in the—”

“Shut the fuck up!” Jongwoo yelled much too loudly before cupping his ears with his hands.
Jongwoo already knew that people had been staring from the beginning but he didn’t care.
Not when Moonjo was trying to do this to him. And despite Jongwoo’s efforts, Moonjo
continued on as he kept creeping closer.

“Did it feel good knowing that they were at your mercy? That you, and only you, could
decide their fate?”

“Did you enjoy watching their hopeless attempts to fight back under your hold?”

“Did you enjoy watching the life drain out from their eyes?”

Jongwoo couldn’t do it anymore. Moonjo’s words were penetrating him in a way that he
didn’t even know was possible, and he hated it. Jongwoo hated that Moonjo could bring all
his internal walls crashing down so easily as if they weren’t even there in the first place.

“I told you to shut the fuck up!” Jongwoo shouted loudly, not even caring if it hurt the other
man’s ears because of how close he was. Yeah, people were definitely watching them now.

Moonjo simply let out a low chuckle before he resumed his speaking.

“Jagiya, you should just let go—”

But before he could finish, Jongwoo reeled his head as far back as he could given his current
position before sending it crashing into the older man’s face. Moonjo immediately went
flying back, clutching at his nose that was now profusely bleeding. Jongwoo used the man’s
brief opportunity of weakness to quickly sit up and free himself from Moonjo’s hold around
his hips that had simultaneously weakened upon the sudden collision.

“Fuck you.” He snapped before landing one final right hook to the older man’s face. And as
Moonjo momentarily jerked backward at his punch, Jongwoo managed to climb over the man
and reach the ladder before he swung his legs over.

Fully expecting some sort of retaliation, Jongwoo was a little surprised when his eyes fell on
Moonjo who had yet to make any sign of moving. He was just staring at him.
But Jongwoo knew better than to let the strange man come to his senses enough to reach over
and pull him back onto the bed, so he began descending the ladder fairly quickly. And once
both his feet were safely planted on the floor, Jongwoo began to walk away. He didn’t know
where he was going, but he certainly knew that he needed to get away from Moonjo.

Jongwoo absentmindedly pushed past several players who were eyeing him strangely after
having seen the whole scene unfold, but he couldn’t care less. His mind was clearly
elsewhere. As he walked further and further away to god-knows-where, Jongwoo couldn't
help as his thoughts drifted back to what Moonjo had said to him.

“Did you not feel his temperature rise up into your fingers circling his neck?”

Yes, and it was invigorating. Jongwoo had never felt so alive when he was on top of the
purple haired idiot, draining the remaining oxygen out of his lungs until he eventually
became a frazzled, desperate mess underneath him. He had felt the man’s scorching heat
dissolve into his fingers as more and more blood rushed to his brain. And it had felt…
amazing.

Jongwoo outwardly shook his head at the revelation, hoping it would go away if he ignored it
hard enough. He couldn’t be like the other residents. Like Moonjo. Jongwoo had tried so hard
to keep it all under control after the events of Eden, and now Moonjo just gets to waltz back
into his life only to bring it crashing down? Again?

As Jongwoo neared a corner of the room, he turned his back to slump down the wall and
stared mindlessly off into the distance. He certainly wasn’t leaving this place anytime soon,
and neither was Moonjo. All Jongwoo could hope was that Moonjo wouldn’t survive the next
game and he’d be free from his constant overbearing presence.

The next couple of hours passed by agonisingly slowly. When breakfast eventually rolled
around, Jongwoo made no effort to join the lines of the other players queuing up to grab their
feed. He didn’t really have an appetite anyway. But even during those long gruelling hours,
Moonjo hadn’t popped up at all and Jongwoo was more than glad. Fuck that guy.

So after what had felt like an eternity of staring at the same four walls around him, Jongwoo
was suddenly startled at the robotic voice that played out over the speakers.

“The third game will begin in 10 minutes.”

Thank god. Even if there was a disturbingly high chance of Jongwoo not making it through
the third game, anything was better than sitting here doing nothing. He’d much rather die
from a children’s game than die from boredom which was an infinitely worse fate.

And unlike the past few hours, those 10 minutes went by in a flash. But in a way, Jongwoo
was glad when the timer sounded loudly, signaling that the ten minutes was up. It meant that
he would be able to focus on the game at hand and not other lingering thoughts that gnawed
at his mind.

When the guards emerged from the doors like they always did, Jongwoo rose to his feet and
eventually joined the masses that were being led out of the room. And once again, Jongwoo
looked around at the brightly coloured and weirdly shaped room for what could very well be
the last time. He didn’t even care where Moonjo was at that point in time. Jongwoo just
needed to focus on getting through this game first.

Soon enough, the guards led them into a colourful, rounded room. Jongwoo’s eyes then fell
on the four horses standing on a white centerpiece on a large, red circle platform in the
middle of the room. His eyes then drifted up to the ceiling where it peaked like a circus tent,
and was painted in red and white stripes. Then there were the doors. There had to have been
what, 50 or 60 doors outlining the edges of the room? They were all painted a different
colour and had little window openings too. It felt nostalgic in a way, but also just as
unsettling. What kind of children’s game involved a carousel? Jongwoo desperately sifted
through his memories trying to come up with an answer but he fell short. Seriously, what
could it be?

But as the final players eventually piled inside, the curtains shut slowly behind them and a
familiar voice rang out over the speakers, effectively bringing Jongwoo out of his internal
dilemmas.

“Welcome to your third game. The game you will be playing is Mingle. Let me repeat.”

And almost immediately upon hearing the woman’s words, a few of the players broke out
into subdued murmurs.

“Hey, we’ll be mingling together! Doesn’t that sound like so much fun?” It was Thanos, and
Jongwoo fought to hold back his eyes rolling at the man’s comment. Nothing about these
games were fun.

“All players, please step onto the center platform.”

And as the final players shuffled onto the platform, the woman’s voice continued.

“When the game starts, the platform will begin to rotate, and you will hear a number. You
must form groups of that size, go into the rooms, and close the door within 30 seconds.”

Ah.

The countless memories of Jongwoo playing a version of this game with his friends when he
was younger began flooding into his mind. Jongwoo recalled some of the fond memories as
one of the men beside him began making conversation with his friend.

“Oh, this game? We used to play something similar on school trips. We formed groups by
hugging.” And Jongwoo couldn’t help but eavesdrop into the man’s conversation. And as he
picked up on the familiar figure, he realised just who it was exactly. It was Gi-hun’s friend,
Player 390.

“Yeah. So instead of hugging, we go into those rooms.” Player 388, or who Jongwoo knew as
Gi-hun’s friend’s marine friend, responded.
Their conversation was then quickly drowned out by a different crowd beside him speaking
loudly.

“I know this game.” Jongwoo watched out of the corner of his eye as the older woman, or
Player 149, spoke.

“How should we play this? Is there a strategy?” Her son mumbled.

And Jongwoo couldn’t help but wonder the same thing. It probably would’ve helped to have
had made some friends for this, but Jongwoo knew that he wouldn’t get to have that
opportunity anytime soon. He was alone. But it was his fault, so he couldn’t even be that mad
about it.

“If the number is four, we can stay together. If it’s two, you and me pair up.” This time it was
the younger, frail woman who had been crying earlier who chimed in as she turned to face the
taller woman beside her with a large smile.

Yeah, he was fucked. Why had he been so stupid? Now he was going to die because nobody
wanted to join forces with him.

“If the number is bigger than five, we’ll get the additional people we need.” Gi-hun loudly
announced, causing Jongwoo to snap his head in the direction of the older man’s voice. At
this rate, Jongwoo was almost giving himself whiplash at just how quickly he was darting
between people’s conversations. His attention quickly returned to Gi-hun’s group as they
continued to strategise.

“But what if it is smaller than five? Like three or four.” The younger marine quickly added.

“No matter what happens, don’t panic. Let’s stay calm.” Jongwoo’s eyes then fell on the
owner of the voice.

It was Young-il.

“We’ll all make it out together. Here.” He concluded before reaching a hand out in the middle
of their group. The other players then piled their hands on top of one another before he began
to count down.

“One, two, three…”

“Victory at all costs!” The entire group shouted as they dipped their hands down before
bringing them up into the air in triumph.

A bit of Jongwoo winced at the lost opportunity to have made friends among all this chaos
and death, but he quickly brushed it off. The games had to be starting any second now, right?
—

“Let the game begin.”

The woman’s voice echoed throughout the room before the platform beneath his feet began to
suddenly move. And much like when a train would suddenly accelerate, the players stumbled
on their feet before they quickly regained their balance on the moving platform. The room
then filled with a loud, children’s song that played out over the speakers. And Jongwoo
almost instantly recognised it. In a way, it felt unsettling hearing something that would
usually be associated with fun and childlike joy. But now, it was just haunting.

And as the platform continued to spin, Jongwoo couldn’t help as his heart began to race a
million miles per second. He wasn’t prepared for this. What was he supposed to do when she
called out a number? Everyone practically already has their groups and he was just…there.

And then it came to a mortifying and sudden halt. The players around him swayed on their
feet at the sudden change of pace before the woman’s voice echoed throughout the room.

“Five.”

Immediately, panic ensued.

The players around Jongwoo began frantically counting up their teammates hoping they had
enough or were screaming out asking for more people to join them.

Jongwoo did neither. He froze. Not two times had his fight or flight response failed him, but
three? Something must be seriously wrong with his body.

And as more and more five member groups began running to one of the free doors, it all
came crashing down on Jongwoo. Fuck, he really was going to die in a children’s game.
What a shitty way to—

But before he could even register it, a hand had clasped tightly around his wrist and was
pulling him across the platform and in the direction of one of the rooms. His legs were
moving on autopilot and it was practically a miracle that he hadn’t tripped over yet.

And as the figure threw him into the room before following closely behind and shutting the
door, Jongwoo slammed against one of the walls and tried to desperately catch his breath. He
wasn’t unfit by any means, but this was a different kind of running that sent Jongwoo’s heart
into overdrive. No amount of gruelling physical training could ever be enough to prepare
someone for this sort of thing.

After having caught his breath, Jongwoo opened his eyes before they fell on four very, very
familiar people in front of him.

“Thank god we found you man, or we would’ve been goners!” Taehyung said, still panting
from the run over.

“Yeah, good spotting Moonjo.” Suho added before he bowed his head in gratitude to the
older man standing by the door.

Oh, so that’s who it was.

“It was the least I—” Moonjo attempted before gunshots began to echo throughout the circus
shaped room outside their door. And as they continued to ring out, Jongwoo quickly found
his feet moving up to where Moonjo stood against the door before he shoved the man aside
and peered out the little opening.

Jongwoo watched as the leftover players tried to scurry away from the armed guards, usually
tripping over in the process before they were fatally shot. Their screams were ear-piercing
and Jongwoo did his best not to flinch. What a gruesome sight.

And as the gunshots quieted and eventually came to a halt, Jongwoo noticed how multiple
forklifts entered the room holding those same black boxes laced with pink ribbon. Jongwoo
then dropped his head and backed away from the door, slowly making his way back to his
previous position against the wall.

“So, what happened out there?” This time it was Minjae who spoke up.

Jongwoo lifted his head to meet the man’s gaze before he finally answered.

“Isn’t it obvious?” He didn’t mean for the words to come out so rudely, and the other players
immediately picked up on his impolite tone.

“Gosh, I was just asking. There’s no need to be a dick about it.” Minjae scoffed.

“Yeah, you should be grateful that we even picked you up! You wouldn’t be here if it weren’t
for us, you know?” Taehyung chimed in.

“You wouldn’t be here either if I hadn’t joined you.” Again, slip of the tongue. Jongwoo
couldn’t stop as the words involuntarily left his mouth. Why was he being so rude to them?
Truth be told, he should be evidently grateful for his old teammates. They had every ability to
grab someone else instead of Jongwoo. So if it hadn’t been for Moonjo, Jongwoo would’ve
been wheeled out in one of those black boxes by now.

“Wow. I know who we won’t be taking with us in the next rounds.” Taehyung sneered before
turning his back to face the two other players. Jongwoo ignored his response too, as his mind
had other plans on what to focus on.

Come to think of it, where the fuck had Moonjo come from anyway? Jongwoo had not seen
Moonjo anywhere near him when he was standing on the platform - let alone anywhere at all.
Jongwoo furrowed his brows at the thought. Maybe Moonjo really was some sort of
magician? Perhaps it was his old job before becoming a serial killer dentist.

A sudden click of the door latch brought Jongwoo out of his weird daydreaming and back to
reality fairly quickly. Moonjo pushed open the door and the others followed closely behind,
heads popping out of the door nervously. Jongwoo was the last to leave, but that didn’t stop
him from seeing all the other players exiting their rooms just as warily who were looking
around at all the puddles of blood on the floor and the lack of bodies.

Thankfully, the next round didn’t immediately begin. They had to have been given what, 1
minute or so to regroup and catch up on what had just happened? Jongwoo didn’t know
precisely and quite frankly, he didn’t care. It’s not like he had anyone to regroup with - not
including a certain taller man who was now lingering behind him.
“All players, please step onto the center platform.”

And with that, the remaining players began making their way back up to the platform before
they stood firmly, waiting until it began to rotate again.

Moments later, the playful music started back up and Jongwoo, despite being prepared for it
this time around, still stumbled as the platform began to rotate. He quickly caught himself
before he looked out at the spinning room around him nervously.

How many was it going to be this time? And shit, he really should’ve been nicer to Taehyung
and his friends. Even if it was going to be a big number, Jongwoo wouldn’t be surprised if he
was kicked out.

And almost as quickly as it had begun, the childish tune came to an abrupt stop alongside the
platform, causing players to shift on their feet until they regained their footing and waited for
the woman’s voice to play out.

“Three.”

Suddenly, the main lights were turned off and replaced with colourful strobe lights, only
adding to the ever increasing chaos of all the players scurrying around in a frenzy.

Jongwoo’s eyes snapped up at his prior teammates who, unfortunately for him, had all looked
at each other and seemed to come to the same decision. To ditch Jongwoo and Moonjo.

And that’s what they did. The three men grabbed each other before making a run for one of
the rooms and if it hadn't been a life or death situation, Jongwoo would’ve probably been
pissed at the trio. But, in the end, it’s the survival of the fittest. And Jongwoo knew that all
too well.

Jongwoo looked at Moonjo who, for the most part beside his eyes darting around the room
frantically, still held a composed demeanour on the surface. Even through it all, Moonjo
would never once drop his facade. Jongwoo wanted to scoff at the man’s stubbornness but
there were more pressing matters at hand.

“One more! We need one more!” Jongwoo felt the words slipping out of his mouth before he
could even register it. He held up an arm in the air and Moonjo quickly copied him, with both
men now desperately searching for their last player.

In a flash, Jongwoo felt a body slam into his side, immediately snapping his head to see who
it was. A young man stared back at him with pleading eyes and Jongwoo didn’t even need to
say anything further. The trio instantly set off in the direction of one of the remaining rooms,
absolutely darting for it as the timer was getting closer and closer to beeping.

00:09 seconds remaining.

Jongwoo’s legs felt detached from his own body with just how erratically they were moving
to try and get inside this room.

00:06 seconds.
Fuck!

00:03 seconds.

The trio piled sporadically into the room before Jongwoo immediately swung his body
around at such a force that if it hadn’t been for the adrenaline pumping through his veins, he
would’ve vomited. He slammed his body into the door, hearing the relieving click of the latch
before the timer sounded loudly.

Jongwoo felt his knees give out and soon enough, he was sliding down the door with his
hands still pressed firmly against it. As he landed onto the floor, Jongwoo couldn’t stop the
chaotic array of coughing and panting that followed. He felt like he couldn’t breathe.

Distant gunshots rang out in the background, but the sounds were too muffled to Jongwoo.
When his breathing didn’t make any effort to steady, Jongwoo felt how a hand had begun
rubbing against his back in slow, soothing circles. Jongwoo didn’t even need to hear the man
speak to know who’s hand it was because it was obviously Moonjo’s.

Jongwoo felt himself subconsciously leaning into the touch, and for once he appreciated
Moonjo’s cold hands as it was a nice contrast to the scorching heat that was burning in his
chest.

“Breathe with me, jagiya.” Moonjo mumbled, with the pet name earning the pair a confused
glance from the other player standing in the corner of the room. Jongwoo was too beside
himself to care though, nor was he in the right mind to decline Moonjo’s request.

“In.”

“Out.”

“In.”

“Out.”

And somehow, Jongwoo felt how his breaths got fuller and deeper, no longer short, sharp
shallow breaths that left him gasping for air as if he didn’t have any in the first place. He was
meant to be mad at Moonjo but yet here he was, letting the man console him. Jongwoo soon
came to his senses and his heat rate returned back to a more natural level.

The loud click of the door latch unlocking helped to further bring Jongwoo out of any
previous trance. And so he hesitantly pushed open the door and his eyes immediately fell on
the collection of blood trails and puddles outside each of the room’s doors that had gotten
increasingly more dense. Jongwoo guessed he was too out of it to have heard the guards
moving the bodies.

Stepping fully out of the room a little reluctantly, Jongwoo noticed in the corner of his eye
that Player 149 and her son were seemingly reuniting with each other. Had they been
separated during the mayhem? He was too far to hear what either of them were saying but
Jongwoo could make out from where he was standing that the son was crying and his mother
was trying to comfort him.

Jongwoo watched the whole scene unfold, feeling as his heart ached ever so slightly at the
sight of the mother-son interaction. How long has it been since Jongwoo last saw his mother?
He wanted to see her again. He wanted to see his brother too. It would be nice to go home
after everything he’s been through.

However, not being able to dwell on the painful feelings, a familiar female voice rang out
over the speakers, commanding players to return to the platform for the next round. And
upon hearing the voice, Jongwoo immediately snapped out of it. He wouldn’t be able to go
home if he died here, so now was not the time to feel homesick. He could do that later when
he was alive and well, and beyond these walls.

The platform started up and began to rotate, playful music quickly filling Jongwoo’s ears as
he watched the room around him spin. Thankfully it wasn’t spinning any quicker as the sight
was already quite nauseating. But Jongwoo quickly pushed down the bile that had built up in
the back of his throat before the platform screeched to a halt and the music stopped.

“Two.”

In a flash, Jongwoo grabbed Moonjo’s wrist before he was shoving players out of the way
and dragging the older man toward one of the colourful doors ahead. And once they reached
the door, Jongwoo used his free hand to swing it open before he hurled Moonjo in before
shutting the door loudly behind them, the click confirming the lock.

Jongwoo was panting hysterically trying to catch his breath before he turned around and—

His stomach dropped.

There was…another player.

Jongwoo’s eyes temporarily darted to a bewildered Moonjo before they settled back on the
out-of-place player. Why on Earth would he be in one of the rooms if he didn’t have the right
amount of players with him?

Staring at the frightened man, Jongwoo opened his mouth to shout something along the lines
of “Get the fuck out!” or “Leave!”, before a different urge took over.

An urge that had gone far too long suppressed.

“One of you is leaving, I was here first!” The man shouted, shakily pointing between the
stunned pair.

And it was almost as if something took over him at that moment, as Jongwoo felt himself
lunging at the man before wrapping a strong arm around his neck. The startled man began to
flail his arms and legs around, desperately trying to get any sort of leverage to fight back.
When it didn’t prove to be successful, he resorted to scratching at Jongwoo’s arm in an
attempt to get Jongwoo to pull back. The man drew blood and Jongwoo winced slightly at the
pain, but he was too determined to let it affect him.

Rather than letting the man go, Jongwoo dragged him by the neck backwards until his back
hit one of the walls, and he slid down it, taking the man with him. Did Jongwoo know how to
crack someone’s neck? Not really, no. But he guessed that due to the sheer extent of
adrenaline and rage coursing through him, he was then rewarded with the satisfying crack of
the man’s neck beneath him as he harshly snapped his head to the side.

The man immediately went limp, and Jongwoo felt his grip around his neck loosening before
he completely let go of the body and it landed on the tiled floor with a deafening thud.

Jongwoo’s breathing was once again erratic and much too fast, but not nearly for the same
reason as before. He panted in short, irregular bursts as Jongwoo’s mind tried to catch up
with what he had just done. But before any regret or guilt pooled in his stomach, a different
feeling washed over him.

That feeling. The feeling that had gotten him here in the first place. After millions of won
wasted trying to relive what he had felt at Eden all those nights ago, Jongwoo had finally
found it. And unlike his encounter with Thanos and Nam-gyu the other day, this was a
completely different story. He felt invincible. He felt electrified. He felt invigorated. But most
importantly, he felt utterly and undoubtedly, alive.

And as Jongwoo continued to bask in the glory of the kill and just how fucking amazing it
had felt, his eyes eventually drifted and fell on the older man stood quietly in the corner. For
a second there, Jongwoo had totally forgotten that Moonjo was there with him that whole
time. After all, Jongwoo had only been able to focus on the movements of the man in his hold
rather than what Moonjo was up to.

“Jagiya…” Moonjo met his eyes, and Jongwoo could basically see the amount of adoration
and admiration radiating off of the man.

And as much as Jongwoo hated to say it, Moonjo had been right about him. When has the
bastard ever been wrong? Jongwoo had enjoyed killing the man. Way too much. In fact, he
revelled in it. Jongwoo simply couldn’t deny that watching the helpless man beneath him
struggle desperately in his final moments was both entertaining and mystifying. And for a
moment there, Jongwoo had been temporarily teleported into this alluring euphoria of a
world as he felt the man’s life drain out of him through his fingertips. It was wrong - so, so
incredibly wrong - that he was finding such enlivening emotions in killing a person, but fuck,
it felt good.

However, as Moonjo opened his mouth to say something else, the door unlatching loudly
beside him quickly interrupted him.

Jongwoo ignored Moonjo altogether as he pushed the lifeless corpse off of his body before he
rose to his feet. Brushing past Moonjo and walking out into the bloodied, colourful room
with an unintentional pep in his step, Jongwoo didn’t even spare the motionless body a
second glance.
Moonjo soon followed shortly after, standing by Jongwoo’s side on the platform ever so
slightly closer than before. Jongwoo was too busy riding the high of the euphoric feeling and
savoring the buzz that danced on his skin after it all had happened to care. He was no longer
trembling in fear or worry, but rather in an unexplainable excitement.

“You need to focus, jagiya.” Moonjo’s deep voice swiftly brought Jongwoo out of his
glorious ecstasy and back to reality. Because no matter how invincible Jongwoo felt he was,
it would never be the case. He could still be caught off guard like everyone else if he didn’t
take this seriously.

Jongwoo didn’t want to die. Well, not yet anyway. Not when he had just found a perfectly
good reason to stay alive.

His eyes darted across the room before they fell on the player counter on the TV screen above
the curtains they had initially walked through.

126 remaining people.

Shit, people were dropping like flies in this game.

“Now, the final round will begin.”

But before Jongwoo could dwell on any of his thoughts, the platform whirred to life as it
began spinning for the final time, with the annoying children’s tune quickly blasting through
the speakers. Jongwoo wanted to rip his ears out after having to listen to the stupid song for
what felt like the millionth time during that game, but he held back.

And then the platform and music abruptly stopped.

“Four.”

Jongwoo’s head snapped to Moonjo who looked equally as dithery as he was. And then, the
two men almost instantly raised both of their hands up and began shouting.

“Two more! Two more over here!” Jongwoo didn’t care that he was absolutely wrecking his
vocal cords as he kept screaming.

And only seconds later, a pair ran up to them and even amidst the pandemic, Jongwoo
realised that they looked quite familiar. It was Young-il and Player 390. Why didn’t they just
group up with their own friends—?

However, there was no time to ponder the strange duo as Jongwoo felt his legs moving before
he even knew it. But as they were booking it to one of the last remaining rooms, Jongwoo
watched as a pair of hands suddenly gripped onto Player 390 in front of him and he was
being taken away by some other group. And it was as if Young-il noticed at the same time as
Jongwoo, as they both ran after the man, immediately trying to pry him out of the grasp of
the other group. Moonjo had already reached the room and was holding the door open for
them, sometimes shoving desperate players who tried to enter out of the way whilst he did
so.
And as Jongwoo landed a punch square in the face of the man holding him, Young-il pulled
Player 390 to safety and they instantly resumed their running to the room Moonjo was
guarding. As he was getting closer and closer to the door, Jongwoo’s eyes temporarily drifted
up toward the timer and he almost sighed with relief.

00:15 seconds remaining.

And as Jongwoo piled into the room last and Moonjo slammed the door behind him,
everyone’s eyes immediately fell on the unknown presence inside.

What the fuck? Another player?

“Get the fuck out!” Jongwoo spat.

How the fuck did he get in here if Moonjo was guarding the door—?

And as Jongwoo realised that the man made no effort to leave, he immediately knew what he
had to do. Again. But as Jongwoo took a single step toward the trembling man, someone else
beat him to it.

Young-il.

Jongwoo stopped dead in his tracks as he watched Player 001 wrap an arm around the
frightened man before putting him in an inescapable chokehold. And almost immediately, a
wave of deja vu washed over Jongwoo. He watched carefully as the older man backed into a
corner before he slid down the wall, taking the player with him. And much like Jongwoo had
just done, Young-il harshly snapped the man’s head to the side, a deafening crack filling the
room before the man went limp.

Jongwoo looked at Young-il, not in horror or fear like Player 390, but rather in realisation.
Then, Jongwoo found himself turning to face Moonjo who was already staring at him. They
looked at each other in a mix of shock and then not at all as an unspoken “I told you so!”
lingered in the air between them.

“Game over.”

Seemingly bringing everyone out of their stunned silence, the voice echoed loudly
throughout the room before several gunshots went off in the distance. Jongwoo’s eyes then
fell from Moonjo before landing on Young-il once again. However, the older man wasn’t
looking at him but rather at Player 390.

“Jungbae, are you alright?” He asked sincerely as he rose from his position in the corner,
throwing the body off of his legs as he did so.

Player 390, or Jungbae as he assumed now, snapped out of it before he cleared his throat
awkwardly. He was clearly not as desensitised to this sort of stuff like Jongwoo and Moonjo.

“Uh, yeah…Thanks.” Jungbae coughed, trying to sound composed and totally not worried
shitless after what he had just witnessed.
Jongwoo then zoned out the rest of their conversation as he focused on the gunshots that
slowly came to a halt after a few moments. And when the door finally unlatched with a loud
click, Jongwoo was the first to push it open and step out into the room with the platform. He
glanced over the fresh puddles of blood splattered across the floor before his eyes fell on the
curtains that they came through suddenly opening.

Soon enough, a group of guards emerged and immediately ordered the remaining players to
follow them back to the sleeping quarters. And as people slowly made their way over to the
guards, most still a little shaken by what had just transpired, Jongwoo couldn’t help but feel a
little bummed. The feeling was now long gone, and he could only feel the phantom buzz of
the euphoria on his skin. He scrunched his face up in disappointment and let out a defeated
sigh. Why did it come and go so quickly?

The walk back through the colourful and weirdly shaped room was quiet, as always. But
somehow, Jongwoo and Moonjo had managed to secure a spot behind Gi-hun and his friends.
And like he always did, Jongwoo began to eavesdrop on their conversation.

“When we get back, let’s count the number of people remaining.” Gi-hun spoke relatively
quietly, but the room was so silent that Jongwoo could hear all of it anyway.

“Why?” Young-il asked.

“If we count the number of Xs and Os, we’ll be able to see who’s likely to win the next vote.”
Gi-hun answered.

Ah, the vote. Jongwoo had completely forgotten about that.

“We’ll have to hope more people from the other side died.” Young-il said with an unnerving
pep in his voice.

This didn’t go unnoticed by Jungbae as he watched the man tense up slightly upon hearing
Young-il’s unusually happy tone of voice. After all, he did just witness the man murder
another player. And to the average person, that would’ve been crippling information to find
out that your friend is a murderer. However, Jongwoo - or even Moonjo for that matter - was
no normal person, so it didn’t even remotely phase him. He was more caught up on how he
had been right about Young-il. Ever since seeing the man’s eyes glisten when he was holding
Thanos down by the neck, Jongwoo knew something was off about him. And in a way, they
were much more similar than Jongwoo had even realised.

As the final players filed into the room filled with a drastically lower amount of beds than
when they had left, Jongwoo found himself walking over to his stack of beds. There was
quite literally nothing better to do other than sleep, so it rapidly became his new favourite
hobby here. But as Jongwoo neared his particular stack of beds, in the corner of his
peripheral, he noticed a familiar duo heading their way, and fast.

Myung-gi and Junhee.

And rather than just climbing up the ladder or walking away, Jongwoo found himself
dropping to the floor before he was sliding under one of the bed frames. Moonjo, who had
obviously followed Jongwoo on his way over, peered down at the man in confusion. But
before Moonjo could open his mouth to question the odd action of the smaller man, Jongwoo
reached out an arm and wrapped it around his ankle, tugging at it harshly as if to signify he
wanted Moonjo to join him underneath the bed frame. And Moonjo didn’t need to be told
twice. He bobbed down before sliding himself under the frame and closely beside Jongwoo.

Jongwoo ignored how their bodies were touching and instead focused on the duo that were
mere meters away from them and rapidly approaching.

“Ah, so that’s—” Moonjo whispered before Jongwoo shushed the man, holding an angry
finger up to his lips. Somehow, neither Myung-gi or Junhee had seen them hide under the
frame.

And as Myung-gi pulled the woman by her wrist into a spot he thought was secluded, Junhee
finally spoke up.

“What did you want to tell me? Make it quick.” She snapped as she almost immediately
ripped herself out of Myung-gi’s grip.

“Junhee. When we get out, let’s start over.” Myung-gi answered, not even looking remotely
bothered by the woman’s death stare on him.

“Start over? How exactly?” Junhee scoffed in disbelief.

“Trust me one last time. We can have our baby and make a new start.” Myung-gi added
before he paused, letting his statement sink in. Then, after a few moments, he spoke up again.

“I did some calculations. Each person will get 300 to 400 million. A lot of people will want
to leave, so we could win the next vote.”

As Jongwoo envisioned the man’s calculations, he realised that all of his debts would be
covered by that amount of money. Jongwoo held back from outwardly celebrating after
hearing the news as he knew it would not look good for either of them to be caught
eavesdropping on a fairly personal conversation.

“If we get out, then what?” She asked genuinely.

“If we put our money together, it’ll be a lot. We’ll pay off some urgent debts first. I’ll find a
new way of investing the rest of the money.”

Upon hearing the words fall out of his familiar looking counterpart, Jongwoo immediately
cupped a hand over his mouth to try and subdue the laugh that dared to leave him. He
couldn’t be serious, right? Moonjo looked over at him in amusement before they both
returned their attention to the pair in front of them.

“No more coin. I know a great team of stockbrokers. They deal in inverse ETFs and futures
trading. Their profit rate was over 100% last month.” Myung-gi continued.

Jongwoo didn’t even bother to try to understand what any of that means. In the end, he was
just a plain old gambler. Not any of this mumbo-jumbo nonsense made sense to him.
“It’s my money you need, isn’t it? Not me and the baby.” Junhee deadpanned.

“It’s not like that Junhee.” Myung-gi begged as he reached his hands out to try and hold the
woman’s. Instead, Junhee swatted his hands away.

It totally was like that.

“I want to make enough money to build a good life for us—” Myung-gi added before he was
swiftly cut off.

“Enough money? How much is that exactly?” She interrupted, her eyes drilling into he man
with so much anger and disappointment.

“What?” Was what came out of Myung-gi’s mouth instinctively before it looked as if he was
racking his brain for the answer. However, his time for pondering was short lived as Junhee
broke the silence.

“Pay your debts with your own money. I’m going to use mine to raise my baby.”

Jongwoo couldn’t help but notice the woman’s intentional phrasing of her words. Her baby.
Not theirs.

And with that, Junhee stormed off and out of Jongwoo’s sight.

“Junhee—“ Was all Jongwoo heard before Myung-gi trailed after her.

Jongwoo, a little disappointed to see that their time for eavesdropping was over, scanned the
area to make sure that the duo weren’t going to be coming back anytime soon. And once he
realised the coast was clear, he swiftly crawled out from underneath the bed frame and rose to
his feet. Soon enough, Moonjo was also doing the same.

Brushing off the dirt that had accumulated on his jumpsuit, Jongwoo couldn't help but laugh
as he sifted through the conversation in his head. He didn't even care that Moonjo was
peering down at him like he was a madman. Jongwoo knew Myung-gi was an asshole but he
didn’t know that he’d be so desperate to start over. And perhaps he may have been able to,
but even from an outsider perspective, Jongwoo knew that the baby was the least of Myung-
gi’s priorities. He only cared about the money.

“Jagiya?” Moonjo said softly, trying to get the attention of Jongwoo who was still heartily
laughing like a weirdo.

After a few more long seconds passed of Jongwoo laughing to himself, he finally calmed
down.

“What?” Jongwoo finally answered, turning to face the older man who’s eyes had not once
left him throughout the whole ordeal.

“How did it feel?”

Oh. He should’ve expected that Moonjo was going to bring that up.
“Excuse me?” Jongwoo countered, trying to sound as if he didn’t know what the man was
truly talking about.

“When you killed that player.” Moonjo bluntly replied.

Fuck, he really wasn’t ready to discuss this quite just yet.

“I’m not in the mood, Moonjo.” Jongwoo immediately retorted, hating how easily the man’s
name slipped off of his tongue.

“It was riveting, right? Did you feel alive?” Moonjo asked, cocking his head as he spoke.

Yes, and yes. It felt fucking incredible. But Jongwoo bit back the words that threatened to
leave his mouth and instead settled on something different.

“Go away.” But Jongwoo’s words lacked the venom he had hoped they would have, so in the
end it was just a piss-poor attempt at trying to get Moonjo to fuck off.

As Moonjo opened his mouth to continue and Jongwoo prepared to be bombarded with
questions he didn’t want to answer quite just yet, he was a little taken aback when Moonjo
completely changed the topic.

“Player 001 is certainly like us.”

Though it was a little surprising, Jongwoo was glad for Moonjo’s random change of heart. He
knew that Moonjoo would eventually bring it all up again, but that was a different time to
worry about. So instead, Jongwoo distracted himself by indulging in the man’s comment.

“Yeah, it seemed that way.” Jongwoo hummed in agreement.

“His movements were calculated, and it wouldn’t be all that surprising if we found out that
he’s done it before.” Moonjo continued, his placid tone of voice never once wavering.

“But surely it wasn’t that obvious, right?” Jongwoo found himself asking before he could
even process it.

“What do you mean?” Moonjo tilted his head at Jongwoo’s odd question.

“We did the same thing, did we not? I’ve never done that before but look how that ended.”
Jongwoo countered before an amused smirk quickly plastered across Moonjo’s face.

“Yes, you did jagiya.” Moonjo paused before continuing, “To an outside observer, the two
occasions may have looked identical. It takes a different sort of eye to be able to spot the
differences between them.”

“You mean a serial killer’s eye?” Jongwoo immediately quipped.

But instead of answering, Moonjo simply let out a low chuckle at Jongwoo’s retort. And after
a few moments, Moonjo spoke up once again.
 “Your movements were a little amateurish and ran on adrenaline. His movements on the other
hand were precise and looked as if they came from muscle memory.”

And despite it all, Jongwoo couldn’t even disagree with the man. Young-il hadn’t even
hesitated to choke the man out and he didn’t look even remotely challenged by any of it. He
looked experienced.

“I suppose that’s true. But I don’t need you over-analysing my ‘methods’ either.” Jongwoo
held up air quotation marks to emphasise his point before he continued, “It was just a spur of
the moment thing, that’s all. We would’ve died if I hadn't done something, so don’t overthink
it.”

Moonjo cocked his head at Jongwoo’s sudden claim before he continued speaking once more.

“Jagiya, just because you’re not as experienced as he is, doesn’t make your movements any
less captivating. You looked ravishing when you killed him.”

Jongwoo shifted uncomfortably on his feet at the man’s odd compliment. No one in their
right mind should ever be flustered by such a compliment, but unluckily for Jongwoo, he was
most definitely not in his right mind.

“I couldn’t take my eyes off of you, jagiya. It was mesmerizing, and you looked—” Moonjo
continued before a hand shot up and stopped him.

“That’s enough.” Jongwoo mumbled as he dropped his head down, trying to hide the faint
flush that had crept up to his cheeks. Seriously, what was wrong with him?

Moonjo simply hummed in amusement as he watched the man writhe self-consciously

beneath him.

“Let’s just go to bed, I want to lie down.” And as soon as the words left Jongwoo’s mouth, he
snapped his head up in horror. But before Jongwoo could take back what he had said, Moonjo
was already speaking.

“Of course.” His words seemed to vibrate, low and rich, like a contented feline’s purr.

Fuck.

Chapter End Notes

Some sweet mjjw moments in this chapter so that’s nice. But dun dun DUNNN!! Mjjw
know exactly what u are Young-il, u can’t run from them!!

Sorry for the wait on this chapter, it was a little harder than i thought it was going to
be…I hope you still enjoyed it though! When u reach the point of writing where u have
no plan for what’s exactly going to happen next, writing gets just a little more
complicated. There was times I’d be writing something and then my brain would
suddenly explode and i’d get a new idea of how an interaction would take place and then
BOOM, i would write it. Idk if im explaining that very well but i just hope this chapter
wasn’t a step down from any of my previous ones haha

It was so fun to write even with all the challenges i faced, so i hope u enjoyed! Thanks
for all your support, LOVE U GUYS!! ❤❤

edit: Ur telling me that i’ve written more than the entirety of Animal Farm? I wrote 40k
words? ME? Ain’t no way… I mean i always wanted to be a writer ever since i was little
but i didn’t know that dream would turn out to be writing fanfiction between two gay
serial killers…? Eh whatever, it’s totally worth it!
 Bathroom Break
Chapter Summary

Jongwoo’s body count increases. But which one are we talking about exactly?

Chapter Notes

13k words later….and chapter 7 is down! ☠ But anyway, i think this chapter has a lot
going on that justifies the word count so…

P.S. The bathroom scene happens a little differently than in the series. Do what you want
with that information

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Sitting across from Moonjo on his bed for what felt like the millionth time, Jongwoo almost
shook his head in disbelief as to how he had managed to get into this situation yet again. Why
was he just letting Moonjo do whatever he wanted? It certainly wasn’t helping to prove
Jongwoo’s case that the older man didn’t have an effect on him at all. If he couldn’t do
something as simple as telling him to fuck off, Jongwoo was certainly much more fucked
than he realised.

Jongwoo sat with his eyes shut, not sleeping but rather just resting them, and entirely not
caring how Moonjo’s attention had been on him for the past hour or so. No matter what he
said would make the older man divert his eyes in any sort of way, so there was no bother
trying. Defeatedly, Jongwoo just let the man watch him.

The silence between the two men was comfortable and Jongwoo would’ve fallen asleep if it
hadn’t been for Moonjo deciding to finally speak up.

“Jagiya?” His voice was barely above a whisper, but Jongwoo still heard him.

“Hm?” Jongwoo hummed, popping open a single eye to look at the man opposite him.

“Will you stay?” Moonjo questioned, his voice a little louder this time around.

And almost immediately, Jongwoo’s other eye popped open at the odd question. His gaze
quickly fell on the older man, studying him intently. What was he talking about?—
“With me.” Moonjo added, still leaving Jongwoo with a confused expression painted on his
face.

“Moonjo, what are you talking about?” Jongwoo asked sincerely.

But rather than outright answering him, the older man instead narrowed his eyes on
something on Jongwoo’s jumpsuit. Jongwoo followed the man’s gaze before his eyes fell on
the red X patch on his jacket pocket.

“Oh, the vote.” Jongwoo confirmed before he returned his attention back to Moonjo.

“Will you stay with me?” Moonjo repeated, his gaze burning holes into Jongwoo’s eyes.

Jongwoo furrowed his brows at the man’s repeated request before he instinctively raised a
hand up to fondle a lock of his hair, unsure of what to do with himself. Shifting
uncomfortably in his seat, Jongwoo was left a little bewildered. What made Moonjo think
that Jongwoo would suddenly change his mind and vote to continue the games? And after a
few more moments of pondering the man’s question, Jongwoo replied.

“Why should I?” His voice was almost mocking, but Jongwoo did his best to remain as
neutral as he could. He was curious to know what Moonjo’s reasoning would be.

“Don’t you want to feel alive again?” His response was instant, almost startling Jongwoo at
just how quickly the man had answered his question.

“I don’t see how continuing the games has anything to do with that.” Jongwoo deadpanned,
refusing to let the man get to him this time around. But it was true, this wasn’t the only place
Jongwoo could experience that feeling. There were plenty of people outside of the games that
could satisfy his cravings.

“This place provides the perfect opportunity to unleash your true self without being held
responsible for your actions. Wouldn’t you agree?” Moonjo placidly added, his gaze on
Jongwoo never once faltering.

“No, I don’t.” Jongwoo spat a little too aggressively, earning him a smirk that curled up from
the edges of Moonjo’s lips. Wait, why was he getting mad?—

“So you don’t want to kill any more players?” Moonjo countered much too loudly for
Jongwoo’s liking.

“Shut the fuck up! Why don’t you tell the whole world while you’re at it?” He seethed
through his teeth, throwing up a finger to his lips as if to try and quiet the man down. He
didn’t need every player knowing that they’re sharing a room with a murderer. Well, two
murderers technically.

“Do you?” Moonjo said, completely ignoring Jongwoo’s plea, as he cocked his head to the
side and simply stared at the other man in amusement.

“These people are innocent, there’s no reason to kill them.” Was what Jongwoo settled on,
but as soon as the words left his mouth, he knew that the older man would misinterpret his
words. And he did.

“So if there was a reason to kill them, you would?” Moonjo retorted almost immediately.

“Th- That’s not what I meant!” He stammered out, hoping that he still sounded a little
composed, but even Jongwoo knew that was an optimistic thought.

“Lying doesn’t suit you, jagiya.” Moonjo sighed in disappointment.

Jongwoo fought back every urge in his body to lunge at the man right then and there. What
would he know anyway?

“I’m not like you.” Jongwoo snapped, feeling as his fists simultaneously curled up at his side.
Moonjo’s eyes flickered down to his hands before returning back to Jongwoo’s ever
intensifying gaze.

“Then why did you kill that player?” Moonjo asked, completely unfazed by Jongwoo’s
snappy attitude.

Then, Jongwoo scoffed in disbelief.

“What? We’ve been through this already! We would have died if I hadn't stepped in and done
something!” Jongwoo shot back.

“Not necessarily.”

Jongwoo’s brows furrowed impossibly closer at the man’s reply.

“What the fuck are you taking about? Of course we would’ve!” He gritted through his teeth,
irritation and anger clear in his voice.

“There was still at least 20 seconds until the timer finished, so why did you kill him?”
Moonjo spoke in an annoyingly calm tone, which only made Jongwoo even more furious.

“He wouldn’t leave!” Jongwoo almost yelled out, but he managed to keep his voice at an
acceptable volume that only Moonjo could hear. And perhaps maybe the players below him
but that was irrelevant.

“You never asked him to.” Moonjo immediately retorted, watching as Jongwoo temporarily
froze in realisation upon hearing his words.

Shit. He really didn’t even ask the man to leave, did he? Jongwoo had just instantly jumped
into action, not even letting the player have a chance at pleading his case. Jongwoo just killed
him without any hesitation.

“He wouldn’t have left even if I had!” Jongwoo desperately reasoned, but it was useless.

“How would you know that? You didn’t give him a chance to decide.” Moonjo’s monotonous
voice was almost sending Jongwoo into a spiral. How could Moonjo do this to him so easily?
But before Jongwoo replied, he pondered on his answer for a few more moments before he
finally spoke up.

“It was a mistake. It won’t happen again, so just drop it. Okay?” Jongwoo dropped his head
in defeat, knowing that he wasn’t even convincing himself as he spoke.

“Are you sure?” Moonjo continued, trying to prolong their heated discussion. He just wanted
to get Jongwoo riled up and it was working. Tremendously so.

“Yes, I’m fucking sure. Don’t you realise the effect of what doing that sorta shit can do to
someone’s head?” Jongwoo eventually answered, trying to make his voice sound more
convincing than last time.

Was Jongwoo affected by what happened during the game? Yes, but not in the way any
normal person would be. And it seemed that Moonjo had seen directly through Jongwoo’s
poor attempt at lying as he let out a low chuckle before his response came shortly after.

“You don’t look particularly distraught after having killed a man.” Moonjo quipped,
amusement evident in his tone of voice.

And as much as he hated to say it, Jongwoo couldn’t even deny what the older man had said.
Jongwoo didn’t even look remotely fazed by what had occurred behind that closed door, but
rather as if it was just a typical Tuesday activity. He really needed to get better at acting if this
was what his life was going to be.

Jongwoo went silent for a beat, debating on what to say before he eventually cleared his
throat and broke the silence. He knew what he had to do now.

“…Fine.”

Jongwoo’s voice was quiet and cracked ever so slightly, but Moonjo still managed to catch it.
And as Jongwoo tilted his head up to face the older man, his eyes fell on Moonjo who,
despite his previous nonchalant demeanor, wore a clear expression of bafflement on his face.
He must’ve been surprised at Jongwoo’s sudden change of mind, but the confusion quickly
dissipated and his expression contorted into one of satisfaction.

“So you’ll stay with me?” Moonjo cooed, maintaining his intense gaze on Jongwoo.

“Yes.” Jongwoo continued to hold Moonjo’s eye contact as he spoke with much more
confidence this time.

And before Jongwoo could dwell on his seemingly abrupt decision, he heard the sound of the
doors opening followed by the synced footsteps of guards emerging from out of them. Both
Jongwoo and Moonjo’s attention both quickly fixated on the group before the square-masked
guard stepped forward and announced loudly to the remaining players.

“Congratulations to all of you for making it through the third game. Now, here are the results
of the third game.”
And as usual, the guard held up a remote to the roof before pressing a button which made the
ceiling grumble before it opened up, revealing the golden piggy bank. Whilst it descended,
the guard continued to speak.

“In the third game, 155 players were eliminated. The prize money accumulated up to this
point is 35.6 billion won. Since there are 100 players remaining, each person’s share is 356
million won.”

As the final stacks of money were emptied into the glass bank, the players who had gathered
in the area in front of the beds began murmuring quietly to each other.

“The vote will once again be conducted in reverse order of your player numbers.”

And almost immediately, both Jongwoo and Moonjo began making their way down to the
voting area until the guard announced the first player to vote to step forward. Not a single
word was muttered between them, and Jongwoo was totally fine with it.

“Player 456, please cast your vote.”

Jongwoo’s eyes then tracked the back of Gi-hun’s head as he walked up to the podium before
almost immediately pushing down on the X button. His face lit up in a vibrant red colour, and
the X counter went up by one. Nobody - including Jongwoo - was surprised by the man’s
decision. He’d been a leading advocate for ending the games since the very beginning, so if
he suddenly changed his mind, it would be strange. Gi-hun stood on the X side in solidarity
before he was shortly joined by some of the following voters.

And for the next 30 or so votes, Jongwoo watched as the vote remained relatively head to
head. What was going to be the verdict this time around?

“Player 304.”

Upon hearing the guard’s voice, Jongwoo felt Moonjo brush past him before he was soon
walking down the aisle between the two sides. And as he approached the podium, Jongwoo
watched as Moonjo’s face lit up in a bright blue colour before he swiftly spun around and
made his way to the O side.

Jongwoo cleared his throat, preparing himself for his vote, before he heard the guard’s voice.

“Player 303.”

And as Jongwoo pushed through the crowd until he eventually made his way out, he watched
as several pairs of eyes quickly fell on him. However, much to his surprise, not everyone was
watching him. Jongwoo assumed that most people had finally forgotten about his outburst on
the first day, or at the very least, had decided that there were more pressing matters to worry
about. And as he walked down the aisle like the many times he had done before, he felt
grateful that he was no longer in the direct spotlight.

Nearing the podium, Jongwoo found his attention being drawn to the current votes for each
side on the TV screen. It was relatively even so far. But just as quickly as his attention was
diverted, Jongwoo eventually focused back down on the two buttons in front of him. He
knew what he wanted to do, and so he made his decision.

Jongwoo’s face immediately lit up in a deep, radiant red colour and he tilted his head up to
see how the X counter had simultaneously increased by one.

On his way to the X side, Jongwoo accidentally found Moonjo among the players on the O
side. It took every bit of strength in Jongwoo to hold back from throwing up the middle
finger at the man out of spite, but he managed to compose himself. Jongwoo silently
chuckled to himself as he felt how Moonjo’s eyes intently tracked him until he found a spot
among the X crowd. Diverting his eyes to the older man for only a split second, Jongwoo
observed in amusement as Moonjo was left more than a little stunned at his sudden change of
mind. Again.

Jongwoo quickly returned his attention back to the vote as he absentmindedly watched as the
remaining players casted their votes. He could feel a certain pair of eyes drilling into the side
of his head but he refused to acknowledge them.

For someone so meticulous and manipulative, Jongwoo was partially surprised that Moonjo
hadn’t realised what he was planning from the get-go. How had Moonjo, out of everyone,
fallen for that trick? Jongwoo could've sworn that Moonjo would’ve been a little less
susceptible to such emotional manipulation techniques given his experience but apparently
not. And as he thought about it a little more, Jongwoo couldn’t help as he snickered to
himself, even if it gained him a few odd stares from the players around him. Moonjo had
finally gotten a taste of his own medicine.

And as Jongwoo began to refocus his full attention back onto the voting process, he realised
that it was extremely close. Holy shit, how had he not noticed?

Jongwoo’s eyes darted between each of the players walking down the aisle and the vote count
on the TV screen until a familiar voice ahead of him brought him out of his trance.

“Three more!”

It was Jungbae.

Jongwoo watched as the man quietly cheered every time a player with an O patch on their
jacket changed their mind and swapped it out for an X patch.

And when a third player traded in their O patch for an X one, Jungbae spoke up again.

“That’s six! It’s a tie now. If we get one more person, we win!” He exclaimed excitedly.

Jongwoo’s eyes drifted up to the TV screen that read an unnerving 49 vs 49.

“Are we really going home?” Jongwoo immediately snapped his eyes back down to locate
the owner of the voice before it fell on a familiar figure standing beside Jungbae. It was
Player 388.
And as Jongwoo’s eyes darted between the group in front of him, he quickly realised that it
was Gi-hun and all of his friends. How convenient.

Jongwoo then focused his attention on the woman walking down the aisle between the two
sides. She had an X patch on, and Jongwoo felt himself instinctively relax upon seeing it.

Shit, they might actually win. He’d be able to go home and finally get away from Moonjo.

But before he could internally celebrate any longer, Jongwoo suddenly found Jungbae’s eyes
on him for a split second before he was looking at someone beyond him. However, he
quickly returned his attention back to Gi-hun who was standing next to him. Jongwoo
immediately pretended to crack his neck by turning his head to the side, hoping that he was
being subtle enough to see who Jungbae was looking at, and—

Oh, it was Young-il.

Jongwoo’s gaze quickly fell back onto Jungbae who was shuffling nervously on his feet
before he eventually spoke up.

“Gi-hun.” His voice was quiet.

“Yeah?” Gi-hun replied a little absentmindedly. After all, he was still trying to focus on the
outcome of the vote.

“About Young-il…” Jungbae began before he quickly trailed off, probably unsure of how he
was supposed to bring up what he saw to Gi-hun.

“What about him?” Gi-hun turned his head to face Young-il, his eyes gazing over Jongwoo
slightly, before spinning back around to face Jungbae with an inquisitive expression on his
face.

Jongwoo hoped that it wasn’t too obvious that he was eavesdropping in on their conversation.
Although, in a way, he thought that he couldn’t entirely be held responsible for it if he was
caught. It wasn’t Jongwoo’s fault that they were speaking loud enough for others around
them to hear what they were saying.

“Well, when I was in the room with him earlier…”

Suddenly, the sound of the O buzzer echoed throughout the room, effectively interrupting
their conversation. They both - and Jongwoo too - quickly snapped their heads to face the
woman whose face was lit up in a bright blue colour. They all watched as she ripped the X
patch off of her jacket and handed it over to the guard who gave her an O patch in return.
Securing it tightly on the velcro, she spun around and began walking over to the O side that
had erupted in cheers after she had first pressed the button.

49 vs 50 now.

They were losing.

And then it all came crashing down on Jongwoo in a matter of milliseconds.

Fuck, fuck, FUCK!

If they didn’t win this vote, he’d be stuck with Moonjo again. After he had lied right to his
face saying he would vote for the games to continue. Jongwoo shuddered at the thought of
reuniting with the man if they got out-voted again. What would Moonjo do?

Would he try to fight Jongwoo? Or would he do nothing at all?

And for some reason, the latter was more terrifying. Jongwoo had clearly betrayed him, so it
would only make sense for Moonjo to get revenge on him, right? Jongwoo was more willing
to fight the man right there and then rather than be caught off guard later by whatever
Moonjo had in mind. Because in the end, he’s fought Moonjo before and he would most
certainly do it again. But not knowing what Moonjo would do was an even scarier thought.
The man was entirely and utterly unpredictable.

But Jongwoo was soon brought out of his internal turmoil by the guard’s robotic voice.

“Lastly, Player 001. Please cast your vote.”

Immediately snapping out of it, Jongwoo found himself - similarly to literally everyone else
in the room - turning to face the final player. And soon enough and much like the first time
they had voted, he was walking down the aisle toward the podium with all eyes on him. But
as Young-il neared the podium, a nearby voice called out to him and caught his attention.

“Young-il, fighting!” Player 388 said as he raised a fist up in encouragement before he turned
back to his friends.

“It’s going to be 50/50, won’t it?” He cheerily remarked, before both he and Gi-hun were
nodding their heads in agreement. However, Jongwoo noticed how Jungbae hadn’t quite
shared their relief. It didn’t surprise Jongwoo - it was perfectly natural to feel a little uneasy
around a murderer. But before Jongwoo could dwell on how that thought didn’t quite apply to
him with Moonjo, his eyes quickly fell on Young-il who had now approached the podium.

Young-il stared aimlessly up at the TV screen that displayed the extremely close vote count.
For someone who had been openly advocating to end the games, he sure was taking an awful
long time to press the X button.

Oh wait, what if he changed his mind? Fuck—

“Young-il scares me a little.”

Jungbae’s voice immediately brought Jongwoo out of his internal dilemma and he soon found
himself eavesdropping into their conversation once again. Gosh, he was so unbelievably
nosy.

“What do you mean?” Player 388 inquired, his attention darting between Jungbae and trying
to see what Young-il was going to vote for.

“I don’t know how to put this, but when I was in the room with him in the last game…he…”
But before Jongwoo could squeeze the rest of the words out of Jungbae’s throat in pure
irritation of his hesitancy, the X buzzer sounded loudly through the speakers. Everyone’s
attention immediately snapped up to the vote count on the TV screen.

50 vs 50.

“That’s it! Finally!” Player 388 cheered, completely ignoring what Jungbae had previously
been trying to say. The X side had erupted in applause and relief while the O side groaned in
disappointment upon seeing Young-il’s vote.

And Jongwoo watched from afar as Young-il turned around with a large smile plastered
across his face before he held up a thumbs up and began to make his way over to the X side.

Jongwoo’s heart was beating a million times per second. What did this mean? Were they
finally going to be able to go home?

“We did it, we did it! It’s a tie!” Player 388 exclaimed excitedly before a familiar voice
brought the lively crowd to a quiet silence.

“The vote has ended.” The guard announced monotonously.

A few murmurs broke out among each of the sides before one player yelled out what
everyone had probably been thinking.

“Alright, it’s a tie. What happens now?” And as Jongwoo’s eyes settled on the owner of the
voice, he couldn’t hold back as his eyes rolled upon seeing the man.

Player 100.

How had that asshole managed to make it this far? Surely he would’ve been dead by now.

“Clause three of the consent form. ‘In case of a tie, players will vote again.’” The guard
recited perfectly, and Jongwoo slightly regretted how he really hadn’t been paying attention
to the consent form when he had signed it.

“So when are we going to vote again?” This time, it was a player from the X side who had
raised his hand up and yelled out.

“To give you some time to think, the vote will be conducted tomorrow. Until then, please
think carefully about your future.”

And almost immediately, players began to disperse and return to their beds.

“Let’s go, Daeho.” Jungbae declared as he turned around, pushing slightly past Jongwoo. Ah,
so that’s what his name was. Jongwoo preferred referring to players by their names rather
than their numbers. It was getting too confusing having to try and keep up with what number
belongs to which player.

Jongwoo lingered a little longer before he too was making his way back to his bed. He
scanned the room for a familiar tall, slender man but unfortunately, Jongwoo couldn’t quite
find who he was looking for. And much to his dismay, Jongwoo realised that instead of being
able to confront Moonjo straight up, he was just going to have to wait until the man showed
himself later. And then also deal with whatever he had planned too.

Groaning to himself, Jongwoo reluctantly climbed the ladder to his bed. Maybe since his bed
was on the top he’d be able to locate Moonjo easier? Wait, come to think of it, where was
Moonjo’s bed exactly—?

“Get the fuck off my bed!”

Gripping tightly onto the final step, Jongwoo locked eyes with the man already perched on
the edge of his bed innocently.

“Why should I?” Moonjo countered placidly, not even bothered by Jongwoo’s harsh tone.

“Why should—,” Jongwoo cut himself off before he continued, “It’s my fucking bed! You
have your own!” He spat, still hanging from the final step on the ladder.

“You’ve never had a problem with it before.” Moonjo replied as he stared at Jongwoo with a
satisfied smile painted across his face.

“Too bad! Get off!” Jongwoo snapped back immediately, his knuckles going white at just
how hard he was gripping onto the ladder out of irritation.

Moonjo hummed contentedly before he finally responded.

“If you say so.”

…What?

Jongwoo furrowed his brows slightly at the man’s seemingly sudden change of mind. But
Jongwoo knew better than to waste time trying to figure out if he truly meant it, so instead he
just shouted at Moonjo to get a wriggle on.

“What are you waiting for? Leave!”

Moonjo cocked a confused eyebrow up at Jongwoo’s demand.

“Jagiya, you’re still on the ladder. I can’t leave yet.” Moonjo murmured softly, and Jongwoo
immediately felt like an idiot.

Oh yeah.

“Okay, fine. Just…go over to the other side of the bed while I get up.” Jongwoo stumbled a
little on his words before he awkwardly cleared his throat.

Moonjo simply hummed in response and began crawling over to the other side of the bed.
Soon enough, Jongwoo hoisted himself up onto the bed and into the position Moonjo had
once been sitting in.
“Now you can leave.” Jongwoo declared, pointing over to the now free ladder.

Narrowing his eyes at Jongwoo for a brief moment, Moonjo then huffed in acknowledgment
before he was already making his way across the bed toward the ladder.

Oh, shit.

Jongwoo didn’t really think this through. These beds were far too narrow to seamlessly cross
paths, so Jongwoo had to improvise. He shuffled to the opposite side of the ladder before he
began slightly leaning back, trying to give the older man more room to move freely. Jongwoo
held tightly with one hand onto a part of his bed frame, his fingers aching at just how much
pressure he was putting onto them.

By now, Moonjo had made it to the ladder and his back was turned to Jongwoo. Despite how
odd it was, Jongwoo ignored how Moonjo was actually listening to him. Was he bipolar or
something? Why would he switch up so suddenly?

But since Jongwoo was too preoccupied with his internal debate, he had failed to notice how
the older man had stopped moving, and was now simply sitting right in front of the ladder.
However, Jongwoo managed to snap out of it just in time.

“What do you think you’re doing? Get a move alon—”

And suddenly, Moonjo spun around before swiftly catapulting himself at Jongwoo. However,
as Jongwoo braced himself to be pulled forward by Moonjo’s hands on his chest, he was
horrified when the older man violently pushed him off the bed.

And then he was falling.

…And then he wasn’t.

Jongwoo let out an embarrassingly girly scream before a hand clenched around his wrist
tightly, effectively catching him before he could plummet 30 feet to his death.

As his feet dangled below him, Jongwoo snapped his head up to the older man in terror.

“What the fuck is wrong with you!” Jongwoo yelled up at him.

Players from surrounding beds had been watching the whole scene unfold and had gasped
loudly when they saw Jongwoo get pushed. A few players had begun to gather below him,
but probably not to catch him in case he fell, but rather just to get a better look at what was
happening.

“That’s no way to speak to your savior, jagiya.” Moonjo spoke calmly, a harsh contrast to his
flexed neck muscles and the white knuckles wrapped tightly around Jongwoo’s wrist.

“Savior my ass! You pushed me off!” Jongwoo screeched as he flailed his free arm around to
try and find something to hold onto. However, he was unsuccessful.
Rather than indulging Jongwoo’s comment, Moonjo simply furrowed his brow as if he had
been wrongly accused.

“What’re you waiting for? Pull me up, you psycho!!” Jongwoo shrieked, his voice cracking.
He didn’t dare to look down at just how high he was.

“Why should I?”

If Jongwoo wasn’t currently hanging off a 30 foot stack of beds, he would’ve beaten the hell
out of Moonjo. This fucking bastard—

“Just do it!” He shouted out desperately.

Moonjo peered down at him in mild disdain before he cocked his head and replied.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, jagiya.” He dismissed, clearly not fazed by Jongwoo’s constant
screaming.

“What do you mean you can’t? Pull. Me. UP!” Jongwoo spat, looking at the man in a mix of
utter confusion and irritation.

But instead of complying, Moonjo looked up at the ceiling as if he was contemplating

something. And after an agonizingly slow few seconds, he finally spoke up.

“I’ll pull you up.”

Jongwoo practically beamed upon hearing the words. Maybe he wasn’t so heartless after a—

“Under one condition.”

“I’ll do anything!” Jongwoo screamed out a little too desperately. This quickly earned him a
smug look to creep up on Moonjo's face.

Shit, that came out so wrong.

“Anything?” Moonjo’s words were practically dripping in satisfaction.

But fuck it, Jongwoo couldn’t be picky. Moonjo was the one currently stopping him from
plummeting 30 feet to his demise.

“Anything!” He pleaded desperately, not caring how Moonjo would probably twist his
words.

The older man’s grin widened and Jongwoo almost instantly regretted what he had said.
What if he wanted him to start killing random players? Or what if he wanted—

“Stay by my side.” Moonjo spoke softly despite his current strained appearance.

Jongwoo, a little thrown back by the man’s request but also not at all, found himself agreeing
before he even knew what that condition entailed.
“Yeah, fine whatever! Just pull me—”

“And don’t lie to me.”

Jongwoo scrunched his face up in confusion.

“But that’s two—”

“Do you want to be pulled up or not?” Moonjo retorted immediately, effectively cutting
Jongwoo off.

It seemed he wasn’t going to get out of this situation any other way, so accepting Moonjo’s
condition(s) was probably the best course of action. Well, the only course of action really.

“Yes, pull me up!” Jongwoo begged, all sense of dignity having been already lost long ago.

“Say it.” Moonjo insisted, and Jongwoo darted his eyes around the man’s serious expression
in mild confusion.

Say what—?

Oh!

“Yes, I agree to the conditions! Please just pull me up!”

And with that, Jongwoo felt Moonjo slowly pulling him back up onto the bed. With one final
heave, it wasn’t long until Jongwoo’s entire body was safely planted on top of the mattress
once again.

After he had regained his composure, Jongwoo tilted his head up to face the older man who
had a seemingly innocent expression plastered across his face. Then, his eyes drifted down to
his wrist that Moonjo was still holding tightly onto.

“Let go of me!” Jongwoo gritted angrily through his teeth, trying to rip himself free of
Moonjo’s grasp.

“That’s not what you were saying earlier.” Moonjo countered, his grip only tightening more
in response.

“That’s because I was—,” Jongwoo cut himself off and then he sighed, trying to calm down
before he continued, “Just…let go. Please.”

In response, Moonjo raised an eyebrow at his defeated plea.

“I don’t want to.” Moonjo said flatly.

“Why? It’s not like I’m going anywhere.” Jongwoo retorted.

“You promise?” Moonjo’s voice was soft and sounded uncharacteristically full of concern.

…What?
“Well, yeah…I can’t leave even if I wanted to.” Jongwoo stammered before clearing his
throat awkwardly.

Instead of replying, Moonjo simply scanned Jongwoo over once more with his eyes before he
loosened the grip on his wrist just enough for Jongwoo to wriggle free.

Once free, Jongwoo raised a hand to his newly freed wrist, caressing the red and aching mark
of Moonjo’s hand around it softly. Moonjo watched him as he did so, and Jongwoo shifted
uncomfortably.

This was getting painfully awkward.

“I…” Jongwoo began, but soon trailed off as he realised he didn’t exactly know what he
wanted to say.

But as if it was music to his ears, the doors opened and Jongwoo’s eyes darted to where the
guards were emerging from, each carrying trays of various food and drink. Jongwoo felt
himself instinctively relax at the sight, beyond grateful that he had something else to focus on
other than Moonjo.

And almost immediately, players began descending from their beds and were making their
way over to the tables to grab their dinner.

“I’m hungry, let’s go.” Jongwoo muttered as he motioned for Moonjo to climb down the
ladder first.

And he did just that.

Jongwoo waited until the older man had reached the bottom before he started to descend the
ladder himself. He couldn’t take any risks after what had just happened.

And as Jongwoo swung his legs over the side and began climbing down the ladder, he
couldn’t help as his mind began to wander. Come to think of it, how had Moonjo managed to
hold onto him for so long? He was only holding onto Jongwoo with one hand after all. And
while Jongwoo may be a smaller man, that doesn’t make him any less harder to hold onto
when he’s dangling off of something. Jongwoo knew Moonjo was strong, but that level of
strength surely had to be abnormal. Other than the flexed muscles in his neck, Moonjo didn’t
even look slightly perturbed by the situation. Just how strong was he…?

As Jongwoo reached the bottom, both feet landing with an obnoxiously loud thud, he didn’t
hesitate to start making his way over to the rest of the players who were already lining up and
getting their meals. Jongwoo completely ignored the lingering stares from other players as he
and Moonjo neared the crowd.

And when they reached the rest of the players lining up, Moonjo gave one last glance at
Jongwoo before he was joining one of the lines on the O side. Similarly, Jongwoo joined one
of the queues on the X side.
Jongwoo was a little surprised that Moonjo hadn’t brought up the vote yet, but he was glad
that he hadn’t. He wasn’t exactly sure how he’d explain it anyway.

Brushing off the thought, Jongwoo reached the front of the line and the guard swiftly handed
him his meal. It was a bottle of what Jongwoo assumed was some sort of cola and then a
cylindrical thing wrapped in tinfoil. It was heavy so that was a good sign at least.

And as Jongwoo made his way back in the direction of his bed, he spent several moments
trying to guess what could be in the tinfoil. But as he neared the bottom of his ladder, he
snapped out of it and came back to reality. Jongwoo peered up at the ladder, memories of
what happened literally minutes ago replaying in his head.

Maybe he’ll just eat down here this time…

Jongwoo perched down on the step next to his ladder and only moments later, a figure sat
down next to him. However, he’d be lying if he said that he was surprised by Moonjo’s
presence. After all, he had just promised the man that he’d stay with him.

Gosh, he was a fucking idiot.

Ignoring the blaring alarm bells going off in his mind, Jongwoo placed the glass bottle beside
him before reaching up to unravel the tinfoil. And…Oh!

It was gimbap.

And almost immediately, Jongwoo was hit by another wave of nostalgia. His mother always
made gimbap for Jongwoo and his brother so the sight gnawed at his heart ever so slightly.
He remembered how his mother had tried to give him several rolls of gimbap before he left
for Seoul, and then also how he had declined her offer. Jongwoo sighed as he remembered
the look on his mother’s face as he left his home in Busan, suitcase in hand, and started on his
journey to Seoul. Little did she know - and Jongwoo too - that things would only get worse
for Jongwoo from there. Upon remembering the scene, Jongwoo thankfully fought back the
pout that dared to surface on his face.

And now look where he was.

But as Jongwoo’s fingers glided over something cold and metallic, he was quickly brought
out of his internal turmoil. Jongwoo narrowed his eyes on the piece of cutlery before bringing
it up just in front of his face. He couldn’t hold back as he cocked an eyebrow up at the sight.

A fork? If it’s on the go like this, then gimbap doesn’t usually come with a fork. So what was
—

Oh.

And as if he just connected the final puzzle piece, realisation hit Jongwoo like a truck.

Did they put these in here to encourage violence among the players?

They totally did, didn’t they?

“What’s wrong, jagiya?” Moonjo’s smooth voice almost startled Jongwoo, but he managed to
keep his composure. Bringing the fork back down to his lap, Jongwoo returned the man’s eye
contact before he spoke up.

“We should keep these for later,” he waved around the fork before his attention turned
elsewhere, “Oh, and this.” Jongwoo added, pointing at the glass bottle sitting idly next to his
side.

Moonjo simply tilted his head in response.

“Why?”

“You never know if someone from the other side might attack.” Jongwoo deadpanned, a little
surprised that Moonjo had yet to pick up on the true purpose of the cutlery.

Moonjo opened his mouth in a large ‘O’ shape as realisation quickly hit him too. He waited
for a few moments, probably figuring out how he should reply to that, before he continued.

“What about me?” Moonjo remarked sincerely.

“What do you mean?” Jongwoo countered, furrowing his brows at the man’s odd question.

“We’re on opposite sides.” Moonjo bluntly replied.

Oh.

Jongwoo’s eyes involuntarily dropped to the O patch secured tightly on Moonjo’s jacket
before his attention swiftly returned back to the man’s face. However, rather than outright
answering, Jongwoo just shoved another piece of gimbap into his mouth.

Maybe he was going to bring up the vote after all.

Moonjo let out a low chuckle. And quickly realising that Moonjo was only waiting for him to
finish his mouthful, he eventually swallowed and then continued.

“That’s different. You’re…different.” Jongwoo stammered as he coughed loudly, clearing his

throat awkwardly.

“So you’d protect me?” Moonjo whispered softly.

“Don’t be stupid, you don’t need my protection.” Jongwoo snapped back, but this time
around, it wasn’t filled with his usual venom.

“But I’d protect you.” The older man’s voice was quiet and sounded concerningly genuine.

“I don’t need your protection either.” Jongwoo found the words slipping out of his mouth
before he could catch himself. But it was true, he didn’t Moonjo there to protect him. He was
perfectly capable by himself.

“That you don’t, jagiya.” Moonjo quipped as a knowing smirk crept up to his lips.
Rather than further indulging the man, Jongwoo instead settled on ignoring him and turned
his head back around to focus on his meal.

But before he could get very far, a voice rang out from a group sitting on the X side.

“Hey!” Jongwoo’s eyes drifted up to the owner of the voice before they settled on a familiar
curly haired man. It was Player 007, or the older woman’s son as he remembered.

And as Jongwoo scanned the room, he realised that he and Moonjo were the only ones who
weren’t sitting in their respective voting sides. Were they meant to be divided even during
mealtime?

“Don’t agonize over your decision while eating this dry gimbap! I just want one of you to
come over to our side.” Player 007 shouted, holding up a hopeful finger to symbolize that he
only needed a single O player to change their mind.

“If we get out of here tomorrow morning, we could get Korean beef! I’ll tell you what, it’s
my treat!” He continued, and the faces of the X side instantly lit up. And for a fleeting
moment, Jongwoo actually considered the man’s proposal. It’s been awhile since he’s had
any nice food like Korean beef.

“And after that, noodles are on me!” This time, it was the man’s mother who stood up and
was yelling loudly.

“Come over to our side! Anyone!” Daeho yelled, using his hands to motion to the other
players to switch sides.

Suddenly, an older player from the O side abruptly stood up before he replied to their efforts
loudly.

“Once you all die in the next game, we can all leave with 800 million each!” Player 100
retorted harshly. He paused for a split second, letting his statement sink in, before he
eventually continued.

“With 800 million, we could buy a freaking cattle ranch!”

And with that, the O side erupted in a mix of “That’s right!” and “You join us!”, before they
too were trying to encourage players from the X crowd to come on over to their side.

Jongwoo watched from afar as Daeho slammed his meal down before he rose to his feet
quickly.

“You’ll get 800 million? Who are you kidding?” Daeho caught his breath before continuing,
“Do you think you’ll still be alive after the next game? If you don’t get out now, you’re all
going to die!” He concluded, pointing an accusatory finger at the players from the other side.

“So let’s play one more game to see who dies! Stop trying to run away like a goddamn
coward.” Jongwoo’s head snapped to Player 226, who had stepped down from his previous
position and was now standing on the open floor.
In response, Daeho chuckled obnoxiously loudly.

“What did you say? Hey, come here. Come here asshole!” Daeho spat, stomping toward the
man angrily.

“Let’s go!” Player 226 said mockingly, throwing his hands up in the air dramatically.

“I’ll take you down, bastard!” Daeho hissed as Jungbae quickly ran up to him and began
trying to pull him back.

“Not with civilians, so let’s just go.” Jungbae tried before Daeho ripped out of his grasp
completely.

And much to Jongwoo’s surprise, Daeho began to strip out of his jacket before he lifted up
his shirt sleeve to reveal a tattoo.

“I was in the Marines, fucking asshole!” He announced, bearing his arm to the rest of the
players on the other side.

Jongwoo cringed. His face scrunched up in second hand embarrassment upon watching the
strange man’s antics.

But to no one’s surprise this time around, the O side immediately burst into mocking
laughter. It took every bone in Jongwoo’s body to hold himself back from laughing too.
Because what the hell was this idiot doing?

“Oh, yeah? Then I was in the air force, fucker!” Player 226 scoffed, seemingly amused by
Daeho’s weird behaviour.

“Hey! If you want to go home, why would you even bother eating? Just starve!” This time, it
was a different player from the O side who had stood up and yelled out.

“That’s right!” Player 226 repeated.

Almost immediately, players from either side began clamoring and making their way down to
the floor between the two sides. Jongwoo watched from afar as players threw insults around
as both sides stopped at the two measly lines dividing the X and O crowds.

And as he watched the two groups of madmen continue to verbally attack each other,
Jongwoo soon realised that they weren’t actually going to fight. Jongwoo sighed to himself as
he realised that he wouldn’t be getting any free entertainment anytime soon.

“If you want to fight, just fight.” Jongwoo mumbled under his breath, but Moonjo managed
to catch it. Of course he fucking did.

“I couldn’t agree more, jagiya.” His words were laced with an unhealthy amount of
satisfaction but Jongwoo ignored it. Instead, he focused on finishing his bland gimbap roll
and just pretended that Moonjo wasn’t even there to begin with. Spending too much time
around the older man had to surely have been messing with his head. Jongwoo was sounding
more and more like him by the second. He shuddered at the thought as he shoved yet another
piece of gimbap into his mouth.

And after everything died down, the next hour went by relatively quickly, and Jongwoo was
glad that Moonjo hadn’t tried to talk to him during that time at all. He was just too much to
deal with all day every day.

“I’m going to go to the bathroom.” Jongwoo suddenly announced, as he put his hands in his
jacket pockets, which was where his fork happened to also be stored.

“Did you want me to come with you?” Moonjo inquired, his gaze only narrowing onto
Jongwoo even more.

“What? No!” Jongwoo snapped defensively, hoping that his face wasn’t heating up upon
hearing the man’s words.

“Then why did you tell me?” Moonjo quipped.

Yeah, why did he even tell Moonjo? He didn’t really need to know that Jongwoo was going
to take a piss.

“Well, I…I was just telling you so you wouldn’t get pissy when I left!” Jongwoo managed,
trying to play it off smoothly.

Moonjo waited a few seconds while he contemplated his next response before he eventually
spoke up.

“I know you’ll come back.” The older man deadpanned and Jongwoo immediately furrowed
his brows. However, Jongwoo quickly brushed off the comment and turned his back to the
man.

“Whatever.” He replied, already walking away from Moonjo and in the direction of the
bathroom.

Jongwoo could feel Moonjo’s eyes on him the entire way there but he did his best to ignore
it. And once he arrived at the door that led into a hallway to the bathroom door, he promptly
swung it open and almost grimaced at the sight. There were handfuls of men loitering around
the sinks and urinals - doing anything but actually using the bathroom for its intended
purpose.

Soon enough, Jongwoo was pushing open a door to one of the stalls before he shut it closely
behind him. Yeah, he wasn’t picky when it came to communal areas but he couldn’t exactly
predict what these people were going to do. Plus, a little bit of privacy never hurts.

And as Jongwoo finished his business and prepared to unlock the door to his stall, a familiar
voice echoed throughout the bathroom.

…Thanos?
“MG Coin, come out, come out wherever you are!” The man comically announced and
Jongwoo froze. How on Earth did he know that he was in—

But before Jongwoo could open his door and reveal himself, the lock to the stall’s door next
to him sounded, and he heard the footsteps of the figure exiting the stall.

“You weren’t hiding from us, were you Myung-gi?” This time it was Nam-gyu’s voice that
bounced off of the walls.

Oh?

And when Myung-gi didn’t say anything in return, Thanos spoke up.

“We’re just here to let you know that if you vote X next round, we’ll rip off one of your
fingers and feed it to—”

“Everyone on Team X!” Myung-gi’s voice was startlingly loud, and Jongwoo almost flinched
at the man’s sudden volume.

“These guys are trying to threaten me! They’re forcing me to vote O next time!” He yelled
out desperately.

Ah, of course. Myung-gi couldn’t handle these idiots by himself so he had to bring someone
else into it. What a fucking loser.

“Is that true? Hey, that’s cheating!” Jongwoo couldn’t identify who the voice belonged to, but
given the circumstances, he assumed that it was a different player from the X side.

“You kids are still so young. Who taught you to do something so nasty?” Again, he assumed
that this new voice also belonged to an X player. Jongwoo tried to peek through the cracks of
his stall but he could only catch glimpses of the other men. Goddammit.

“Hey! Team O!” This time, it was Thanos who bellowed out loudly.

“These Xs are about to attack us!” He continued, and Jongwoo heard the footsteps of several
men probably moving to back up the purple haired idiot.

“What the fuck? Why would they attack us?” An angry voice shouted.

“Shut your trap!” The man’s voice came from the other side of the room where Myung-gi
was standing.

“You damn wimps. Just shut up and take a piss!” The same angry voice from before
continued.

“I already did, asshole.”

In his current position, it was getting increasingly harder for Jongwoo to keep up with who
was on what side. Or what was really happening for that matter. He had to do something, but
what?
“MG Coin, are you high? Have you lost your mind?” Thanos scoffed loudly.

But before Myung-gi could get in his rebuttal, the sound of a stall door unlocking quickly
diverted the attention of all the men.

Jongwoo stepped out from the stall and assessed the situation in front of him. He knew that
he was only going to stir the pot even more by appearing but he didn’t really care. This was
going to be interesting.

The heads of all three men snapped to face him, or Myung-gi’s doppelganger. Jongwoo’s
eyes glanced from a horrified Myung-gi to a confused Nam-gyu and then finally to a stunned
Thanos. And it wasn’t long until Thanos was darting his eyes between the two lookalikes
before he was holding up two fingers and pointing at them.

“Twins!” He exclaimed almost comically looking between them.

Jongwoo gritted his teeth.

“He is not my twin.” Jongwoo hissed, almost gagging at the mere thought of being blood-
related to someone like Myung-gi.

Pushing past the stunned players, Jongwoo approached the sink and washed his hands as if
nothing was happening in the first place. He could practically feel everyone’s eyes on him as
he did so, but he didn’t really care and just dried his hands shortly after.

“So who’s MG Coin then?” Thanos’ voice broke the temporary silence, and Jongwoo
immediately snapped his head up to look at the trio through the mirror.

He sighed.

Myung-gi was holding up a shaky finger at him. For just how long was this imbecile going to
stretch out this ‘He’s the real Myung-gi!’ thing?

Jongwoo turned around, now facing the rest of the players, and made his way over to the trio.
Myung-gi quickly dropped his finger as he approached and he shifted uncomfortably. But
rather than outright calling out Myung-gi’s lie, Jongwoo just laughed.

“You’re really going to believe that?” Jongwoo scoffed, trying to calm himself down before
he made an idiot out of himself by laughing at seemingly nothing.

“Well it has to be one of you, right?” Thanos replied, his brows furrowed ever so slightly as
he tried to understand the odd situation.

Jongwoo opened his mouth to say something along the lines of “Obviously!” but Thanos
spoke up before he could do so.

“I guess we’ll just have to do some trial and error then. Wouldn’t you agree, my friend?” And
with that, Thanos turned to Nam-gyu who jumped at the sudden attention on him before he
answered the man’s question.
“Exactly! If we end up beating up the wrong person, at least we know who the real MG Coin
is.” Nam-gyu added confidently.

“That doesn’t even make any sense!” Myung-gi snorted. And much to his dismay, Jongwoo
couldn’t help but agree with him. What the fuck were these guys on about? They must be
high or something.

Thanos then held a finger up to his chin and looked up at the ceiling, as if to symbolize that
he was thoughtfully contemplating his next move. And soon enough, realisation dawned
upon the purple haired idiot.

“Hm, can anyone vouch for either of you?” He asked, pointing a finger between the two
lookalikes. Huh, that’s actually a good way to figure out who the real MG Coin was.

Jongwoo sifted through his brain trying to think of who could vouch for him. He came up
pretty short, however. In the end, he really only had Moonjo. But even so, if Jongwoo asked
Moonjo to vouch for him, he’d probably lie to them just so he could watch Jongwoo beat
them up again. So if not Moonjo, who else…

“Junhee.” The name slipped off of his tongue just as it crossed his mind. Jongwoo felt how
Myung-gi immediately stiffened next to him upon hearing the familiar name.

“…Who?” Thanos asked sincerely, looking as if he was trying to dig through his brain to find
the answer.

“Player 222.” Jongwoo added despite the death glares he was getting from the other man
beside him.

“Player 222…Player 222…Player— Oh! Your girl, right?” Thanos exclaimed, holding up
two fingers before crossing them, as if to symbolize that the two were hitched.

Jongwoo opened his mouth to reply before he quickly clamped it shut. No, she wasn’t his
girl. For some reason, instead of just lying so Myung-gi could deal with these assholes, it felt
wrong. Why did he bring Junhee into this anyway? He only knew her name, so it’s not like
they were close. Maybe he should’ve just tried his luck with Moonjo.

When Jongwoo failed to provide a response, it was Nam-gyu who broke the tense silence
between the trio.

“Ohh! The one you were talking to behind that stack of beds that one time?”

No, that was Myung-gi. Well, he was technically there too but just not in the way that they
thought. And then without thinking for much longer, Jongwoo nodded his head in agreement.
A little white lie never hurt anybody.

And then it hit him. Was he helping to prove that he was MG Coin or that he wasn’t?

For fucks sake…

“It’s settled then.” Thanos’ voice brought Jongwoo hurtling back to reality as he studied the
man in front of him in confusion.

Suddenly, Thanos held up a finger closely to Jongwoo’s face before he spoke up.

“You’re the imposter.”

He turned to Myung-gi next, now pointing at him instead.

“You’re MG Coin.”

…What? How on Earth had he come to that conclusion? But even so, Jongwoo was a little
relieved. It worked in his favour so he couldn’t really complain.

“He’s lying! Junhee is my—” Myung-gi tried desperately before he was cut off.

“MG Coin would never be able to get a girlfriend.” Namgyu remarked mockingly as he
sidestepped Thanos to stand right in front of Myung-gi. The two idiots seemed to be on the
same wavelength as each other.

Jongwoo watched as Myung-gi’s eyes filled up with pure rage in milliseconds.

Oh shit.

Was Myung-gi going to attack Jongwoo for bringing up Junhee or the other two for thinking
that he couldn’t bag a girlfriend? Frankly, he shouldn’t really have said anything in the first
place. He should’ve just let Myung-gi get beaten to a pulp and then gone on about his day.
But no, he purposely decided to stir the pot, and now he was stuck in it.

Jongwoo’s time for pondering was short lived however, as Myung-gi suddenly lunged at
Nam-gyu, sending the two men tumbling over backwards onto the ground.

And then chaos ensued.

Jongwoo watched as players from either side leapt forward at each other, landing various
punches and jabs. Thankfully for him, nobody had jumped Jongwoo. It wasn’t that he didn’t
want to fight per say, but this wasn’t really his battle. Had he possibly been the one to initiate
it? Perhaps. But that didn’t necessarily mean he should get involved. So instead of lunging at
any players from the opposite side, Jongwoo decided that he was just going to leave and let
everyone else sort this situation out. Making his way over to the bathroom door, Jongwoo
managed to dodge a few flying fists and other players who almost came crashing into him.

But as Jongwoo wrapped his hand around the door handle, he felt a pair of hands grab
harshly onto his shoulders.

Oh fuck-

And within a split second, Jongwoo was violently pulled back until his head hit the floor with
a deafening thud. He groaned in pain before his eyes quickly focused on a suspiciously foot-
shaped shadow on its way down to his face. And as realisation hit him, Jongwoo jerked to the
side, narrowly avoiding the man trying to stomp on his head.

What the fuck?

Realising that he was in quite a vulnerable position on the floor, Jongwoo quickly scurried up
to his feet. However, still a little taken aback by the near miss, Jongwoo failed to dodge the
man’s kick that struck his abdomen forcefully. And as Jongwoo went flying back into one of
the sinks behind him, his head collided with the mirror, shattering it into a million little pieces
that scattered erratically across the floor.

The kick had managed to wind Jongwoo, and so as he bent over at the waist trying to catch
his breath, he was unable to avoid the large hand that promptly wrapped around his neck
harshly. The man smashed Jongwoo back against the already broken mirror, and Jongwoo
winced in pain as he felt several shards of glass stab into the back of his head. The man’s grip
was insanely tight, and Jongwoo could feel the air from his lungs quickly decimating. He
tried to swing but failed to land any hits, leaving Jongwoo having to resort to trying to
unwrap the man’s fingers from around his neck.

His attempts proved futile, as the other man only tightened his grip more. Jongwoo could feel
the blood rushing to his head as his vision started to slowly blur. But before he could lose
consciousness, Jongwoo heard a familiar voice ring out in his ears.

“Jagiya, what are you doing?”

The voice came quick and low, and Jongwoo knew it was just his mind messing with him.
Still, it felt so real that Jongwoo managed to regain some of his composure after ‘hearing’ it.
He couldn’t die like this, to whoever this mystery player was. Jongwoo had gotten this far
already and he’d be damned if he let some random punk take him out in a bathroom. That
would be an utterly humiliating fate that Jongwoo would refuse to accept.

So, as if a switch was flipped inside of him, Jongwoo dropped his hands from the other’s grip
around his neck and he fumbled around for anything he could use as a weapon. Suddenly, he
felt his hands graze over a rather large shard of glass that had fallen into the sink he was
pinned up against.

And with what felt like little time remaining before he breathed his final breath, Jongwoo
clutched onto the shard and plunged it directly into the side of the man’s head. The player’s
eyes immediately widened at the intrusion but soon enough, Jongwoo watched as his life
began to drain out of his eyes. His tight grasp on the shard didn’t falter as he ripped it out,
even as blood began to feverishly flow from the now gaping hole left in the other player’s
head.

The hand on Jongwoo’s neck immediately fell slack, and he watched as the man in front of
him fell to the floor and a crimson puddle immediately began to spill out from underneath
him.

Luckily for Jongwoo, all the other players were too caught up in their individual battles to
have noticed how Jongwoo had just brutally murdered a man in broad daylight. Were these
players actually aiming to kill each other? Or were they just trying to beat one another up?
But it didn’t matter anymore, because Jongwoo was the first to claim a life.

And as Jongwoo clutched the glass shard in his hand impossibly tighter, not caring if it split
his own palm open, he felt it. It felt like he opened the floodgates to his body, as a familiar
feeling washed over him in a matter of seconds.

That feeling.

Almost immediately, the thrilling buzz returned to his skin and Jongwoo felt beyond
enlivened. He could feel his lips curling up into a maniacal smile as he looked down at the
lifeless body beneath him.

Oh, he could get used to this.

Ignoring the millions of alarm bells in his mind blaring at him to stop, Jongwoo found
himself chasing the thrill of it all. Because as he stared at the man’s lifeless body, Jongwoo
felt fucking unstoppable.

But as he was distracted basking in the glory of his kills, a pair of strong arms wrapped
around his neck, putting him into a tight chokehold. Jongwoo gasped instinctively at the
sudden sensation before he quickly came back to his senses. Instead of trying to unravel the
man’s grasp, Jongwoo instinctively threw the hand holding the glass piece back in the
direction of the man’s face, hoping that it would deal any sort of damage.

And seeing as how the man behind him screeched out loudly in pain and the hold around his
neck immediately dropped, Jongwoo assumed that he had managed to land some sort of hit
on the man. He turned around to face the other player and—

Oh…

The man was holding a hand up to one of his now bloodied and gouged eyes and was
stumbling around on his feet in shock. Jongwoo couldn’t hold back his grimace upon seeing
the gruesome scene. That’s got to hurt.

But even amidst his slight sympathetic thoughts, Jongwoo was already catapulting himself at
the man. The other player watched in horror as Jongwoo held the glass shard up behind his
head before sending it plunging into his remaining eye.

The man screamed out in pain, but it was lost among the countless other grunts and groans
from the other players in the room. He brought his remaining hand up to his newly stabbed
eye, trying to stop the blood from flowing out from his eye socket. Jongwoo stepped back
and watched the man from afar, and even though he was riding the high of it all, he knew that
was a fucked up thing to do.

Trying to ignore his conflicting feelings, Jongwoo thought it would just be best to put the
man out of his misery. So that’s what he did. Jongwoo lunged once more at the man who
unfortunately couldn’t see him coming, before the glass shard was submerged into the left
part of his chest. The player’s breath hitched at the sudden sensation before he soon
succumbed to his injuries, going limp and falling down to the ground. Jongwoo bent over and
yanked the piece of glass out of the man’s chest, but not before he wiped off the remaining
blood on the man’s jumpsuit.

However, it seemed that all of Jongwoo’s conflicting feelings had died along with the man as
he soon found himself thrusting a leg into the back of a different player, sending him toppling
over onto the ground. Jongwoo immediately scrambled to pin the man down, before he reeled
his arm back with the shard.

But before he could land a stab on the man’s back, Jongwoo was soon face to face with a
shoe that kicked him backwards and off of the man beneath him. His head hit the tiled floor
agonizingly hard, with Jongwoo becoming immediately more aware of the several mirror
remnants still in the back of his head. Unfortunately, during the whole scuffle, Jongwoo had
accidentally let go of his weapon. Despite his pain, Jongwoo’s head snapped up to try and
locate the glass piece before his eyes settled on it a meter or so away. He reached an arm out
to grab it but before he could do so, a figure kicked it away.

Jongwoo’s attention immediately turned to the figure who promptly scurried to straddle
Jongwoo while he was disoriented.

Thanos.

But before he could regain his composure, two strong hands were already wrapping around
his throat and tightening at a rapid rate. Jongwoo could practically feel the life leaving him as
he desperately scratched at Thanos’ arms in an attempt to loosen the grip on his neck.

What the fuck! Seriously, why was everyone trying to choke him?

“You fucking…You fucking son of a bitch!” Thanos screamed, piercing Jongwoo’s ears at
just how loud the man’s voice was.

Where had he come from anyway? Jongwoo thought he had been busy with Myung-gi this
whole time so where—

Oh.

Even amidst his struggle, Jongwoo’s eyes darted over to where Myung-gi was lying on the
tiles in the distance, a bloodied and bruised mess. Jongwoo noticed that Myung-gi’s chest
was still rising and falling, but even from his current position, Jongwoo knew it was strained.
Myung-gi was alive though.

Jongwoo snapped his attention back to the man straddling him, his eyes growing impossibly
larger and his cheeks flushing at just how much blood was rushing to his head. Knowing that
he was quickly running out of time, Jongwoo dropped his hands from Thanos’ arms before he
was scrambling them around to try and find something to fight back with.

Suddenly, Jongwoo’s fingers brushed over a familiar outline in his jacket pocket. And within
a split second, he—
Squelch.

Jongwoo watched as Thanos’ eyes widened immediately upon the sudden intrusion. Holding
the metallic fork that he had plunged into the man’s throat shakily, Jongwoo swiftly pulled it
out, sending blood splattering feverishly all over his face. And without much more thought
needed, Jongwoo instantly sent the fork crashing back into the side of Thanos’ neck before he
pulled it out and did the same to a different part of his neck. Soon enough, Thanos
plummeted down on top of Jongwoo, his head landing beside Jongwoo’s limply.

Suddenly much more aware of how Thanos’ heavy ragdoll body was practically suffocating
him, Jongwoo shoved the man off of him before he was already scrambling up onto his feet.
And it must have been on instinct, but Jongwoo lunged forward and ripped the bloody fork
out of the man’s neck before shoving it back into his jacket pocket. Some part of him thought
that he couldn’t leave any evidence behind, even if there were still dozens of witnesses
around who may have very well seen what Jongwoo had done. He just hoped that not too
many people had seen it.

And while Jongwoo could still feel the buzz on his skin, his body was moving on autopilot
before he could even process it. He shoved past the remaining players, not caring how they
gave him brief death glares before returning to their fights, and practically knocked the door
down with how hard he had launched himself into it. And for some reason, Jongwoo found
himself quickly stripping out of his jacket as he made his way down the corridor and closer to
the main door that led back into the sleeping quarters. He swiftly chucked the jacket over his
head and covered his face before he swung open the door, completely ignoring how it was
practically blocking his entire vision.

And as Jongwoo hurriedly half-jogged and half-walked in the direction of a secluded corner,
he knew that the other players were giving him weird looks. However, they didn’t last long
and Jongwoo soon found a quiet spot before he pushed his back up against the wall and slid
down. He removed the jacket from his face and instead curled up in a ball holding it tightly.

Suddenly, the bathroom door he had just exited from opened once again, but this time with
the rest of the players who were being escorted out by the guards. Jongwoo, still curled up in
a ball in the corner, watched from afar as the remaining players stumbled and limped in the
direction of their respective sides.

“The following players have been eliminated. Players 230, 268, 299, 300, and 442.” The
woman’s voice played out over the speakers as the group continued.

And almost immediately after she finished, the ceiling opened and revealed the piggy bank
that began to descend from out of the sky. Jongwoo couldn’t help but be entranced by the
golden light as he gazed longingly up at the glass bank where new stacks of money were
being deposited into.

Once the flow of cash stopped, the crowd began to murmur amongst themselves as they
inspected the several bloodied, bruised, and beaten men in front of them.

Suddenly, Jongwoo’s ears perked up when a familiar voice rang out.

“Listen Team O! We…When we were in the bathroom, those fucking X bastards tried to kill
all of us! They killed some of us, including my friend—” Nam-gyu stuttered, probably still a
little shaken by what had just happened.

“Bullshit. You’re the ones who started it!” Jongwoo’s eyes darted over to an older man from
the X side, who was clutching at his waist.

“They threatened one of the people on our side! They attacked us to win the second vote!”
The older man continued.

“That’s right!” A different man beside him yelled out loudly.

“Hey, you killed one of us first!” This time it was a member of the O side that spoke up and
Jongwoo immediately froze in horror. Surely they didn’t know it was him, right?

…Right?

“You were trying to win the vote by killing us!” The player added angrily.

“Fuck you. You killed some of us too. Did you think we would just let you kill the rest of
us?” Jongwoo let his eyes drift over to the owner of the voice, who was standing among the
X crowd and looking rather rough on the edges after the fight.

Each side broke out into fits of angry yelling and pointing before a strong voice announced
loudly over the top of all of the commotion.

“So? Which side lost more people?” It was Player 100.

The once rowdy and rambunctious set of players quickly fell silent as they looked around at
each other in a mix of confusion and worry, trying to figure out who was left and who
wasn’t.

And as realisation swiftly dawned upon both sides, players began scrambling into groups.

“All right, everyone! Let’s count the numbers!” Player 100 declared hastily.

“Yeah, that’s right! Let’s count ourselves, so come on down!” A different man from the O
side added, motioning to the other players who were sitting on their beds to join the rest of
the crowd below.

And to no one’s surprise, the X side did the exact same thing.

“Everyone gather around!” It was the player who was clutching at his side who announced
the command loudly, effectively bringing everyone's attention to him.

“We need everyone down here, come on!” Daeho shouted, also signaling at some of the X
players perched on their beds nearby.

Rather than joining his fellow teammates, Jongwoo instead found himself dropping his head
in defeat. Even if most of them didn’t know what he had just done, Jongwoo still wasn’t
ready to confront any of them just yet. Maybe they wouldn’t notice if he just stayed ri—

“Jagiya.”

Jongwoo flinched significantly at the sudden voice, before he snapped his head up to face the
owner of the voice.

“We should go too.” Moonjo whispered softly, his eyes darting around the younger man’s
face, seeming to be taking in Jongwoo’s unruly appearance.

When the hell did he get there? And how had Jongwoo not heard him approaching?

But instead of replying to the older man, Jongwoo simply rose to his feet. He knew that he’d
only be putting his team at a disadvantage if he wasn’t there, so it would be in his best
interest to join the rest of them. Even if it was the last thing he wanted to do at that very point
in time.

Moonjo didn’t say anything else and simply followed Jongwoo up until they had to split to go
to their respective sides. And as Jongwoo neared the crowd, he found a spot at the back of the
huddle and began to zone out when the man started to count up each of the players.

“…45, 46, 47, 48.”

The man bobbed down as if to make the conversation even more intimate, before he spoke
up.

“Two people died on our side.” His voice was quiet, but at an acceptable volume so that the
people at the back - like Jongwoo - could hear what he was saying. He then held up two
fingers to symbolize the loss.

“Two out of five. That means they lost three people.” A nearby woman chimed in, before
surrounding players began to nod their heads in agreement.

“Then we have a better shot at winning the vote tomorrow.” The man added excitedly.

Jongwoo’s eyes then fell on the back of the familiar head of Jungbae who tensed up and
looked as if he had just put the final puzzle piece together.

“Hey! It’s 48 against 47! As long as we don’t change our minds, we’ll win by one vote!” He
cheerfully murmured.

The other players immediately began to silently cheer. But before they could continue to
celebrate, a woman’s voice echoed over the PA system.

“Attention, please. Lights out in 30 minutes. All players, please return to your beds and
prepare for bedtime.”

And upon hearing the woman’s words, the man, still clutching at his side, at the front stood
up to make one final comment.
“Listen, you cannot change your minds. We have to win the second vote and get out of here
tomorrow. Alright?” Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

“Don’t worry, we are determined to get out.” Jongwoo’s eyes fell on a different player who
spoke up.

“That’s right, we really have to get out now!” The man next to him chimed in.

The X crowd broke out in a quiet murmur of various “Yes, let’s do this!” and “We got this!”
before Jungbae announced loudly, effectively silencing the rest of the X players.

“Alright. Let’s go to sleep now, shall we?” Jungbae firmly declared. And with that, the crowd
immediately began to disperse and make their way back to their beds.

And as Jongwoo made his way back to his own stack of beds, he couldn’t help but notice
how the other players were putting quite a large distance between them. He knew he probably
looked like shit, but surely it wasn’t that bad, right? But as he neared his stack of beds,
Jongwoo spotted a figure that was standing at the bottom of his ladder. It was Moonjo, of
course.

As Jongwoo approached the man, he couldn’t help but ask the burning question on his mind.

“Why is everyone looking at me?” He croaked out as he looked up at the older man in
confusion.

“Come here.” Moonjo cooed before he reached out and pulled Jongwoo in closer to him. And
much to his dismay, Jongwoo let him. Moonjo swiftly stripped out of his jacket before he
began to use it to wipe the blood off of Jongwoo’s face. When the older man finally pulled
away, Jongwoo’s eyes widened.

“Oh…sorry.” Jongwoo muttered, looking down at Moonjo’s now severely bloodied and
dirtied jacket. Shit, that was a lot of blood. That probably explains why people were avoiding
Jongwoo.

“Don’t be.” Moonjo’s voice was soft and sounded genuine, so Jongwoo took his word for it.
In reality, he wasn’t that sorry about dirtying Moonjo’s jacket. It was just blood after all.

“Let’s go back to bed.” Moonjo offered, and for once that was something Jongwoo could
agree with him on.

Jongwoo was the first to pull away as he began to climb the ladder up to his bed, with
Moonjo following closely behind. And once Jongwoo reached the top, he probably only
made it half-way across his bed before he collapsed out of both mental and physical
exhaustion. Turns out murder was a lot of work.

Soon enough, Jongwoo felt Moonjo’s weight dip next to him and he was too far gone to fight
whatever the man was planning to do. So when Moonjo carefully lifted up his heavy limbs
and inserted himself under the younger man, Jongwoo didn’t do anything to stop him.
Instead, Jongwoo let his head rest comfortably on the man’s chest while his leg was cocked
up and splayed out across the man’s lower body.

Moonjo fondled his hair tenderly, and Jongwoo felt as if he was being lulled to sleep by the
sensation. At first, Jongwoo flinched as could still feel several shards of glass in the back of
his head, but the pleasure was much more intense than the pain. But before he succumbed to
his inevitable fate, Jongwoo spoke up.

“Moonjo?” Jongwoo’s voice was quiet and cracked as he spoke.

“Yes?”

“Don’t let me sleep for too long.” Jongwoo could feel how his voice vibrated on the man’s
chest.

“Why?” Moonjo inquired sincerely.

“I have a feeling that tonight won’t be as easy going as the other nights. Especially for me.”
Jongwoo reluctantly confessed, letting out a sigh shortly after.

“What makes you think that?” Moonjo countered.

“Because I killed three players from their side.” Jongwoo admitted, just a little above a
whisper.

Silence immediately engulfed the two and Jongwoo was a little startled when the older man
didn’t reply. So, to figure out what was happening, Jongwoo tilted his head up to face the
man only to find that Moonjo was already staring at him. Jongwoo studied Moonjo’s eyes
and came to an overwhelming conclusion - that they were filled to the brim with such
veneration and fondness that it almost made Jongwoo sick. But he was too tired to vomit
anyway, so Jongwoo surrendered and just accepted the intense gaze from the other man.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Moonjo finally spoke up.

“Oh, jagiya…” He practically purred, but Jongwoo quickly jumped in before the man could
say anything else.

“Just wake me up if anyone tries to jump us, okay?” Jongwoo declared before he dropped his
head back onto Moonjo’s chest.

“I promise.”

And for whatever reason, Jongwoo trusted him. He didn’t know why he did, but he believed
Moonjo was telling the truth.

Jongwoo was dithering on the edge of falling asleep, and it seemed that Moonjo noticed this,
as he used the opportunity to gently place a hand on Jongwoo’s hand that was also resting on
his chest. At first, Jongwoo instinctively flinched upon the sensation but he quickly regained
his composure again. But instead of moving his hand away, Jongwoo found himself flipping
 the other man’s hand over so they could interlock their fingers together. Jongwoo felt the man
beneath him hum in satisfaction, his chest vibrating as he did so.

What was he doing? Why was he holding Moonjo’s hand? Ah, whatever…

Even as Jongwoo’s body ached from the events of the day, Jongwoo was still drifting off into
sleep. With the combined soothing feeling of Moonjo’s fingers in his hair, the slow rise and
fall of the man’s chest beneath him, and the way Moonjo was tracing a thumb over his
bloodied knuckles, Jongwoo knew he wouldn’t last that much longer. Coupled with the man’s
overwhelming warmth, Jongwoo squeezed the man tighter before he succumbed to his sleep.

While one could argue that it was practically meaningless to try and get a wink of sleep
before all chaos ensued, Jongwoo didn’t even remotely care. Because after all, a 30 minute
nap was better than nothing.

Chapter End Notes

WOAH. That was a lot.

Turns out it was Jongwoo’s 🍴🩸🔪 body count that went up and not his 😘 💋 body
count LMFAOO!! Sorry to anyone who i disappointed with the vague chapter summary

💋💋💋
HAHA. This is unexpectedly turning out to be more a slow burn than i had anticipated
but i think it’s still ok…It’s definitely not long until they
them to just as much as you guys do haha
so DW guys!! I want

P.S. Unfortunately (or maybe not so), from here on out, i will be straying quite far away

fight w/ the guards so🤡

from the canon events. Mostly because we don’t know what happens after the whole
but i’ll do my best. Next chapter will probably be just as
gruesome with the whole lights out thingy so yeah, that’s lovely!

I’ll let you in on a little secret…The sequence with the glass shard thingy? I may or may
not have taken it from my other fic I mean i obviously changed it to fit this

READ MY OTHER FIC AND RECOGNISED IT, no u didn’t 🤪 Tehee🤫🤫🤫

circumstance but it’s pretty much the same minus a few sentences. SO IF U HAVE

find writing fight scenes SO hard so this chapter was increasingly more difficult to
But i

write, so that explains the gap between updates ;)

And the way this is like the third time i’ve ended a chapter on mjjw falling asleep
together is kinda crazy. Hopefully y’all ain’t getting sick of it 😀 They’re just too cute…

Anyway, i hope you enjoyed this chapter! Hopefully it is all relevant and i wasn’t just
yapping on and on…Welp anyway, thanks for all your support on this work! I wouldn’t
have ever guessed just how many people would like this piece, so THANK YOU!! I’m
so happy to read all of your comments. If i don’t reply to everyone, just remember that i
read all my comments giggling and kicking my feet. LOVE YALL!! ❤
 Lights Out
Chapter Summary

The children’s game “Murder In the Dark,” but Squid Games edition. And a million
times more gruesome.

Chapter Notes

WOHOO!! It’s finally here! Sorry to keep you guys waiting. As you all know, fighting
scenes are the death of me so this chapter took a little bit longer to make.

But regardless, here we are! 10k words later. Hope u enjoy!!

🚨 🚨
P.S. From this chapter onwards, everything that occurs will happen post-canon & is
entirely down to what i write So yeah! But I’ll do my best to try and keep it
relatively canon !!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“…iya.”

“…agiya.”

The voice still indistinguishable and only managing to understand some of it, Jongwoo
groaned as he slowly came back to his senses.

“Jagiya, wake up.”

Upon hearing the clarity of the voice, Jongwoo finally flickered his eyes open only to shut
them again at the bright lights still shining down upon him.

“Why’d you wake me? The lights aren’t even out yet…” Jongwoo mumbled into the older
man’s chest, but Moonjo still caught it.

“The other side plans to attack as soon as the lights go out, so you should wake up.” Moonjo
whispered, and Jongwoo felt how the man’s fingers fondled a few stray locks of his hair
gently.

And much to his dismay, Jongwoo found himself leaning into Moonjo’s touch. He was just so
warm. But as a few more moments passed, Jongwoo’s mind began to wander back to
Moonjo’s words. He opened his eyes and tilted his head to face the older man before he
spoke up.

“How do you know that?” Jongwoo asked sincerely, his voice still a little gravelly from his
temporary nap.

“Jagiya, I was there when they were discussing it.” Moonjo bluntly replied, eyes meeting
Jongwoo’s almost immediately.

Oh yeah.

“That makes sense, I guess…” Jongwoo muttered, bringing his head back down to the man’s
chest because he suddenly felt a little embarrassed. It had to have been the fact that he had
just woken up from a nap. How else could he have forgotten that Moonjo was on the O side?

“It’s not long now, we should get ready.” Moonjo continued before he completely unraveled
his fingers from Jongwoo’s hair.

Jongwoo almost let out a whine at the sudden retraction, but he held back. Thankfully. And as
it quickly dawned upon him what was about to go down, he groaned out loudly.

“Fine.” Jongwoo grumbled, before bringing himself up into a seated position beside the older
man. Moonjo on the hand used his elbows to prop himself up before he returned his gaze on
Jongwoo.

In a matter of moments, all of his senses came back to him and his body began to ache from
the recent events of the day. Jongwoo sifted through his memories of the bathroom fight as he
tried to remember why his body was hurting so much. It hurt to swallow, and Jongwoo knew
for a fact that his neck was bruised. For some reason, everyone and their mother was going
after Jongwoo’s neck. So as he lifted a hand to feel the skin, he winced as his fingers grazed
over the still relatively sensitive skin. He would love to just sleep all of this pain off, but that
was far from what was going to happen. Jongwoo’s body ached tremendously, but he’d have
to manage.

Jongwoo stretched, trying to warm up his previously asleep muscles before his eyes fell on
the timer in the distance. It read an unfortunate 2:43 minutes remaining.

Turning his attention back to the bed, Jongwoo’s eyes darted around the mattress. Where
were they?

“What’re you looking for?” Moonjo inquired, seeming to notice how Jongwoo was distracted
by something else on his mind.

“The bottles. They have to be around here som—” Jongwoo cut himself off as his eyes
locked on two familiar glass bottles, “Found them!” He exclaimed, pointing at them.

Moonjo followed Jongwoo’s finger until his eyes landed on the two familiar bottles resting
casually behind him and up against the bed frame.
“Ah.” Was all Moonjo responded with, before he quickly picked up the two bottles. He held
one out for Jongwoo, and the younger man immediately took it. Then, Jongwoo spoke up.

“So, what’s the plan?” He asked as he inspected the bottle closely and practiced several ways
he could theoretically hit someone with it in the air.

“Plan?” Moonjo countered, cocking his head in confusion as he stared blankly at the younger
man.

Jongwoo furrowed his brows.

“You haven’t made a plan..? What the hell have you been doing all this time, then?” Upon
finishing his question, Jongwoo immediately shook his head before he continued, “Actually,
don’t answer that.”

He was probably watching him sleep. There’s no doubt about it, unfortunately.

“Why would I need to make one? I’m not the one who killed three of their men.” Moonjo
retorted.

“I told you that in confidence!” Jongwoo snarled before he ultimately sighed and decided to
continue regardless of Moonjo’s comment.

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter. If you’re going to be staying anywhere near me tonight, you’re
going to get caught in the crossfire.”

But instead of continuing the conversation, Moonjo said nothing and rather raised an
eyebrow at Jongwoo’s comment. Fucking hell, this guy was so unbelievably annoying. And
as Jongwoo realised that Moonjo wasn’t making an effort to talk again, he reluctantly spoke
up.

“Okay, fine. If you’re not going to cooperate, then at least just stay out of my way. Got it?”
Jongwoo spat, seemingly fed up with Moonjo’s childish behaviour.

Moonjo, who had an amused expression plastered across his face, only nodded in response.
Jongwoo’s eyes then drifted back up to the timer which read 0:26 seconds remaining until
lights went out. He sighed as he realised what was about to happen. But in all fairness,
Jongwoo brought this upon himself. He didn’t need to kill three of their men, but he did
anyway. He couldn’t blame anyone but himself if he was jumped when lights went out.

Suddenly, the entire room went dark. Jongwoo’s eyes did their best to adjust to the darkness
but it was still quite difficult to distinguish anything properly. How was he supposed to see if
anyone was coming if he couldn’t see anything at all? Jongwoo quietly groaned as he
completely removed himself from Moonjo’s embrace, before he crawled over to sit in front of
the ladder.

Would it be smarter to stay up here on his bed or to go down? If Jongwoo stayed on his bed,
he’d be able to push the other players off if they managed to get on it. But, come to think of
it, they could do the exact same thing to him. At least if he was on the floor, Jongwoo was
more well equipped for hand-to-hand combat without needing to factor in the risk of being
thrown off a 30 foot stack of beds. And soon enough, Jongwoo began descending the ladder
as quietly as possible. He could already hear some of the other players stirring and moving
around in their ‘sleep’.

This was going to be a long night, wasn’t it?

Jongwoo held back from sighing as he reached the bottom and headed in the direction of a
nearby wall. At the very least, he wouldn’t be attacked from behind if he stood in front of it.
And as Jongwoo pushed his back up against the wall, he squinted his eyes trying to make out
if anyone had followed him. Namely, if Moonjo had followed him. However, it was far too
dark to know if he had so Jongwoo just had to guess that he was lurking around him
somewhere. Jongwoo internally cursed at himself for trusting the man not to attack him too,
but something told him that Moonjo wouldn’t. He didn’t know why he was so sure that
Moonjo wouldn’t just switch up on him, but he trusted him not to. For whatever reason.

But before Jongwoo could dwell on the strange thoughts, a scream rang out from somewhere
in the room. His head jolted up as he darted his eyes around the dark room to try and find the
source of the scream. And within seconds, the lights began flickering as anarchy ensued.
Jongwoo’s eyes strained at the epilepsy inducing sight but he did his best to keep his
composure. Between each of the light flickering, Jongwoo managed to catch glimpses of
fights in the distance and players trying to run away. The room soon filled with various
visceral screams and groans from people being mercilessly beaten, and Jongwoo instinctively
clutched the bottle in his hand a little bit tighter.

Due to the constant light flickering, it was increasingly more difficult to decipher if someone
was approaching Jongwoo or not. He couldn’t tell what direction people were running in, and
it was becoming all too much for him. Jongwoo reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out
the bloodied fork from before, gripping it in his hand tightly as he prepared himself to attack
if needed.

Suddenly, Jongwoo caught the sight of a player rapidly approaching him between the flashing
lights. And soon enough, the man leaped at Jongwoo, desperately throwing punches and jabs
at any body part hoping they’d land. Jongwoo, initially a little startled, soon regained his
composure as he swung the fork and slammed it into the man’s side in between his punches.
Immediately pulling it out, the player stumbled back as he clutched at his now profusely
bleeding torso. And without needing much more thought, Jongwoo took the man’s brief
moment of weakness to catapult himself at the other player before he was repeatedly
plunging the fork into his abdomen. The man groaned out in agony as he collapsed to the
floor, desperately trying to stop the blood that was spurting out of several stab wounds with
his trembling hands.

Jongwoo didn’t give the man any time to recover, as he immediately crouched over the man
and smashed the fork into the man’s neck before ripping it out violently. In a way, it was
Jongwoo’s last act of mercy. He was doing the man a favour by letting him die quicker rather
than him waiting to bleed out and eventually keel over. And when the man went limp and
lifeless beneath him, Jongwoo rose back up to his feet as he looked down at what was left of
the player.
And much like he had anticipated, the feeling came back. That familiar buzz on his skin, the
way he felt invincible, how good it felt to watch people beg for his mercy in their final
moments. All of it.

However, the sudden presence of two more players soon brought Jongwoo out of his trance
as he realised there was no time to sit and bask in the glory of the riveting feeling. And
almost immediately, the two men jumped at Jongwoo, both wielding either a bottle or a fork
just like he was. Jongwoo dodged one of the man’s attacks before he sent the bottle in his
hand crashing down onto the other player’s head, causing him to tumble back in a mix of
shock and pain. In the meantime, Jongwoo turned to the man whose attack he had just
dodged before he was leaping at him with his bloody fork tightly grasped in his hand. The
man’s back was to him, and Jongwoo didn’t hesitate to use his temporary confusion to
immediately land several stabs on the player. In response to the sudden intrusions, the man
yelled out angrily before he turned to face Jongwoo. However, it was this decision that led
the man to his untimely demise. As soon as the other player was face-to-face with Jongwoo,
he drove his fork into the man’s forehead. The player’s eyes immediately widened and even
between the constant light flickering, Jongwoo watched as life instantly began to fade from
the man’s eyes.

Instinctively, a maniacal smile crept up to Jongwoo’s lips as he chuckled deliriously to

himself. Suddenly, Jongwoo began to be dragged back by the two arms that had happened to
circle his neck amidst his seemingly psychotic episode. The other player, who Jongwoo
quickly realised had recovered from getting a bottle smashed over his head, pulled him
further away from the other man as his hold around Jongwoo’s neck simultaneously
tightened. But unfortunately for him, the damage was already done. Even amidst his struggle,
Jongwoo watched as the man who still had the fork inserted deeply into his forehead fell onto
the floor with a deafening thud. And upon seeing his friend collapse, the man behind him
instinctively put Jongwoo in an even stronger chokehold. Jongwoo’s breath hitched as his
lungs fought to get the oxygen to reach his brain before it was too late.

Knowing his time was quickly running out, Jongwoo gathered all of his remaining strength as
he quickly spun the duo around before slamming them both into the wall behind them. The
man, who had cushioned Jongwoo’s fall, groaned upon the sudden pain rippling throughout
his upper body and head. But unfortunately for Jongwoo, he soon regained his composure.
Jongwoo desperately threw his hands back hoping they’d land on anything before his eyes
widened in horror as they fell on the fork in the man’s hand in front of him.

When the fuck did he get that? Had he been holding that the whole time?

Jongwoo immediately brought all of his attention back to the piece of cutlery before he
clutched around the man’s hands. Even with Jongwoo’s hold on his hands, the player
managed to turn the fork’s tines to directly face him. Jongwoo’s eyes enlarged even more as
he quickly realised what the man was planning to do. And soon enough, the man was using
all of his strength to try and plunge the fork into Jongwoo’s face. In response, Jongwoo was
also using all of his strength to try and push the man away, but he felt his fingers beginning to
slip. And Jongwoo felt the man’s head behind him move to rest on his shoulder before he
screeched in his ear.
“Die, you son of a bitch!” He screamed, piercing Jongwoo’s ears as he spoke.

The fork was getting closer and closer, and Jongwoo’s grip was only getting weaker. His
hands began to tremble out of the sheer exertion from the amount of strength he was putting
in. The fork was inches, if not centimetres away from his eye and Jongwoo could’ve sworn
that he could feel the cold metal brush against his eyelashes when he blinked because it was
that close.

And then it dawned upon Jongwoo. Almost immediately after the idea crossed his mind,
Jongwoo went straight into action.

Instead of continuing to try and push the fork away, Jongwoo instead tightened his grip
around the man’s hands one final time, preparing himself for what was about to come. And
within a matter of milliseconds before his eye was gouged out, Jongwoo yielded and instead
followed the direction of the player’s force, dipping his head off to the side before
plummeting the fork into the man’s own eye behind him. Instantly, the man screamed out in
agony as he dropped his hold from around Jongwoo’s neck to instead shakily reach his hands
up to clutch his now bloodied eye. Or what was left of it anyway. Upon the sudden freedom,
Jongwoo stumbled forward, his breathing erratic and frantic as he tried to regain his
composure. And as he finally caught up with his breathing enough to recover, Jongwoo
wasted no time before he was already lunging at the distracted man. Jongwoo harshly ripped
the fork out of the man’s eye socket, causing him to bellow out in pain and anguish before his
legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor. Immediately, Jongwoo leapt at the man before
scrambling to straddle him in his weakened state. And soon enough, Jongwoo was
mercilessly landing stab after stab into the man’s upper body and abdomen. And after what
may have been the tenth or fifteenth stab, the player below Jongwoo finally succumbed to his
injuries and went limp. He harshly pulled the fork out of the man’s back and promptly put his
hands on his knees, trying to fully catch his breath once again.

Jongwoo was huffing sporadically as the adrenaline coursed feverishly through his veins.
Unfortunately for Jongwoo, he was so caught up in trying to catch his breath that he had
failed to notice another player who had snuck up behind him. Jongwoo whipped his head
around upon hearing the footsteps that were dangerously close, and his eyes fell on the
flickering silhouette of a man wielding a fork in his hand. The player reeled back his arm and
just as he was about to send it crashing into Jongwoo, the sound of a bottle shattering across
the man’s head caused Jongwoo to violently flinch. He watched as the player stumbled back,
grasping at his bloodied face that now had several glass shards in it.

Jongwoo’s head snapped to the side as his eyes immediately fell on the owner of the bottle.

Moonjo.

And then it happened all too quickly for Jongwoo to process it. Moonjo instantly lunged
himself at the distracted man before plunging the remaining part of the bottle into the player’s
neck.

Even if he tried, Jongwoo couldn’t rip his eyes away from the hypnotic sight. Moonjo’s eyes
were filled with so much rage and honestly, emotion in general that it would’ve been off-
putting if it wasn’t so captivating. Jongwoo watched from afar as Moonjo ripped the
remaining part of the bottle out of his neck before plunging it back into a different section of
the man’s body. And as much as he hated to admit it, Moonjo looked utterly glorious as he
did so.

But quickly snapping out of his odd train of thought, Jongwoo cleared his throat and
promptly got off of the man beneath him. By now, Moonjo had landed enough fatal blows to
the man’s torso that it rendered him motionless and unable to fight back. Unlike Jongwoo,
Moonjo wasn’t so merciful. He’d let the man bleed out agonisingly slowly until he finally
succumbed to his injuries.

“Are you okay, jagiya?” Moonjo huffed out as he turned away from the trembling body of the
other player to face Jongwoo.

“I’m fine.” Jongwoo replied rather quickly, his eyes trying to dodge the older man after
having come to an unfortunate revelation only moments prior. He cleared his throat to try and
relieve the tension before he eventually spoke up.

“Let’s just get this over with.” Jongwoo groaned, as he walked over to the man who still had
Jongwoo’s original fork plunged into his forehead. He pulled it out harshly, before swivelling
it around in his hands until he got a good hold on it. Now he was dual wielding two forks.
Hell yeah.

Even with the chaotic light flickering, Jongwoo still managed to make out the smug
expression on Moonjo’s face. He was probably revelling in this too.

“As you wish.” Moonjo placidly replied, before he too pried the fork out of the fingers of the
player who he had just killed. Jongwoo sighed as he realised that Moonjo had copied him and
was also wielding two forks, but he let it go. There were bigger things to worry about
anyway.

Standing side by side up against the wall once more, Jongwoo and Moonjo braced
themselves. And it wasn’t long until the next round of idiots rapidly approached them, hoping
to try out their luck with the two.

Somehow, despite never working together, the two worked in perfect synchronised harmony.
Jongwoo would reel his arm back to send the fork driving into the player’s shoulder, before
he would quickly change his mind at the last second and clench his fists up to instead land a
blow on the man’s face. And then Moonjo would immediately take the man’s moment of
weakness to actually plunge a fork into his shoulder, leaving him to be a screaming, bloody
mess as the two men then would mercilessly go all out on slamming their forks into him until
he would finally die.

And as the two worked together to coordinate their attacks to catch anyone who dared to
approach off guard, the bodies soon started piling up beneath them. It seemed the two were
both riding the high of their euphoria, as they were both too preoccupied to grasp just how
many people they had killed.

Landing a fatal stab to the last remaining player to approach them, Jongwoo swiftly pulled
the fork out before he stumbled backwards until his back hit the wall.
“Fucking hell! I don’t think I can do this all night…” He managed through his erratic and
uneven breaths. This was unbelievably tiring to say the least.

Moonjo, who had stabbed the recently deceased player a few more times for good measure,
eventually approached Jongwoo.

“Jagiya, I—” But before Moonjo could finish, the main lights suddenly flicked back on.

Jongwoo’s eyes strained at the sudden brightness as he simultaneously brought a hand up to

cover them. And before he could even register it, the sound of the door opening in the
distance echoed throughout the room followed by the marching of a group of armed guards.

With his eyes finally adjusted to the brightness, Jongwoo watched as they held up their guns
up to the sky and began emptying rounds. The remaining players flinched upon the sound of
the gunshots and immediately scrambled to get off of whoever they were previously fighting.

Jongwoo’s eyes then fell on the gruesome scene in front of him. There were countless bodies
scattered around the room, blood smeared all over the walls, and the people who hid during
the time were trembling in fear. Jongwoo then dropped his head to the ungodly amount of
lifeless corpses surrounding him and Moonjo. Holy shit—

“Hands up! Get back!” The guard’s command caused Jongwoo to snap his head back up and
he instantly put his hands up in surrender, with Moonjo swiftly following suit.

“Drop your weapons!” The guard shouted as they rapidly approached the two.

Jongwoo and Moonjo both immediately let go of the two pieces of cutlery in their hands, and
they soon landed on the floor with a series of deafening clangs.

“Check the IDs of the dead.” One of the other guards commanded, and Jongwoo watched as
one of the guards dropped his gun to instead pull something out of his pocket. And as the
guard approached one of the several bodies he and Moonjo horrifically mutilated, Jongwoo’s
head snapped over to the other side of the room where the ‘dead’ bodies began to take down
the guards who were checking their IDs.

And then it happened all to quickly.

Gunshots began to ring out and Jongwoo watched as guards in the distance simultaneously
collapsed and some of the players scrambled to steal the weapons off of the dead bodies.

The guards keeping Jongwoo and Moonjo at gunpoint quickly turned their attention to what
was occurring on the other side of the room before shots were being fired their way. Upon
hearing the whizz of a bullet narrowly miss him, Jongwoo stumbled back and scurried to hide
behind a nearby bed frame. Moonjo quickly followed him, as they both ran with their arms
covering their heads, hoping to not get caught in the crossfire. Once they were safe - for the
most part at least - Jongwoo watched the onslaught in both confusion and horror. What the
hell was going on?
“Retreat.” The woman’s voice played out over the speakers, and the remaining guards
booked it for the door that was now beginning to close.

Most of them managed to get in before the doors shut, but a singular guard was leftover. The
square-masked guard spun around and pressed his back up against the door, trembling in fear.

“Stop! Hold fire!” It was Gi-hun’s voice. Jongwoo turned to face Gi-hun, who had now made
his way into the middle of the room before the older man yelled out again.

“Everyone, hold fire!” And with that, no more shots rang out. Instead, the now armed players
began pressing the shaking guard shouting commands at them.

“Hands above your head!”

“On your knees!”

And the guard cooperated. Jungbae and another X player were now a foot or two away from
the man, holding him closely at gunpoint.

“You goddamn bastards!” Jongwoo’s attention immediately diverted to the sound of an O

player from across the room screaming out in frustration. But he also watched as the same
group of confused and angry players immediately flinched and raised their hands up when
one of the X players ran up to them and pointed a gun directly at them.

And almost instantly, Gi-hun ran over to the player and grabbed onto the barrel of the gun
tightly.

“No!”

“Move! Do you not see this?” The X player, or who Jongwoo recognised as the man who had
been clutching his side earlier, shouted.

“They are not human.” He continued, his head dropping to look around at the countless
bodies scattered around the room.

“They’re like goddamn vermin blinded by money!” The player added as he brought his head
back up to face Gi-hun, his voice breaking as he spoke.

“This is not what we took these guns for.” Gi-hun said calmly, his tight grasp on the gun
never once faltering.

“If we do this, we’ll be no different from those masked men.” Gi-hun declared as he looked
into the man’s eyes hopefully.

And with that, the player eventually dropped his weapon alongside his head, and even from
afar, Jongwoo noticed how the man’s eyes were tearing up.

“Everyone! Don’t be scared.” Gi-hun suddenly announced as he stepped back into the middle
of the room. He swivelled the gun around to rest on his back, and he held up both of his
hands as if to prove his innocence. Jongwoo furrowed his brows at the sight. Don’t be scared?
What the hell? How can anyone not be? Jongwoo - and literally everyone else - had just
watched them massacre the guards for seemingly no reason.

“Gather around, please!” A different armed player announced, following in the footsteps of
the older man.

“It’s okay to come out!” It was Jungbae who yelled out hopefully this time.

“We’re not trying to hurt you! Come on, I have something to say to you all!” Gi-hun pleaded
desperately as the rest of the armed players began to gather around on the stage where the
guards usually stood.

Jongwoo instinctively flinched at the sound of a few more gunshots ringing out, but his eyes
quickly fell on Player 120 who was taking out the security cameras in each of the corners. He
relaxed as he realised she wasn’t going to shoot him. Come to think of it, that was actually a
smart move for whatever they had planned.

After some time, the armed players had managed to gather up all the remaining guns and
ammo magazines and had compiled them on one of the blankets from the beds. By now, the
remaining players also had made their way down to the space in between the beds, but they
all kept their distance away from the rebels. Jongwoo and Moonjo stayed right where they
were, not daring to move a muscle.

“Everyone! We will now head up to the masked men’s headquarters.” Gi-hun shouted,
holding up a finger up at the sky to symbolise that they were going to raid the headquarters
upstairs.

“We’ll capture the ones who captured us, put an end to this game, and make them pay!” He
continued before he paused, letting his message sink in. And then, he spoke up again.

“Anyone who knows how to use a gun and wishes to join us, please step forward.”

Jongwoo hesitated. Did he know how to use a gun? Yes, of course. He did his military service
after all. Did he want the games to stop? Yes. But this was different. Was their plan to just kill
all the guards and hope for the best?

But even with his conflicting thoughts, some part of Jongwoo felt obliged to join. He didn’t
know why, but he found himself taking a step forward.

However, he stopped dead in his tracks when a hand quickly wrapped around his wrist,
holding him in place. Jongwoo turned to face a rather desperate-looking Moonjo.

“You don’t have to go.” Moonjo muttered softly.

“But I know how to use a gun. They need my help.” Jongwoo replied as he narrowed his eyes
on the older man.

“So does every other man here. We’ve all done our military service, so why are you the only
one volunteering?” Moonjo inquired sincerely.
“I don’t know! They’re probably scared or something...” Jongwoo trailed off, as he brought
his free hand up to rub at the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Jagiya, don’t be reckless. You don’t even know what’s waiting beyond those doors.”
Moonjo bluntly replied, but even with his placid expression, Jongwoo noticed a slight tinge
of anger creeping up into the man’s voice.

Jongwoo opened his mouth to say something but was soon cut off by a different voice.

“Hey, I know you’re scared. I’m scared too. But this may be our last chance to make it out of
this place alive.” Jungbae announced loudly, his voice shaking ever so slightly as he spoke.
Jongwoo’s attention immediately shifted to him and he contemplated the man’s words.

“Fight with us so we can go home together. All together.” Jungbae concluded, holding up an
encouraging fist in return. And when Jongwoo turned his head back to face Moonjo, he
sighed. Was this really the right thing to do?

Suddenly, a man emerged from somewhere in the crowd and he made his way over to the
group.

“I’ll fight with you.” He declared, holding up his arm to symbolise his voluntary
participation.

“I’ll join you too!” This time another man spoke up as he made his way over to Gi-hun’s
crew.

And within the span of a minute or two, three more men volunteered to join them as they
collected a gun for themselves and suited up.

“Don’t go.” Moonjo uttered, barely above a whisper. Jongwoo didn’t know what to say, so
Moonjo continued for him.

“You promised me.” His voice cracked as he spoke, and Jongwoo couldn’t ignore the
overwhelming amount of genuine concern that was evident in his voice.

Jongwoo looked at Gi-hun and then back at Moonjo before he sighed in defeat.

“…Fine.” Jongwoo mumbled as he turned on his feet and headed back in the direction of the
older man.

Moonjo immediately relaxed upon hearing his words and he swiftly brought Jongwoo under
his shoulder, leaving his arm to dangle freely near Jongwoo’s chest. Jongwoo grumbled at the
man’s advances but did nothing to stop him.

And then, he watched as Jungbae turned back around to face Gi-hun before he shook his
head, symbolising that nobody else was going to be joining them. Soon enough, they began
their preparations. Jongwoo used the sleeves of his jacket to wipe off the remaining blood on
his face while he listened in to the group’s conversation. The blood on his face was beginning
to feel itchy after all.
“Please check your guns and ammo.” Gi-hun commanded as he walked along the line up of
armed players.

“Let’s take one radio each. We’ll use channel 7, the lucky number.” Jungbae followed up
with as he held a single radio up into the air.

Jongwoo watched as the players fondled the guns in confusion, most likely unsure of how to
use that specific firearm. Suddenly, Player 120 stepped out from her position and made her
way to the front of the group.

Thankfully, it was quiet enough in the room for him to hear everything that was going on
even from his position.

“Attention. This is the MP5, a submachine gun.” She spoke loudly. Jongwoo cocked an
eyebrow up at the woman’s surprising knowledge of firearms.

“First, if you press this lever in the middle and pull the magazine, it comes off like this.” She
announced, holding up the newly freed magazine to demonstrate how the process worked.

“If the selector switch is down, it’s set to full auto mode. Up is single-fire mode.” She
continued formally, her voice loud and assertive.

“We don’t have many magazines, so set it to single-fire mode. Lastly, insert the magazine,
pull the handle, and release it. That’s how you load it, are we clear?” Player 120 concluded
with, bringing the gun back down to her side.

The group all simultaneously chanted “Yes!” before Player 120 began to make her way back
to her original position in the line. How on earth did she know all of that? She had to have
been a sergeant or a soldier in a previous life.

Not long after the rundown on how to use the guns, Gi-hun pulled out a pistol and hovered it
in front of the hostage guard’s forehead.

“Take it off.”

At first, the guard hesitated. But soon enough, they were swiftly removing the square-mask
off of their face.

“That too.” Gi-hun snarled, waving the pistol at the guard’s black balaclava that only showed
their eyes.

The guard followed Gi-hun’s orders as they swiftly removed the black mask, revealing a
short, disheveled mop of black hair underneath. And…

What the fuck?

It was just a kid.

The guard’s back was to his face, but even Jongwoo could make out that the guard was only a
young adult. Why was he doing this at such a young age? Surely there has to be other jobs
out there.

The group began whispering to each other and Jongwoo realised he couldn’t hear anything of
what they were saying. But just as quickly as the murmurs began, they stopped.

“Take us to your leader.” Gi-hun loudly commanded as he loaded the gun and pressed it into
the man’s forehead.

Soon enough, the guard was leading the group in the direction the door that they usually
exited out of if they were heading to a game. Once they approached the door, Gi-hun shot
through the glass, leaving pieces to scatter across the floor, before he stuck his hand through
the opening and unlocked the door from the inside.

And just like that, they were gone.

The last of the armed players disappeared into the room, leaving the rest of the remaining
players to sit in an uncomfortable silence. Jongwoo assumed that everyone was too startled
by what had just happened to return to comfortable conversations. He was taken aback too.
So instead of trying to understand what had just happened, Jongwoo just stood there in
silence. With Moonjo.

But it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes later that distant gunshots began to fill the
silence of the room. At first, the players jumped upon hearing the sound, but they soon
regained their composure. It was bound to happen anyway.

And then it stayed like that for a while. Jongwoo’s ears were stinging by just how many
gunshots were ringing out in the distance, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. So
instead, he thought that he should just get comfortable until it all stopped.

“Can we sit down? My legs are—” Jongwoo turned to face Moonjo but his request was
swiftly cut off by the frantic footsteps of someone entering the room.

Daeho.

The frenzied man stumbled back through the door they had come through, looking more than
unruly before he whipped his head around trying to look for something. Jongwoo then
watched as the man dropped down beside a guard’s body and started to rummage through the
pockets of their uniform.

A wave of confused murmurs rushed over the players as they looked at the man wearily.
What was he doing exactly…?

“Daeho, what happened? Why are you back by yourself?” Asking the questions everybody
else was too afraid to ask, Player 007 approached Daeho.

“Magazines. Get the magazines from those bastards’ pockets. Hurry!” He screamed, his
breathing erratic and uncontrolled as he continued to frantically rush around the room to
retrieve the ammo from the guards’ bodies.
And surprisingly, Players 007 and 149, and alongside Junhee, all got up to help him. Jongwoo
didn’t bother to move as he just watched from afar as the group collected as many magazines
as they possibly could before dumping them into a pile.

Daeho thanked the trio as he wrapped up the magazines in a jacket before he swiftly rose to
his feet and spun around. But on his way back to the fight, he stopped dead in his tracks in
the doorway.

What was up with him…?

All of a sudden, Daeho swivelled back around and darted in the direction of a secluded corner
before defeatedly sliding his back against the wall. Jongwoo watched from afar as he dropped
the jacket full of magazines beside him before he curled himself up into a ball.

Jongwoo sighed. He knew that feeling all too well. And while he probably wasn’t haunted by
his military days in the same way that Daeho was, Jongwoo could still relate to the
overwhelming memories resurfacing at the most inconvenient times. He felt bad for the man,
but Jongwoo still didn’t make any effort to go over and comfort him.

However, Jongwoo’s attention soon darted over to the sound of a new set of frantic footsteps
entering the room before a familiar voice yelled out.

“Daeho? Daeho!” Player 120 screamed as her eyes scanned the room for the trembling man.

“Daeho, where are you? Daeho!” She continued before her eyes fell on Player 007 who was
pointing a shaky finger off to the side. Player 120 followed his finger until she landed on
Daeho who was hiding behind several stacks of beds. And almost immediately, Jongwoo
watched as she ran over to the man.

They spoke too quietly for Jongwoo to be able to hear anything, but seeing as how tears were
brimming Daeho’s eyes, he was probably apologising for something. Unfortunately, Player
120 had to ignore him if she wanted to get the magazines back to the rest of the group, so she
swiped the jacket and began retracing her steps back to the door.

Suddenly, the sound of an alarm blaring echoed throughout the room and the doors behind
the stage opened to reveal a rather large group of armed guards entering. Jongwoo flinched
upon seeing them before he scurried back to his initial hiding position, not wanting to be shot
down by any of them.

Player 120 immediately stopped in her tracks before hiding behind a turned over bed, already
preparing her gun to attack if needed. As the guards continued to push further into the room,
Jongwoo watched from afar as Player 120 went to empty a few rounds before a hand grabbed
onto her shoulder. It was Player 149.

They exchanged a few words that Jongwoo couldn't hear, but he assumed that the older
woman was telling her to hold off. And his assumption must have been correct, as Player 120
dropped her gun shortly after, along with the jacket full of magazines.
“Don’t move or you will be eliminated!” One of the guards commanded before the rest of the
group spread out across the room, holding the rest of the players at gunpoint. One of them
approached him and Moonjo, and neither man dared to move an inch. And much to his
disappointment, the guard bent over and retrieved both Jongwoo’s and Moonjo’s forks before
stuffing them into his pants pocket. Despite his inability to move, Jongwoo still noticed how
the rest of the guards were also rummaging through the players’ belongings and removing
anything they deemed a weapon. How unfortunate.

And for what felt like an eternity, they stood face to face with the barrel of the guard’s gun in
a tense silence. Suddenly, Jongwoo’s eyes darted over to the door that Daeho and Player 120
had initially come through where Gi-hun was being dragged in by his arms by two more
guards. Then, Gi-hun was dumped in the middle of the room before the two guards turned
around and made their way back to the stage. Suddenly, the guard holding them at gunpoint
dropped their weapon before they too turned around and were heading in the direction of the
stage. Once all the guards had gathered on it together, a different square-masked guard
stepped forward and announced loudly.

“The vote will still take place tomorrow morning. However, the lights will stay on for the
remainder of the night.”

No shit.

And with that, the group of guards turned around and disappeared into the doors they had
entered through, with them shutting closely behind them. As soon as the guards had left, the
remaining players broke out into scattered murmurs upon observing the motionless body of
Gi-hun in the middle of the room. However, even as worried chatter filled the silence of the
room, nobody bothered to approach the man to see if he was okay. So Jongwoo did.

And as he finally stepped out of his hiding position and began making his way over to the
man’s still frame, he couldn’t help but wonder why he was approaching him in the first place.
They weren’t friends. They weren’t even acquaintances. So why was he going over to him?
Jongwoo didn’t even care that Moonjo was following him either.

Ignoring his conflicting thoughts, Jongwoo perched down beside Gi-hun, clearing his throat
before eventually speaking up.

“Gi-hun…?” Jongwoo muttered as he placed a hand on the man’s shoulder and shook gently.

“They’re all dead…All of them…I killed them…” The trembling man croaked out as he
turned to face a confused Jongwoo. And almost instantly upon seeing his face, Jongwoo
noticed how his eyes were red and teary. He had been crying.

Jongwoo didn’t exactly know how to respond to the man’s rambling, so instead he turned to
face Moonjo. The older man, being no help as usual, just looked down at Jongwoo and
shrugged his shoulders. Jongwoo sighed before returning his gaze on Gi-hun below him.

“What happened?” Jongwoo managed, hoping it wasn’t an inconsiderate question to ask

seeing as he most likely had been through some shit.
“I- It was a suicide mission…I led them to their deaths…” Gi-hun stammered out, his voice
breaking as he spoke.

Upon hearing the man’s words, Jongwoo sort of felt bad that he was glad that he didn’t
follow them into battle. Because in the end, nobody else had come back with Gi-hun other
than Daeho and Player 120. There had only been three survivors among the many that they
began with.

However, Gi-hun didn’t really answer Jongwoo’s question. It was much too vague for his
liking. And Jongwoo didn’t really care that it was most likely quite rude to push the man with
unwelcome questions who had clearly just been traumatised, but curiosity killed the cat. So
Jongwoo spoke up again.

“So how—” But before he could finish, the sound of footsteps entering the room caused
Jongwoo to snap his head up in the direction of the sound. His eyes quickly fell on two more
guards holding another player walking through the doorway, and it was…

Young-il?

Jongwoo couldn’t hold back the confusion that appeared on his face upon seeing the surprise
presence of the older man. How had he…?

The guards, who had not been dragging him quite as harshly as Gi-hun, let go of Young-il
and he stumbled forward at the sudden release. Then, the guards retreated back through the
doors on the stage that had opened at some point during their appearance before the doors
quickly shut after them.

Gi-hun’s eyes had been on the older man as soon as he walked in, and once the guards left, he
immediately leapt up onto his feet with a startling amount of energy considering his prior
state. And within seconds, his arms were circling around Young-il tightly as he embraced his
friend.

“Young-il! I- I thought you died!” He stuttered, as his hold on the older man only tightened.
Young-il, who looked a little startled by Gi-hun’s sudden hug, soon melted into the man’s
arms too.

And almost immediately, Jongwoo felt unbelievably awkward. So he rose to his feet and
stepped back until he was side by side with Moonjo. Why was he watching these two
reunite? He should just go…

“He ki- killed Jungbae…” Gi-hun stammered, and Jongwoo immediately perked up at the
man’s words. He? Who was he?

“Who did, Gi-hun?” Young-il was the first to break away from the hug and he moved back to
instead hold Gi-hun by his shoulders.

“…The Frontman.” Gi-hun mumbled, though Jongwoo somehow managed to catch it.

…The who?
Young-il dropped his head as a sympathetic gesture, before he raised it once more and locked
eyes with Gi-hun again.

“I’m sorry to hear about your friend, Gi-hun. I really am.” Young-il muttered as he squeezed
Gi-hun’s shoulders tighter, not fighting to hide the frown that crept up to his lips.

It was then that Gi-hun raised a hand and repeatedly waved it to the side and back, as if to
swat away the thought. Jongwoo couldn’t blame him for wanting to avoid the topic, it must
be difficult to talk about his recently deceased friend. And by the looks of it, Jongwoo
guessed that they had been quite good friends. Perhaps childhood friends? Or maybe they
met each other in college? Who knows, but he certainly seemed like a close friend to Gi-hun.

“How are you alive? I thought you died.” Gi-hun spoke up, quickly changing the topic.

“The guards found me hiding and I surrendered. Then, I was brought here.” Young-il replied
placidly. And for whatever reason, Jongwoo ever so slightly narrowed his eyes at the older
man. Strangely enough, that answer sounded like it had been rehearsed.

Gi-hun went to open his mouth to respond, but he was quickly cut off by a different voice. A
voice that came from right beside Jongwoo.

“Why didn’t they just kill you?” Moonjo inquired, his expression blank and not revealing an
ounce of emotion.

Jongwoo’s eyes widened in horror as he turned to face the older man angrily. He slapped
Moonjo’s arm to try and convey his shocked frustration, but Moonjo didn't seem to be
making an effort to acknowledge him. Both Young-il and Gi-hun’s attention had immediately
fallen on Moonjo before Young-il eventually broke the tense silence.

“What?” He inquired sincerely, seemingly a little taken aback at Moonjo’s sudden intrusion
into their conversation.

“Well, seeing as no one else returned, I assume that they all died too.” Moonjo monotonously
continued. Jongwoo scrunched his face up in confusion. Wasn’t that already obvious? Where
on Earth was he going with this? And then, Moonjo spoke up again.

“If you knew you were fighting a losing battle, would you keep going? Or would you
surrender?” Moonjo asked, staring directly at Young-il and completely ignoring the confused
man beside him.

“What are you trying to say?” Young-il cocked his head and he dropped his hands from Gi-
hun’s shoulders before he turned his body to face Moonjo.

“If you all ran out of ammo halfway through, would it be fair to assume that some of the
other players would have surrendered once they had been caught?” Moonjo inquired, before
Young-il nodded his head in confusion.

“Then why aren’t they here? If they surrendered like you?” Moonjo concluded with. And
suddenly, as if the final puzzle was placed in his mind, Jongwoo recalled Young-il’s words. It
was highly unlikely that nobody else surrendered when they were caught, so why did the
guards listen to Young-il and not anyone else? This was all too strange.

And as soon as the question left Moonjo’s mouth, Jongwoo noticed something flicker in
Young-il’s eyes, but it was already gone before Jongwoo could pinpoint exactly what it was.
Suddenly, Jongwoo found his body moving before he could even register it. He stepped in
front of Moonjo and let out an awkward chuckle to try and clear the tension that had
seemingly popped up out of nowhere.

“Ignore him, he’s just…” Jongwoo began but he soon trailed off as he didn’t know what he
wanted to say before he eventually continued, “It doesn’t matter. We're leaving now, right?”
And with that, Jongwoo turned back to face Moonjo who was looking at him inquisitively but
made no effort to answer his question. Jongwoo turned back to the stunned duo in front of
him before he spoke up again.

“Amazing, let’s go! Right now.” Jongwoo loudly declared before he swivelled around on his
feet and took Moonjo by the wrist, dragging him across the room in a matter of seconds. And
once he found a secluded enough spot among the bed frames, Jongwoo pulled Moonjo out in
front of him.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Are you trying to get on everyone’s bad side now?”
Jongwoo made angry gestures as he reprimanded the older man, but Moonjo didn’t look even
remotely fazed by his yelling.

“But don’t you think it’s strange, jagiya? How he survived but no one else who surrendered
did?” Moonjo asked softly as he cocked his head to the side.

Jongwoo opened his mouth to yell at him once again, but he quickly clamped it shut.

Yes, it was strange. Beyond strange to say the least.

Rather than answering Moonjo straight away, Jongwoo instead spun his head back around to
face Young-il, who was also coincidentally staring at them. And upon making eye contact
with the man, Jongwoo quickly turned back around to Moonjo again.

“…I guess.” Jongwoo sighed in defeat. He had to agree with Moonjo that the whole situation
was far too odd.

“He doesn’t look remotely injured either.” Moonjo chimed in, causing Jongwoo to sift
through his memories of the man’s appearance instead of actually turning to face him. And as
he recalled Young-il’s appearance, he couldn’t help but agree. In comparison to Gi-hun for
example, sure Young-il was raggedy and looked disheveled, but he looked fine otherwise.
There were no bullet wounds or blood on his tracksuit that indicated any injuries. Whereas on
the other hand, Gi-hun had a bright red splotch on the left side jacket sleeve where he had
been grazed by a bullet among many other blood smears all over his jumpsuit. For having
gone through the same thing, the two looked like polar opposites.

“There’s something bigger at play here, jagiya.” Moonjo added, effectively bringing Jongwoo
out of his internal conflicts. And then, Jongwoo reluctantly spoke up once again.
“Okay fine, maybe there is. But even so, you can’t just go around poking and prodding the
bear!” Jongwoo paused before continuing, “If we want to find out the truth, we need to go
about it in a different way.” He concluded with. This swiftly earned him a weak nod from
Moonjo. Jongwoo knew that Moonjo would much rather just rush in guns blazing, but if they
fucked this up, their lives were at stake. There had to be a different way to figure out what
exactly was going on with Player 001.

Soon enough, the duo began making their way back in the direction of the Jongwoo’s bed.
And once they approached the ladder, rather than climbing up it, Jongwoo found himself
squatting down to sit on the stairs below it instead. To no one’s surprise, Moonjo promptly
plopped down beside him too.

The next hour passed by agonisingly slowly, and Jongwoo wished that the lights would go
out just for a second so he’d be able to get even just a wink of sleep, but even that was
optimistic thinking. And after a while of sitting in silence, Moonjo finally spoke up, causing
Jongwoo to jump ever so slightly at the sudden voice before he eventually turned to face him.

“You should get some sleep, jagiya.” Moonjo softly whispered, but Jongwoo only grunted in
response.

“I’m not tired.” Was what Jongwoo settled on, and it couldn’t have been further from the
truth. Jongwoo was beyond exhausted from the events of the night. Why was killing so
tiresome?

“Here, use my shoulder.” Moonjo insisted as he wiggled his shoulder as if to encourage

Jongwoo to rest his head on it.

“Yeah, as if.” Jongwoo scoffed before he turned away from the man and looked off in the
distance. He scanned the room for either Gi-hun or Young-il but his efforts were
unsuccessful.

Suddenly, Jongwoo felt a hand cup his waist before it was pulling him in closer to the older
man. Jongwoo accidentally squeaked at the sudden sensation of Moonjo’s arm around his
waist before he quickly cleared his throat.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Jongwoo hissed through his teeth as he turned to
face Moonjo. And holy shit, they were close. Jongwoo felt his breath hitch at the sudden
proximity but he fought to hide just how flustered it made him feel.

“Please, I insist.” Moonjo persisted, his grip on Jongwoo’s waist only tightening. They were
so close that Jongwoo could feel Moonjo’s breath as it grazed his face.

And as soon as Jongwoo felt the beginnings of his cheeks turning red, he snapped his head in
front to instead look off into the distance once again. Moonjo wasn’t going to drop this, was
he?

“Fine, but only because it’ll make you shut up…” Jongwoo reluctantly agreed, before
dropping his head onto the older man’s shoulder. The hand cupping his waist immediately let
go, and Jongwoo let out a sigh of relief before Moonjo’s entire arm slithered around
Jongwoo’s lower body, keeping him firmly in place. And despite how scarily tight Moonjo
was holding onto him, Jongwoo couldn’t help as his body instinctively relaxed into the man’s
warm embrace. He really needed to get better at saying no to him.

Jongwoo let his eyes fall shut, but he knew that he wasn’t going to sleep. The lights were far
too bright and the players surrounding him were talking far too loudly for Jongwoo to be able
to fall asleep. But even so, resting his eyes was better than nothing.

“Sorry gentlemen, I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” The sudden and scarily close voice
caused Jongwoo’s eyes to immediately jolt back open. His eyes frantically searched around
for the owner of the voice before they fell on a familiar figure standing right in front of them.

Young-il.

What did he want? And why hadn’t Moonjo said anything when he was approaching?

Suddenly comprehending the man’s words, Jongwoo looked down at him and Moonjo’s
position before he immediately began to try and pry himself out of Moonjo’s hold. Moonjo
however, only tightened his grasp in response, leaving Jongwoo to grit his teeth.

“What can we do for you?” Moonjo politely asked, acting perfectly oblivious to how
Jongwoo was continuously squirming in his hold. And after a few more pathetic attempts,
Jongwoo eventually gave up and let out a defeated sigh. It was no use, Moonjo wasn’t going
to let go anytime soon.

Rather than answering Moonjo’s question upfront, Young-il simply held out a hand in front
of him. Jongwoo looked at the man’s weird gesture before he turned to face Moonjo in
confusion. And not to his surprise at all, Moonjo looked just as confused. Eventually, they
both turned back to face Young-il before Jongwoo stepped in.

“…What?” He questioned sincerely. What was this guy doing exactly…?

“Let’s work together.” Young-il almost immediately replied, his voice filled with confidence.
However, his response did nothing to alleviate any of Jongwoo’s lingering questions.

“To do what exactly?” Jongwoo countered, not bothering to hide the unimpressed expression
on his face. Why would they ever want to work with him?

“To stop the games…?” Young-il trailed off as he furrowed his brows at Jongwoo’s comment
as if he was the one who said something strange. He then dropped his hand when he realised
that the two weren’t going to be shaking it anytime soon.

Jongwoo opened his mouth to say something in return but was quickly cut off by the man
beside him.

“What makes you think we want the games to stop?” Moonjo intercepted, raising an eyebrow
up at the man’s offer. Of course Moonjo would ask that.

Young-il once again looked confused before his eyes eventually fell on the O patch tightly
secured onto Moonjo’s jacket that was covered in a suspiciously large amount of red
splotches.

“Ah, I hadn’t noticed.” Young-il said as he let out an awkward chuckle.

“Clearly.” Jongwoo mumbled under his breath, not caring if he was being rude or not. And
then a thought suddenly hit Jongwoo.

“Ignoring our patches, why us specifically? We’ve been nothing but impolite to you.”
Jongwoo inquired and he felt Moonjo nod his head in agreement. Young-il seemed to
contemplate his answer for a few moments before he eventually spoke up.

“You’re both observant, strong, and quite capable from the looks of it,” Young-il answered as
he pointed in the general direction of their bloodied jackets before continuing, “We need
more people like you two on our team.”

Jongwoo tried his best to not scrunch up his face in response to the man’s words. He didn't
want to be on a team. As crazy as it sounded, Jongwoo was perfectly fine with the way things
were now. He didn’t want to have the added responsibility of having to work with any
teammates.

“Seems a little too soon, does it not? Your entire team practically just died and you’re already
recruiting new members?” The words spilled out of Jongwoo’s mouth before he could catch
himself. But surprisingly, Young-il didn’t look entirely that fazed by Jongwoo’s rude
comment.

“It’s a shame, it really is. But we cannot waste anymore time.” Young-il bluntly replied. He
didn’t sound that affected by the way he spoke about his recently deceased friends.

“So, are you in?” He concluded with, before bringing his hand back out as a tempting
gesture. Jongwoo thought that the man was being awfully dismissive about the entire
situation in comparison to Gi-hun, but maybe he just wasn’t as friendly with them as he was.
That had to be the case, right?

“Sorry, I think we’re going to have to politely dec—”

Jongwoo’s rejection was swiftly cut off as he noticed in the corner of his eye how Moonjo
was raising a hand up to shake Young-il’s. And within a split second, Jongwoo immediately
reacted and slapped the other man’s hand down before holding onto it tightly so he couldn't
raise it again.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Jongwoo gritted through his teeth, eyeing Moonjo, who
looked annoyingly innocent, with an overwhelming amount of irritation.

“Can you give us a moment, please? Jongwoo politely asked, turning to face Young-il who
looked a little startled by Jongwoo’s sudden force. But soon enough, he regained his
composure.

“Of course.” Young-il replied with a half-hearted smile on his face. Then, he swivelled on his
feet and walked off in a different direction away from the two men. Once the coast was clear,
Jongwoo let go of Moonjo’s hand.

“What the hell is wrong with you? You’re the one who said he had some ulterior motive!
Why are you trying to partner up with him all of a sudden?” Jongwoo spat, darting his eyes
around Moonjo’s face trying to understand the man’s sudden change of mind.

“It’s the only way to find out the truth, I’m afraid.” Moonjo commented, his expression
looking blank as ever.

“I highly doubt that.” Jongwoo deadpanned as he narrowed his eyes on the older man. And
when Moonjo failed to respond to his comment, Jongwoo continued.

“I…I don’t trust him. Something’s off about him.” Jongwoo confessed quietly, with all of his
prior irritation having seemingly evaporated into thin air.

“I know, but don’t you want to know what he is up to?” Moonjo inquired as he cocked his
head to the side and gazed into Jongwoo’s eyes.

Jongwoo dropped his head in defeat before he let out a loud sigh.

“…Yeah.” He reluctantly replied.

“Then what better way to do so than get closer to the man?” Moonjo added. And soon
enough, Jongwoo found himself raising his head to locate Young-il among the crowd. He
looked the man up and down, his mind racing with a swirling mix of emotions and lingering
questions. This could be a risky move.

“Fine. But I still don’t trust him.” Jongwoo said as he turned to face Moonjo again.

“I didn't expect you to, jagiya. After all, he’s a business partner, not a friend.” Moonjo
exclaimed in response.

That was a weird way to put it. But regardless, Jongwoo knew that Moonjo had a point.

“Whatever. But before we call him over, what do you think he’ll want us to do? Another one
of those suicide missions?” Jongwoo sincerely inquired. Moonjo only shrugged his shoulders
in response before he spoke up.

“Perhaps.”

Jongwoo let out a deep sigh as he realised that he didn’t exactly know what he was agreeing
to.

“If I die because of this guy, I’m going to kill him.” Jongwoo mumbled, with his words
earning him a low, contented hum from the man beside him.

Eventually, both Jongwoo and Moonjo were soon motioning the man to come back over. And
when he approached, he wasted no time to continue their conversation.

“So what’s it going to be?” Young-il asked hopefully.

“We’ll join.” Moonjo answered, and Young-il almost immediately looked delighted as he
brought his hand out in front of them again. Moonjo reached out and shook his hand firmly,
finalising the agreement. And when they eventually pulled away, Young-in spoke up once
more.

“It’s settled then. Whenever you’re ready, I’ll introduce you guys to the others.” And with
that, Young-il swivelled on his feet and went to take a step forward before he was quickly
interrupted. Jongwoo found his mouth opening before he could even catch himself.

“Wait!” He blurted out, and Young-il turned back around in confusion to face Jongwoo.

“What do you expect us to do?” Jongwoo asked genuinely. After all, he didn’t really want to
sign up for anymore of those suicide missions. And as fucked up as his life was, Jongwoo
liked being alive.

“Well, for starters, we should try to win the vote that’s going to happen in an hour or two. But
if that fails, we’ll come up with something else.” Young-il concluded, and Jongwoo
reluctantly agreed that it was a good start.

“Oh, and that reminds me.” He perked up, and Jongwoo cocked an eyebrow up at the man.

“Hm?” Jongwoo hummed as he waited for the man to continue.

“Try to convince your boyfriend to switch sides. We need every person we can get.” Young-il
winked.

Jongwoo’s eyes immediately widened upon hearing the word and he went straight into
defense mode.

“He’s not my— …and he’s gone.” But his efforts to defend himself were short lived, as he
soon realised that Young-il had already managed to wander off back to Gi-hun and the rest of
his crew.

Jongwoo sighed to himself as he brought a hand up to massage his temples. He couldn’t even
be that angry at the man for assuming it either. If he asked anyone in this room what they
thought he and Moonjo’s relationship was, they’d most likely come to the exact same
conclusion. Ever since they first reunited, they’ve done nothing but prove the other player’s
suspicions that they were dating.

Moonjo hummed beside him in amusement and Jongwoo just groaned in response.

“Aren’t you going to try and persuade me to join the X side?” Moonjo smugly asked, the
satisfaction practically dripping from his voice.

“Shut up.” Jongwoo half-assedly retorted, but it sounded far too defeated for it to come
across as intimidating or genuine for that matter.

And then Jongwoo fully surrendered, letting his head fall back onto Moonjo’s shoulder. He
couldn’t be bothered to argue at the moment, he was far too tired.
 Soon enough, Jongwoo let his eyes fall shut once again as he was left to think about the
upcoming vote. What was the verdict going to be this time?

Chapter End Notes

📢 JUST KISS ALREADY 📢 And just like the wise lemur (?) King Julian once said,
HOW LONG IS THIS GOING TO TAKE? 🗣

But seriously, i want them to get it on just as much as y’all do so dw 😭 I must confess
that I originally planned for them to kiss in this chapter but idk, it felt out of place to me.
I think Jongwoo still has a hurdle or two to overcome before he finally accepts his
feelings for Moonjo. So don’t fear! Not too much longer (I HOPE).

AND DUN DUN DUN!! The psychotic trio is working together!! I’d like to think that
Young-il also recognises that something is off with mjjw (GAME RECOGNISES
GAME!!), so that’s why he wanted to team up with them. And then as another reason as
to why mjjw accepted his offer, “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!” LOLLL But yeah, i
think their newly found alliance will be fun to write about in upcoming chapters. 🥳
🎉
Plus, this means more interactions with the main cast!! Wohoo!! And i’ll get to finally
refer to them by their names and no longer their numbers

I have a BRILLIANT plan for what the next game is going to be, so please stay tuned!!

💔
little tighter I can’t guarantee everyone’s safety for the next game
only hint at what is going to go down in the next chapter
🥲
HOWEVER, and that’s a big however, I recommend that y’all hold onto your faves a

😬 That’s your

As always, thanks for your support and i look forward to reading what you all have to
say 😁 Thank yewwwwww!! ❤❤
 Dongdaemun
Chapter Summary

Train gates, two dolls, colourful track lanes, and 64 remaining players. What could this
all mean?

Chapter Notes

Wohoo!! 11k words HERE WE GO!! And as previously stated, everything from now on

😬
will be post-canon and up to me!! Yay! But regardless, hope y’all enjoy! This chapter
is…a lot to say the least.

Don’t mean to scare anyone but…

🚨Minor Character/s (?) Death Ahead🚨

See the end of the chapter for more notes

When the time for voting eventually rolled around, Jongwoo was a little bummed to say the
least. But not because of what could occur during the vote, but rather because they hadn't
been given any breakfast that morning.

Jongwoo desperately wanted the energy and his stomach growled loudly as he envisioned the
many delectable treats he could have been eating. However, unfortunately for him, he wasn’t
going to get any of it. Jongwoo just hoped that whoever was running this place wouldn’t be
stingy about dinner too. Surely that had to be a violation of some human right, no? To deny
them food? It had to be…

Suddenly, the sound of the doors on the stage opening echoed throughout the room, causing
Jongwoo to immediately jolt his eyes open. He promptly lifted his head off of Moonjo’s
shoulder and his neck immediately began to ache. Jongwoo reached a hand to the back of his
neck and massaged it gently. Shit, he probably shouldn’t have left his head on Moonjo’s
shoulder for two whole hours straight.

The guards entered the room, heavily armed and suited up with various weapons, before a
new square-masked guard stepped forward. Jongwoo watched as a different guard from
behind them wheeled out the voting podium before leaving it in its traditional position up by
the front of the stage.
“The vote will now begin and players will vote in ascending order. So Player 001, please cast
your vote.”

And upon hearing the man’s words, Young-il emerged from somewhere in the crowd before
he was soon walking down the aisle. With it now becoming like a routine of sorts, players
almost instantly began to dwindle down to the space in between the beds. Jongwoo and
Moonjo had yet to join the rest of the crowd though. Then, Moonjo decided to speak up for
the first time in two hours.

“Jagiya, if you’re going to try and persuade me to join the X side, I suggest that you hurry
up.” Moonjo inquired smugly, and Jongwoo turned to face the older man upon hearing his
words.

But instead of indulging the man, Jongwoo just sighed.

“Whatever.” He mumbled, turning his head back to face the rest of the room, where his eyes
quickly fell on Young-il who had just approached the podium.

Young-il’s face lit up in the familiar red colour, with the X counter on the TV screen
simultaneously increasing by one, before he swivelled on his feet and headed over to the X
side.

“Giving up already?” The question quickly diverted Jongwoo’s attention to the man beside
him, who was looking at him with a cocked eyebrow.

“It’s not like you’d listen to me anyway.” Jongwoo bluntly replied as he narrowed his eyes on
the older man.

“Just try. I’m listening.” Moonjo countered, a half hearted smile creeping up to his lips as he
spoke.

Jongwoo loudly sighed in response, again. If he was going to be honest, Jongwoo didn’t
know what to say to try and convince Moonjo to change his mind. He didn’t even really
know why Moonjo insisted on continuing the games as much as he did.

“Well, uhm…” Jongwoo trailed off before he cleared his throat and tried again, “I know you
didn’t come here because you were in debt, but if we leave now, we will still get a pretty
good amount of cash.” He concluded with. It was the best argument he could come up with
on the spot.

“I don’t care about the money.” Moonjo deadpanned as his expression fell blank. And
immediately, Jongwoo felt one of his eyes twitch at the man’s comment.

“I know that. For whatever reason, you came here for me. But if you haven’t already noticed,
the likelihood of me dying in one of the next couple of games or even when I try to sleep is
through the fucking roof!” Jongwoo spat, the irritation evident in his voice.

Moonjo didn’t respond, so Jongwoo continued on his angry rambling.

“Riddle me this then Moonjo. How would you be able to stalk and harass me if I die because
of one of the upcoming games? Please, tell me. I’m dying to know.” He mocked rudely.
Jongwoo’s voice was loud and accusatory, and he was suddenly thankful that everyone had
retreated down to the space between the beds.

“I’m leaving this place with or without you, and that’s a fact.” Jongwoo quickly added.

Moonjo seemed to contemplate his answer for a few moments before he eventually spoke up.

“So you’re saying if we leave now, you’d let me stay with you?” Moonjo questioned, cocking
his head to the side.

Jongwoo instantly scrunched his face up in confusion.

“What the fuck? How on earth did you come to that conclusion?” Jongwoo retorted, not
bothering to hide the grimace that had surfaced on his face.

“You said you’d leave this place with or without me. Does leaving with you not ultimately
mean that?” Moonjo followed up with, looking innocent as ever.

“Wh— No! No, you’re misunderstanding! I meant it in a general sorta—,” Jongwoo cut
himself off before continuing, “Oh whatever, it doesn’t matter anyway.”

Even with the arm that was still wrapped around his waist tightly, Jongwoo managed to turn
his entire body to face Moonjo.

“Do what you want Moonjo, I don’t care. I really don’t.” Jongwoo snarled as his gaze on the
older man intensified. And upon hearing his words, Moonjo’s once blank expression soon
turned sour.

“Why?” Moonjo asked sincerely, a little taken aback by Jongwoo’s words.

“…You can’t seriously be asking that, right?” Jongwoo replied in a mix of shock and
confusion.

“I’m deadly serious. So tell me, why don’t you care?” Moonjo insisted, his gaze on the
younger man never once faltering.

“B- Because I just want to get away from you! You just popped up out of nowhere after a
month in hiding and now you’re trying to go back to how things were before as if nothing
happened in the first place!” Jongwoo accidentally blurted out, and Moonjo almost
immediately lifted an eyebrow up at his statement. Oops, he hadn’t meant to say that.

“Are you sure, jagiya? Because it seems to me that you aren’t making any effort to get away
from me right now.” Moonjo countered, purposefully squeezing the arm around Jongwoo’s
waist to remind him of their current position.

“That’s different. You’re forc—” But before Jongwoo could defend himself, Moonjo cut him
off.
“Is it though?” The older man deadpanned.

“Of course it is! You’re holding me against my will!” Jongwoo loudly snapped back. And
Jongwoo watched as Moonjo sighed upon hearing Jongwoo’s accusation. The older man let a
few long seconds go by until he eventually spoke up.

“I’m not forcing you to do anything, jagiya. If you want me to stop, just say so.” Moonjo said
softly, a harsh contrast to their previous heated conversation.

“Would you even listen to me if I did?” Jongwoo found the words spilling from his mouth
before he could catch himself.

“I would.”

“I don’t believe you.” Jongwoo spat back almost instantly.

“Jagiya, I want you to want this too. There’s no point in forcing my advantages on you if
they’re unwelcome, so I’ll stop if they make you uncomfortable.”

And with that, the arm circling Jongwoo’s waist loosened before it completely dropped away
from him and returned to Moonjo’s side. Suddenly, Jongwoo felt cold upon the man’s sudden
retraction and he felt a shiver ripple up his spine in response. But he soon shook it off, not
wanting to dwell on the fact that he had enjoyed Moonjo’s warmth more than he wanted to
admit.

This was so weird. Why had Moonjo actually listened to him? Moonjo had done nothing but
obsess over Jongwoo ever since he first came into his life, and now all of sudden, he was
actually respecting his boundaries? Seriously, what the fuck was going on? Had he hit his
head sometime during the ruckus of lights out? That had to be the only explanation…

“Good.” Jongwoo snapped again before turning away from the man altogether. He didn’t
know why he was still yelling at Moonjo, but he felt like it would be even stranger to
suddenly drop his anger out of nowhere.

“Player 303.”

Upon hearing his number getting called out, Jongwoo’s eyes immediately darted around the
room before they settled on the guard in the distance. He rose to his feet in a heartbeat, and
began making his way over to the podium, not even sparing the older man behind him
another look.

Jongwoo didn’t care if Moonjo voted to end the games or not. He wasn't going to listen to
him anyway.

Once he approached the podium, he stared down at it before he lifted his head up to see the
current vote count for each side. Out of the 64 players that remained after the brutal massacre
that occurred the previous night and considering the players who died on the suicide mission
too, Jongwoo quickly realised that the vote wouldn’t take as long as he had once expected.

The screen read 21 votes for X and 19 votes for O.

And as Jongwoo quickly brought his hand down to press the X button without even needing
to look at it, he watched as the counter jumped up to 22. Bringing his head back down,
Jongwoo eventually spun around and started to make his way over to the X side.

And on his way over, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar figure trying to wave him
down.

Young-il.

But unfortunately for Jongwoo, he made the mistake of making eye contact with the man. So
the option of avoiding Young-il and blaming it on the fact that he didn’t see him was now out
of the question. Groaning quietly to himself, Jongwoo gave the man a smile that didn't reach
his eyes before he headed in his direction. Once he found a spot next to him, Young-il greeted
Jongwoo with a silent nod.

“Player 304.”

Jongwoo perked up upon hearing the number as his eyes soon fell on a familiar tall figure
walking down the aisle between the two sides. Moonjo walked with confident purpose, and
Jongwoo sucked his teeth in mild annoyance as the older man finally reached the podium. He
already knew what was going to happen.

Moonjo lifted his hand up before sending it flying down to the O button, before he suddenly
stopped right above it. Jongwoo narrowed his eyes at the man’s hesitation, a spark of hope
igniting within him. Maybe Moonjo had actually changed his mind…? It was unlikely, but
not impossible.

Then, the older man turned his head around and searched through the X side until his eye’s
found Jongwoo’s. Upon having Moonjo’s attention suddenly on him, Jongwoo furrowed his
brow. And from afar, Jongwoo watched in a contradictory mix of hope and confusion as
Moonjo’s hand moved to hover over the X button, with his gaze on Jongwoo never once
faltering as he did so. Holy shit, had Moonjo actually listened to him—?

But just as quickly as Moonjo had seemingly changed his mind, Jongwoo watched as the side
of the man’s face lit up in a bright blue colour as his hand swiftly darted back over to the O
button as he pressed it down with purpose. Then, a smug smile crept up to the man’s lips
before he eventually turned to walk over to the O side instead.

And quickly realising that Moonjo had purposefully done it to give him false hope, Jongwoo
rolled his eyes and shook his head in irritation. He should have known better. Moonjo
wouldn’t be that easy to convince to switch sides, and Jongwoo was a fucking idiot for
thinking otherwise. The man obviously only did that just to fuck with him.

“Couldn’t get him to switch, I take it?” Young-il’s voice came from beside him, quickly
bringing Jongwoo out of his internal conflicts.

“I tried.” Jongwoo flatly replied.

Not really.
“He’s just too stubborn.” Jongwoo added swiftly.

But that one was true at least, because saying Moonjo was stubborn was a severe
understatement. If the man sinks his teeth into something, best believe he’s not letting go
anytime soon.

Young-il responded with a half-hearted chuckle before they both refocused their attention on
the next player already walking down to the voting podium. Jongwoo let his eyes drift up to
the counter on the TV screen and he firmly believed that they still had a chance at winning
this time around. Surely after what had happened during the night would help to change a
few people’s minds? Right?

Wrong. Jongwoo had been so unbelievably wrong.

Staring up at the TV screen that read a defeating 26 votes for X and a concerning 38 votes for
O, Jongwoo let out a delirious laugh.

Only 4 more people had voted to stop the games? Four?

He had to be dreaming. Maybe the whole murder-in-the-dark thing actually never happened
once the lights went out and he was merely asleep the whole time instead. And as Jongwoo
pinched his arm to confirm his theory, he grimaced when a sharp pain quickly followed.

Fuck.

Seriously, where had all the X players gone? Had they all decided to switch sides all of a
sudden? They couldn’t have possibly disappeared into thin air—

Oh.

And as Jongwoo promptly recalled the suicide mission filled with an ungodly amount of X
players that had taken place only a few hours prior, he tensed his jaw in realisation. Puffing
air through his nostrils a little too aggressively than needed, Jongwoo did his best to stay
calm.

Of course they were going to lose the vote from the beginning. How had he not realised that?
Practically half of the X side had either died because of Gi-hun’s unwanted heroism or
because the O side had murdered them during the night. Instinctively, Jongwoo felt his fists
clench up at his side.

Suddenly, a hand cupped his shoulder, and Jongwoo almost immediately relaxed his fists as
he turned around to face the owner of the hand.

“We may have not won the vote this time, but I think we have a chance next time.” Young-il
spoke with a hopeful tone in his voice, his lips stretching into a bittersweet smile.

…Next time? When even more people die after the next game? What kind of fucked up logic
was that?
But as Jongwoo went to open his mouth to express his doubts, Young-il spoke up again.

“Where’s the taller one? I’ll introduce you guys to the rest of our group.” Young-il added, his
hand finally dropping from Jongwoo’s shoulder to instead wave at the nearby gathering of
Gi-hun and all of his remaining friends.

“Oh uhm, he’ll be around. …Somewhere.” Jongwoo looked over at the makeshift assembly
of players before his gaze fell back on to the older man in front of him. He was almost certain
that Moonjo was already watching them talk right now from somewhere in the room.

“Once you find him, come on over. Alright?”

Jongwoo opened his mouth to decline but he quickly clamped it right back shut. Fuck, he had
already chosen to team up with them, hadn’t he? Jongwoo fought back from rolling his eyes
as he soon realised his misguided mistake. He really shouldn’t have let Moonjo convince him
into allying with them.

“Yeah, sure.” Jongwoo said drably. Then, Young-il spun around and began making his way
over to Gi-hun and the rest of the group. Once he was gone, Jongwoo let out a big, defeated
sigh. Guess they were really doing this after all.

Jongwoo swivelled on his feet before he was soon scanning the room over until his eyes fell
on the man he was looking for. And to no one’s surprise, Moonjo was lurking behind a
nearby bed frame like some creeper. Reluctantly, Jongwoo motioned the man over.

When Moonjo eventually approached Jongwoo, he cocked his head and then spoke up.

“Yes, jagiya?” Moonjo inquired placidly.

“Young-il’s introducing us to the others now.” Jongwoo sighed as the words left his mouth.

“You don’t seem too happy about that.” Moonjo replied, narrowing his eyes on the dejected
younger man.

“It’s not really about them, but more about the vote. We never stood a chance to begin with.”
Jongwoo responded as he held his gaze on Moonjo.

“It’s a shame that we didn’t kill more of the O players then.” Moonjo retorted innocently as if
he wasn’t on their side too.

Jongwoo scrunched his face up in disbelief at the man’s comment before he quickly brushed
it off.

“Whatever, let’s just get this over with. Probably won’t need to remember their names for
much longer anyway.” Jongwoo quipped as he turned to head in the direction of Young-il and
the others.

“Don’t think so lowly of yourself, jagiya. You’re much more capable than you think.”
Moonjo’s voice was soft and velvety.
“Stop it.” Jongwoo said as he kept walking, not letting the man’s words deter him from
making it over to the others.

“I wish you could see yourself through my eyes for onc—”

“No, stop it. We’re approaching them now.” Jongwoo interrupted as they were quickly
pulling up in front of the group only a few seconds later. Moonjo pouted beside him but
Jongwoo ignored him.

“You found him!” Young-il lightheartedly remarked as Moonjo moved from behind Jongwoo
to instead stand beside him.

Jongwoo politely chuckled at the man’s comment before his eyes were drifting between each
of the players that stood in front of them.

So…this was the group that was going to bring the games crumbling down? An elderly
woman and her curly haired son, a pregnant woman, two older men, a tall woman, and…
Myung-gi? Well, kind of. He was kind of just lurking behind Junhee and wasn’t in the team
huddle. But regardless, what on earth was he doing here?

The only thing that this group had going for them was Player 120 with her surprising
knowledge and experience with firearms. But aside from her, it wasn’t exactly a formidable
bunch.

And much like Jongwoo, the odd mix of players were also eyeing both he and Moonjo rather
wearily. Suddenly, Young-il broke the tense silence that had engulfed them even for only a
moment.

“Oh! How rude of me. Guys, this is…” He trailed off as he turned to face the two men.

“Come to think of it, I never actually asked you two for your names.” Young-il confessed.

“It’s quite alright. You may call me Moonjo, and this is—” Moonjo tried before Jongwoo
swiftly cut him off

“Jongwoo.” He intercepted, not allowing the man to speak for him.

“Right. This is Jongwoo and Moonjo, and they’ll be joining our team.” Young-il added as he
turned back to face the others who were staring right back at the two new members
cautiously.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you.” Player 149 said with a half-hearted smile, her tone of voice
suggesting quite the opposite.

“From now on, they’ll be working with us too.” This time it was Gi-hun who spoke up.
Jongwoo assumed that Young-il had already given him the rundown as he wasn't quite as
surprised to see them as the others.

Then, Jongwoo watched as the older woman circled an arm around her son’s, before she
turned to whisper not-so quietly in his ear.
“How can we trust either of them? Especially that one,” she muttered, trying to subtly point
at Moonjo but failing miserably, “He voted for the games to continue for god’s sake!” Player
149 concluded rather loudly. Jongwoo’s eyes darted around the rest of the group who seemed
to be thinking the exact same thing.

“Shh, they can hear you!” Her son clapped back, bringing a finger up to his mouth to try and
get his mother to quiet down.

Too late, they had already heard her.

“We don’t intend to cause you any harm.” Moonjo reassured, but it didn’t do very much to
alleviate any of the group’s concerns.

“Did you also tell that to all those players you killed before they died too?” The older woman
snapped, now not bothering to try and talk behind their backs even if she wasn’t really doing
it in the first place anyway.

Jongwoo’s breath hitched in his throat, feeling as if a deep secret of his was suddenly
exposed. But as he thought about it for a second longer, his once startled expression soon
turned into one of annoyance.

“It was self defence.” Jongwoo hissed, not caring if he was being rude. Out of the corner of
his eye, he noticed how Young-il had ever so slightly leaned in to hear his response to the
older woman’s question, but he ignored it for the time being.

Because in a way, it was self defence. They had been ambushed and Jongwoo had every right
to defend himself. But could Jongwoo still call it self defence if he had been so brutal about
it? And if he had enjoyed it way too much? Well, too bad he was going to anyway.

“Yeah right it was!” This time it was Player 007 who chimed in.

“What did you expect us to do then? Let them kill us?” Jongwoo retorted now as he flapped
his hands around in an angry and dramatic manner.

The mother-son duo went deathly quiet and Jongwoo didn’t hesitate to use their silence to
continue. He took a deep breath to settle his anger before he spoke up.

“Look, I know it’s going to be hard to trust us, but you need to give us a bit of slack. We did
what we had to do if we wanted to survive. Would you not do the same?” Jongwoo asked, his
once angry tone now long gone and replaced by a solemn one. But instead of either Player
149 or 007 replying, it was a different person who answered his question.

“It’s okay Jongwoo, I get it,” Jongwoo whipped his head to face Player 120 whose voice was
quite reserved as she spoke, “It was either you or them, so I don’t blame you guys for doing
what you did.” She concluded with a half-hearted smile on her face.

Jongwoo relaxed as he heard the woman’s words. At least someone had some common sense
around here. Then, Player 120 turned her attention away from Jongwoo and Moonjo before
she focused back on the other members.
“Guys, we need to trust each other if we want to get out of here. We need to work as a team,
and that will never happen if we can’t rely on each other. So let’s stop accusing one another
and let’s be adults about this.” Player 120 announced sternly. And as the woman spoke,
Jongwoo couldn’t help but feel as if he was being scolded even though the words weren’t
aimed at him.

The mother-son duo shifted uncomfortably on their feet, knowing that they had probably
been a bit too harsh on the two men. After all, it was survival of the fittest in these games.
Even they knew that.

“You’re right. I’m sorry Jongwoo and Moonjo, please forgive us and let bygones be
bygones.” The elder woman apologised as she bowed down at the two men.

Jongwoo shook his head at the gesture before he spoke up too.

“No, it’s okay. I would’ve done the same thing. But I’m glad we’ll be able to put this behind
us now.” Jongwoo assured as he bowed to her as well.

And it was true. Jongwoo didn’t really appreciate anyone poking around and questioning his
actions. But luckily for him, nobody - other than Moonjo - had seen the whole picture about
how Jongwoo had secretly revelled in the violence. And now that they had established a
shaky truce, Jongwoo was more than happy to keep everyone none the wiser.

“What are your names then?” Jongwoo asked, quickly changing the topic to something more
lighthearted.

And the rest of the players immediately perked up at Jongwoo’s question, seemingly glad that
the tense conversation had now come to an end.

“I’m Hyunju.” Player 120 shared.

“You can call me Geumja.” The elder woman added.

“And I’m Yongsik.” Player 007 concluded.

Jongwoo’s eyes darted around as they each simultaneously introduced themselves. Then,
after having been quiet the entire time, Junhee spoke up.

“And you already know who I am, I’d hope.” Junhee chimed in, her voice cracking a little
after having not talked in awhile. Jongwoo then focused his attention on the even quieter man
standing behind her who had yet to introduce himself. But not to his surprise at all, Myung-gi
made no effort to go out of his way to greet them. So ultimately, Jongwoo ignored him and
refocused his attention back on the group.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you all.” He politely responded. And then, an awkward silence fell
over the group and Jongwoo held back from cringing. His eyes drifted around the group as he
waited desperately until someone chose to break the uncomfortable silence. And thankfully, it
was only a few moments later that someone did.
“So…how did you guys end up here?” Young-il asked, clearing his throat. And Jongwoo
didn’t hesitate to answer.

“The usual, I suppose. Gambled away my savings until I had nothing left. Then, before I
knew it, I was here.” Jongwoo answered, shrugging his shoulders as he spoke.

That was the gist of it anyway. He purposely kept out the details of the whole “I was trying to
chase a feeling that I had only ever felt when I killed three residents from my old studio,” but
they didn’t need to know that.

“Ah, I see. And you, Moonjo?” Young-il followed up with.

Upon hearing the man’s name, Jongwoo quickly remembered Moonjo’s presence beside him.
He had been rather quiet during the argument so Jongwoo had forgotten that he had been
there in the first place.

And then it hit him. How was Moonjo going to answer this…?

Soon enough, Jongwoo found himself slowly rotating his head to face the older man who had
a polite smile plastered across his face.

“Well, it’s something like that too.” Moonjo flatly replied as he pointed at Jongwoo beside
him.

And while that was most certainly not the case, Jongwoo was glad that Moonjo hadn’t told
the truth. He didn’t need any dating rumours circling on top of being trapped in here—

“So how did you two meet? Was it in here or outside? Sorry if it is an upfront question, it’s
just that you guys seem awfully close.” This time it was Junhee who asked the question and
Jongwoo’s eyes widened in horror.

“We used to live in the same studio.” Jongwoo suddenly blurted out before Moonjo could
answer before him and say something stupid.

“Oh, what a coincidence then! What a small world we live in.” Junhee exclaimed.

Yeah, what a ‘coincidence’ indeed.

Thankfully, Junhee didn’t ask any follow up questions. Jongwoo almost sighed in relief but
he fought to not let it escape his lips. The other members of the group seemed to ponder what
more questions they could ask the pair before Gi-hun spoke up. Shit, Jongwoo had forgotten
about him too. Why hadn’t he said anything up until now?

“Well…what did you guys do before the games?” Gi-hun inquired sincerely and the rest of
the group nodded, seemingly sharing his same curiosity about their life before it all went to
shit.

Jongwoo hesitated at the man’s question, but unfortunately, Moonjo didn’t.

“I’m a dentist.” Moonjo answered bluntly. Jongwoo internally rolled his eyes at the man’s
insistence on the fact that he still was a dentist even after everything had happened. His
dentistry license surely had to have been revoked by now.

The rest of the players furrowed their brows at his response, confused as to how someone
with a seemingly good job could end up in this dump.

“Oh? That makes pretty good money, does it not?” Yongsik chimed in as Moonjo simply
nodded his head in response.

“So how’d you end up here then…?” He trailed off, cocking his head at Moonjo in confusion.

Oh shit.

Jongwoo found himself slowly turning to Moonjo once again, and he hoped that he looked
threatening enough to the man that he wouldn’t do what Jongwoo thought he was about to do.

“Someone I cared deeply about joined the games and I didn’t want them to be alone.”
Moonjo answered and Jongwoo tensed up beside him.

For fucks sake.

“Why would someone ever willingly join these games?” Yongsik scoffed in disbelief, a little
taken aback by Moonjo’s unique circumstances as to why he was even in here in the first
place.

“How was I supposed to know that they’d turn out like this?” Moonjo deadpanned.

“Oh, yeah. That’s a fair point…” The curly haired man quickly agreed.

And when the conversation came to a halt, Jongwoo almost celebrated out loud. Thankfully,
no one had asked any follow up questions about Moonjo’s interesting circumstances.
Jongwoo sighed in relief as he realised that they’d be kept in the dark about the true details of
Moonjo’s presence in the games.

That was until Geumja perked up.

“So who’s the lucky woman?” She inquired, comically scanning the room around her as if to
symbolise that she wanted to meet the person that Moonjo came in here for.

Jongwoo felt his stomach drop. He clenched down hard on his teeth and tried to fight back
from twitching his eye in anger, but it failed miserably. Why the fuck did people have to be
so fucking nosy all of the time?

A faint thought that Jongwoo was being rather hypocritical to say such a thing crossed his
mind, but Jongwoo quickly brushed it off. This was different. …Sort of.

“Woman?” Moonjo countered, cocking his head to the side upon hearing the question.
Jongwoo wanted to run away. All he wanted to do at this very moment was to run away as far
as possible. Away from this embarrassing conversation and away from Moonjo.

Geumja raised an eyebrow at the man’s remark, seemingly a bit confused. And then as
realisation quickly dawned upon her, she opened her mouth to form an ‘O’ shape before she
eventually continued.

“I see…” Geumja trailed off before she turned to face her son. Jongwoo couldn't help but
notice how Yongsik was giving her a stern look as if to warn her to not accidentally say
anything offensive. Jongwoo didn’t pin her as the homophobic type, but given her age, it
must just be a generational thing. He couldn’t really blame her for being a little confused.
Things were much more different now than they were back then.

And that was a good thing.

“You don’t need to introduce us to them if you’re uncomfortable.” Hyunju softly added as her
lips curled up into a sympathetic smile.

Yes, that would be wonderful.

“I’m not uncomfortable.” Moonjo replied placidly.

Motherfuc—

Then, Moonjo turned his body to face Jongwoo. And upon realising that the man’s attention
was on him, Jongwoo snapped his head around and returned Moonjo’s eye contact cautiously.

“What?” Jongwoo spat rather rudely, but he didn’t care. What was Moonjo about to do…?

“Are you uncomfortable, jagiya?”

Fuck.

And suddenly, it was as if a bomb shell had just been dropped. Jongwoo’s eyes widened upon
hearing the man’s purposeful use of the pet name before he darted his eyes around the rest of
the group. And much to his dismay, it seemed that they had quickly figured out who
Moonjo’s ‘lucky’ person was.

Jongwoo swiftly clamped his eyes shut, not wanting to see how the others were looking at
them before he sighed in defeat. What a fucking bastard.

He heard Junhee let out an excited squeal as she connected the final puzzle pieces.

“I knew it! You two are so cute together!” She shrieked happily, the sound of her hands rising
to cup her cheeks following shortly after.

Jongwoo jolted his eyes right back open as the words left Junhee’s mouth, and as he opened
his own to defend himself, the familiar sound of the doors opening echoed throughout the
room. Almost immediately, Jongwoo whipped his head around to see the group of guards
marching in.
Jongwoo sucked his teeth in annoyance as he quickly realised that he wasn’t going to be able
to explain himself like he had hoped he’d be able to. This time, he had not been saved by the
bell.

“Players, please follow the guards to the next game.” The square-masked guard announced
loudly before the rest of the group descended from the stage and stopped right in front of it.

Sighing to himself, Jongwoo - alongside the rest of the team - reluctantly made their way
over to the guards before they were soon being escorted out of the room.

An awful thought crossed Jongwoo’s mind as they climbed through the oddly shaped and
brightly coloured room. Hopefully some of them would die so that he wouldn’t have to
explain himself. But as soon as thought appeared in his mind, Jongwoo quickly swatted it
away feeling inherently guilty. That was a fucked up thing to think about. All they had done
was say that he and Moonjo were cute together and Jongwoo was wishing death upon them?
Seriously, he needed to take a chill pill…

Soon enough, they were rapidly approaching a large steel door. And when the door opened,
Jongwoo furrowed his brows at the sight. It was…a set of stairs? Where was the game room?
Suddenly, a familiar woman’s voice played out through the speakers.

“Players, please make your way up the stairs and onto the platform.”

Ah, these were only the stairs up to the game room.

And with that, players began ascending the stairs until they walked through a doorway at the
top before they all eventually piled into the room. Once everyone was inside, the door at the
top of the stairs shut loudly behind them.

Jongwoo pushed through the crowd and made his way to the front, trying to gather what
exactly he was looking at. He ditched Moonjo but he didn’t really care because he was too
preoccupied with trying to understand his surroundings.

Then, his eyes almost immediately fell on the two tall dolls in the distance. Jongwoo
narrowed his eyes at one of them before he soon realised it was the same doll from the first
game they had played. His eyes then drifted over to the other doll, a boy this time, and
Jongwoo racked his brain as to what the game could possibly be.

The two dolls were standing opposite each other, with maybe about 20 to 25 feet of space in
between them. Their arms were raised and their mechanical fingertips were touching,
ultimately forming the shape of a tent with their arms. Jongwoo then noticed the two train
gates that were raised up on either side of the dolls. What on earth was this supposed to
be…?

Jongwoo’s attention then fell on the oddly beautiful backdrop on the walls surrounding them.
On one side of the room, there was a sunset mural painted on the wall whereas on the other it
was a painting of the sun rising. Honestly, it was quite beautiful. But before Jongwoo could
inspect any of the room further, the woman’s voice echoed throughout the room once more.
“The game you will be playing is called Dongdaemun.”

Almost immediately, Jongwoo’s eyes widened in realisation as he simultaneously snapped his

head back to face the two dolls. So that’s why they were positioned like that.

“In this game, players must pass through the arch made by the two dolls. When the song that
the dolls are singing stops, the train gates will close. Anyone trapped inside the two gates
will be eliminated.” The woman’s voice concluded.

“Let me repeat.”

Instinctively, Jongwoo zoned out the woman’s repeat of the instructions as he scanned the
room even more carefully. From where they were standing on the landing from the door that
they had just entered through, Jongwoo noticed a slightly elevated platform ahead of them.
Maybe that’s the platform she was talking about…?

“Players, please step onto the platform.”

And suddenly, Jongwoo was being pushed onto the platform before he could even register it.
Almost tripping in the process, Jongwoo managed to safely jump up onto the colourful
platform before he scrunched his face up in confusion at what he saw.

Now seeing the full picture and not just the two dolls that stood above the rest, Jongwoo
noticed how the platform, which he quickly realised was shaped like an infinity symbol, had
several - roughly 6 after having just counted - brightly coloured lanes that stretched out
across it. Jongwoo’s eyes then fell on the two tall dolls in the distance that looked rooted in
their place. So they’d have to continually run around the figure 8 track and pass through the
arch made by the two dolls until the gates suddenly shut? Jongwoo thought it was an odd
design choice but who really knew what was going through the mind of the person who made
this place.

And as Jongwoo debated on which colour lane he was going to stand on, he eventually
settled on the pastel blue lane that was on the far edge. Obviously, there weren't enough lanes
for every player to have their own, so Jongwoo’s lane was quickly filled up by others. As
long as they weren’t going to get in his way when the game started, Jongwoo was fine with it.
He didn’t really have much of a choice anyway.

And as Jongwoo prepared himself by stretching his legs a little bit, his eyes wandered to the
area beside the platform. It was a bit lower than the track, but the entire space was covered by
some sort of barbed wire. Instinctively leaning over to look more closely at it, Jongwoo
squinted his eyes as he soon realised what the barbed wire was preventing them from doing.

Jumping off.

Beyond the barbed wire was a bottomless pit, a black void that even Jongwoo could hardly
see the bottom of.

What the fuck?

And even though Jongwoo knew that the holes in the barbed wire were far too small for him
to fall through, he found himself switching lanes to the light pink one that was two lanes
closer to the middle. He wasn’t going to risk it, even if it was highly unlikely for anything to
go wrong in the first place anyway.

“Let the game begin.” The woman’s voice echoed loudly over the PA system, effectively
bringing Jongwoo out of his trance.

Quickly coming to his senses, Jongwoo bent his knees and prepared to run for when the song
started playing. As long as he kept his pace and timed it right, Jongwoo had a relatively good
chance at surviving this game.

What he didn’t expect was for the lane beneath his feet to start moving.

And as the song simultaneously started playing over the speakers, Jongwoo toppled
backwards at the sudden movement. And it seemed that nobody else had expected the
platform to move either as they too were stumbling back and trying to regain their footing.

“Open the East, East, East Grand Gate,”

Jongwoo rolled and crashed into many other nearby players, and as he tilted his head up to
see what was happening, he almost choked on the air.

The other lanes were moving in different directions, and at different speeds.

Quickly realising that things were not what they had once seemed, Jongwoo somehow
managed to rise to his feet despite the relatively quick moving lane beneath him. He watched
as other players whipped past him going one direction while others went by in a blur going
the other way. Some lanes were going as fast as a jogging pace, while others more at the pace
of someone speed walking.

“Open the South, South, South Grand Gate,”

Jongwoo spun his head around trying to come to his senses but it was too much. Far too
much was happening all at once and Jongwoo was quickly losing track of what he was
supposed to do. And then, as if the universe was listening to his thoughts, Jongwoo found
himself passing under the archway of the two dolls’ arms. With the shadow of their arms
casting down upon him, Jongwoo peered up at them as he was swept away involuntarily by
the lane beneath him.

But just as quickly as he had entered it, Jongwoo was already leaving the arch. And as the
lane took him further and further around the twisty track, Jongwoo fixed his eyes on the two
dolls from afar. Despite how he was technically moving, Jongwoo was frozen.

How the fuck was he supposed to go about this?

“When it’s at twelve sharp,”

The song’s lyrics quickly snapped Jongwoo out of his daze as he realised what was about to
happen. The gates were going to shut at any second.

Jongwoo’s eyes widened as he realised his lane was quickly taking him closer and closer to
the archway. He needed to do something, and fast.

Jongwoo immediately sprung into action as he desperately turned to look at the lanes beside
him, hoping that one of them was going the opposite direction. And thankfully for him, the
pastel yellow lane on his right was doing just that. But he had to time it right so he wouldn’t
just dive into another player.

Suddenly, in a split second when he saw an opening, Jongwoo leapt onto the lane, his fleeting
landing with a loud thud. But he didn’t stay standing for much longer. Upon realising the
whiplash that was going to come about from switching lane to lane, Jongwoo fell backwards
onto his ass at the sudden change of direction. His head hit the floor harshly and he winced in
pain. But instead of getting distracted, Jongwoo tilted his head up to see the archway of the
two dolls getting further and further away. Mission accomplished.

“The Gates are closed.”

And if he hadn’t already gotten enough whiplash from switching lanes, suddenly, every
single lane immediately stopped. Jongwoo almost went flying backwards at the sudden halt
but thankfully a different player was behind him to cushion his fall.

A horn blared out from the speakers and Jongwoo soon watched as the two train gates on
either side of the dolls fell down rather quickly. It wasn’t a gradual thing like train gates
usually were, and Jongwoo only imagined how quickly someone could be taken out if they
had been standing under it.

Jongwoo, who was still sitting on the floor, propped himself up to see what was about to
happen. There was a traffic light above the two dolls that had switched to red once the music
had stopped, and Jongwoo instantly assumed that shit was about to hit the fan.

His eyes then settled on the unlucky handful of startled and trembling players who had been
caught in between the gates. Were they going to get shot or…?

Then, something in the arms of the dolls clicked, and Jongwoo watched in horror as their
arms began descending at a rapid pace.

Like a burning train wreck, Jongwoo couldn’t look away. He watched in shock as the arms
got closer and closer to the people beneath them. Screams of those who had been caught
ricocheted off of the walls, but soon enough, they stopped.

The collective four arms of the two dolls hit the ground with a defeating thud, and even from
his position, Jongwoo had heard the squelching and crushing of the bones of the players who
were unlucky enough to have been caught underneath them.

Jongwoo cupped a hand over his mouth in horror. And almost immediately, a wave of even
more screams and scared murmurs washed over the remaining players as they looked at the
gruesome sight.

“Players 121, 142, 252, 278, 298, 300, 396, 401, 422 eliminated.”

After only a few more moments, both the gates and arms began to raise up again, returning to
their original position. Jongwoo’s eyes fell on the now bloodied arms of the dolls that still
had little remnants of some of the player’s internal organs splattered across them. Then, once
they reached the top and clicked back into place, Jongwoo dropped his head to instead focus
on the mangled corpses and bloody uniforms of the players who were once standing before
them all only seconds prior.

Instantly, Jongwoo felt bile rise up from his throat but he swallowed it back. And as much as
he wanted to look away from the ungodly sight, he couldn’t. Unfortunately for a nearby
player, they weren’t so capable of holding back their vomit as they quickly darted over to the
edge before hurling up their insides into the pit below.

And then, the doors from where they had entered suddenly opened, followed by a group of
guards holding firefighter hoses in their hands. Jongwoo finally stopped looking at the
gruesome leftovers of the players to instead focus on the guards. But soon enough, Jongwoo’s
attention quickly fell back onto the chilling sight as the guards were swiftly approaching it.

Jongwoo then watched as the guards turned their hoses on before they began to wash away
the leftover clothes, bones, and organs of the eliminated players over the barbed wire and into
the bottomless pit below.

Oh. It seemed that the pit had a different purpose than what Jongwoo had initially thought.

And when the track was free from the squished body parts of Jongwoo’s fellow players, the
guards then began to retreat back over to the door before it quickly shut behind them.

But before Jongwoo could take a breather to calm down and gather what the fuck had just
happened, the traffic light beeped and turned green.

And before he knew it, the lane beneath him began moving once more.

“Open the East, East, East Grand Gate,”

Jongwoo tumbled backwards once again at the sudden movement before he quickly regained
his senses and shakily made it up onto his feet. And for whatever reason, Jongwoo found
himself scanning the players as they whizzed by to try and find Moonjo. But everything was
happening so fast that Jongwoo couldn't focus for the life of him. He hated how he was trying
to locate the man but soon enough, he was too distracted to care.

Suddenly, as the rest of the player base became increasingly more erratic after having just
seen what happened if they got caught by the gates, Jongwoo got pushed onto the lane next to
him. And as he landed on his back harshly, he was quickly whipped the other way as the lane
travelled at a relentless pace.

“Open the South, South, South Grand Gate,”

Jongwoo groaned as a sharp pain rippled up through his spine upon the sudden collision. But
even as his back ached tremendously, Jongwoo knew he couldn’t just lay there. That would
be stupid.

So soon enough, Jongwoo was wobbling back up to his feet, trying to balance himself as the
lane spun him around the infinity symbol-shaped track rather quickly. After having regained
his composure and balance, Jongwoo whipped his head around to try and locate the two
dolls.

“When it’s at twelve sharp,”

His eyes promptly fell on the two very rapidly approaching dolls in the distance. Oh fuck—

But instead of jumping onto a different lane, Jongwoo found himself using the direction and
fast speed of the lane to his advantage. He ran in the direction of the archway, using the lane
beneath him to run about ten times faster than what was humanly possible. It was a risky
move, but Jongwoo was determined. He did his best to swerve the other players on the
narrow lane but if someone got in his way, he had no choice but to push them off of the lane.
He would be damned if he went out like this.

And as he entered the archway within the next second or so, Jongwoo chose to keep his head
down instead of looking up at the crimson stained arms of the dolls above him. Never once
faltering in his pace, Jongwoo just kept on running, shoving anyone who got in his way off of
the lane.

And then there was no shadow on him.

Jongwoo let his legs slow down as soon as he realised he was safe, before he turned around
to face the archway.

“The Gates are closed.”

Suddenly, the traffic light turned red and the lanes stopped moving. Jongwoo wobbled on his
feet ever so slightly but managed to stay standing. And as Jongwoo’s eyes fell on the gates
that had recently just dropped to trap the unfortunate players inside, he noticed a familiar
figure.

Player 100.

The older man looked visibly shaken as he quickly realised that he was about to die. But
unlike Jongwoo, it seemed that the man’s fight and flight response immediately kicked in.
Player 100 used one of his sidekicks standing beside him as a rebound to push himself off of
him to instead begin darting off in the direction of the gate. And instinctively upon hearing
the familiar click of the arms unlocking, Jongwoo found himself counting.

5.

Player 100, while he was old, was running at a frantic pace toward the gate Jongwoo had
only just missed.
4.

Come to think of it, the bastard had gotten quite lucky. He was closer to the gate than
Jongwoo had actually realised. Maybe he’d make it?

3.

He was running out of time, the arms were getting closer and closer to the ground.

2.

Jongwoo cheered to himself. But not because he wanted the man to pull off some epic
escape, but rather because he wanted to see the man die.

1.

But unfortunately, Jongwoo watched as the man dove under the gate in record time, sliding
beyond it and into the ankles of a few nearby players before the arms behind him slammed
onto the ground. The terrifying squelch of bodies soon followed, but Jongwoo was more
focused on the fact that the dolls’ arms had crushed all those players without Player 100
underneath.

“Players 018, 045, 099, 177, 189, 266, 285, 322 eliminated.”

Jongwoo groaned as he watched how the man stood up, much too alive and well for
Jongwoo’s liking. The bastard had sacrificed his friend to save himself. And as he eventually
turned away from the sight, not wanting to give Player 100 anymore attention, Jongwoo just
hoped that karma would come back to bite the man in the ass.

And much like last time, it wasn’t long until the guards returned with their hoses before they
began to wash away the bloody evidence. So while Jongwoo wanted to brood about how
Player 100 had unfortunately survived, he couldn’t be that mad. After all, Jongwoo now had
a new piece of information in his arsenal. If he got caught in the gates, he only had 5 seconds
to get out. Just 5.

While Jongwoo internally tried to make sense of the information, the guards soon retreated
back through the door and the traffic light turned green again. Well, he’d just have to hope
that he wouldn’t get caught then.

As the song started playing up again whilst the lanes beneath the players’ feet instantly began
moving, Jongwoo found himself wondering just how many rounds of this game there were
going to be. If he had counted correctly, they had already lost about 17 players just by the
first two rounds. So at this rate, more than two thirds of the player base may not come out of
this game alive.

“Open the East, East, East Grand Gate,”

Seemingly gotten the hang of not falling over when the lanes suddenly started to move,
Jongwoo tried to anticipate where he would be when the song stopped. But it was far too hard
to try and guess, so Jongwoo quickly gave up. He’d just have to improvise if things turned
out for the worst.

“Open the South, South, South Grand Gate,”

But rather than staying still, Jongwoo thought he should keep moving just in case. But as he
followed the lane that took him whizzing around one of the corners of the symbol, Jongwoo
suddenly slipped. His hands landed on a wet, slippery surface and almost immediately, he
recognised what had happened.

The floor beneath him was covered in a thin layer of water from the hoses, with most of it
having a slight pink tinge to it. Jongwoo didn't even have to guess as to why it was that
colour. But rather than laying on his ass in a bloody puddle, Jongwoo managed to rise to his
feet without falling over again.

“When it’s at twelve sharp,”

Staying where these wet patches were would seriously hinder his ability to run away if he got
caught in the gates. And so without much thinking, Jongwoo made the poor mistake of
immediately leaping onto the light green lane beside him that took him spinning around in
the complete opposite direction.

Quickly recovering from the whiplash, Jongwoo lifted his head up to see what had
temporarily blocked out the light from above him and what he saw made his heart drop to his
stomach.

Oh fuck.

“The Gates are closed.”

The traffic light boomed and turned red before the lanes quickly came to a sudden halt too.
For a split second, Jongwoo peered up in horror to see that he was right under the arms of the
dolls. Then, he quickly dropped his head and stared at the gate that had just come down only
a few feet in front of him. Jongwoo was glad that it wasn’t a far distance but holy shit, he
could have been decapitated if he had been only a few feet in front of where he was standing
right now.

But, for once in his life, Jongwoo’s fight or flight response finally kicked in. Jongwoo
immediately began hauling ass to the gate as he heard the tantalising click of the arms above
him unlocking. 5 seconds. He only had 5 seconds to get out.

5.

And as Jongwoo kept at his pace, running frantically and desperately toward the gate, his
eyes quickly fell on a familiar tall figure standing on the other side of it.

4.

Moonjo?
3.

And for whatever reason, upon seeing the man, Jongwoo felt his legs moving impossibly
quicker. Moonjo was standing on the opposite side of the gate with outstretched arms
motioning desperately for Jongwoo to hurry up.

2.

Rapidly approaching the gate, Jongwoo used every last drop of energy in his body to
somehow jump off of the ground so high that he was able to hurdle himself over the gate.

1.

Jongwoo went crashing into the older man, sending them both toppling over each other
backwards.

The sound of the dolls’ arms crashing down to the ground behind him was loud and
horrifying, but Jongwoo couldn’t focus on it even if he tried.

“Players 126, 275, 343, 377, 409, 449 eliminated.”

“Holy shit…” Was all that Jongwoo managed as he breathed shakily into Moonjo beneath
him. And as Jongwoo let his head rest on the older man’s chest out of exhaustion, he couldn’t
help but notice how fast Moonjo’s heart was beating too.

But instead of replying to him, Moonjo sat up - taking Jongwoo with him - before he
slithered his arms around the younger man and squeezed tightly. And before Jongwoo could
stop himself, he too was circling his own arms around Moonjo and reciprocating the hug just
as firmly.

He hated to admit it, but Jongwoo felt safe in Moonjo’s arms. So, as Jongwoo melted further
into the embrace, he zoned out when exactly the guards had entered through the doors and
were making their way over to the gruesome scene to wash it down.

Neither man said anything. Jongwoo’s breathing was still quite erratic from his frenzied
running and Moonjo seemed to be at a loss for words too. It was nice. And then it wasn’t.

“I don’t mean to protrude, but there’s not much time left until the next round starts.” Young-
il’s voice brought Jongwoo out of his trance in a heartbeat as he quickly realised that the
game wasn’t quite over yet. But instead of ripping away from Moonjo in disgust like he
usually did, he simply loosened his grip before he whispered in the man’s ear.

“We should get up, Moonjo.” Jongwoo spoke softly.

Moonjo seemed to understand that this wasn’t the time for whatever they were doing, so he
soon let go of Jongwoo and pulled back. Jongwoo studied the man’s face which looked
strained with an overwhelming amount of concern and worry. Moonjo was also scanning
over Jongwoo, as if he couldn’t believe that he was sitting right there in front of him.
The sound of the door shutting behind the group of guards effectively had Moonjo and
Jongwoo rising to their feet in seconds. And once they got to their feet, Jongwoo turned to
face the older man before he reached his hand out and interlocked it with Moonjo’s.

Moonjo seemed to be startled by Jongwoo’s sudden boldness at first - especially after how he
had made a whole fiasco about not wanting to touch Moonjo in the first place - but he soon
tightened his grip on the younger man’s hand in response. Jongwoo held Moonjo’s eye
contact intensely, where an unspoken “Stay with me.” lingered in the air between them. Not
needing to be said, but being understood by both parties regardless.

And just like that, the traffic light turned green once again and the lane beneath them began
rotating almost immediately.

“Open the East, East, East Grand Gate,”

Now being able to use Moonjo as a makeshift support beam to keep him standing without
falling back down onto his ass, Jongwoo let the lane whizz them around the track. Jongwoo
noticed how the rest of Gi-hun’s - well, technically his too - team stood in a line on the
opposite side of Moonjo in a similar standstill position holding on to one another. It seemed
that Jongwoo was the only one that had got separated from the group at the beginning of the
game.

“Open the South, South, South Grand Gate,”

Everyone’s eyes were closely fixated on the location of the dolls. The lane that they were on
had already done a lap around and was heading back in the direction of the dolls, and quickly.

“Jump back onto the yellow lane!” Gi-hun bellowed, with everyone’s attention quickly
snapping back to the lanes beside them. Ah, it seemed that they had figured out a system as to
how to steer clear of the archway. How smart.

Quickly turning their attention back to the yellow lane beside them, both Jongwoo and
Moonjo waited until an opening appeared. The green lane that they were currently standing
on was rapidly approaching the archway, so it was now or never.

“When it’s at twelve sharp,”

Finally, when an opening appeared, neither Jongwoo nor Moonjo hesitated to jump across
onto the pastel lane next to them. Still hand in hand as they leapt, they landed a little shakily
but managed to stay standing despite all odds.

But just as they landed, it seemed that someone on the green lane that they had just come off
of had realised the same thing because soon enough, Jongwoo felt a rather large person
crashing into him from behind.

Upon the sudden collision, Jongwoo was repelled forward, losing Moonjo’s hand in the
process, before he landed on the pink lane he had started on and was swept away back in the
direction of the dolls promptly.
“The Gates are closed.”

The traffic light turned red and then the lanes came to a startling halt, and even amidst his
confusion, Jongwoo managed to push the man off of him before he scrambled to his feet. He
darted his head around trying to find the dolls before he turned around and…

Player 100 was standing about a foot or two away from him when the gates suddenly came
crashing down behind him. The older man flinched as the gate narrowly missed him, his
measly strands of grey hair flapping in the wind of just how fast the gate had come down.
Jongwoo felt his breath hitch at just how close he had been to being trapped in the gates yet
again.

The defeating click of the dolls’ arms echoed out through the room and Jongwoo snapped his
eyes up to the blood stained arms that were rapidly descending. Then, Jongwoo dropped his
head back down to face Player 100 who looked like a trembling mess after having only
narrowly missed being decapitated by the gate.

5.

And as Jongwoo studied the man, he felt something inside of him ignite. Today, Jongwoo
wasn’t going to wait around until karma caught up with this bastard. Instead, he was going to
be karma.

4.

Jongwoo’s legs began moving on autopilot as he quickly closed the distance between him and
the older man who had yet to stop shaking in fear.

3.

Free will was a crazy thing.

2.

“What goes around comes around, motherfucker!” Jongwoo screeched, lifting his leg up to
thrust it into the older man’s abdomen. He watched as Player 100 fell over the back of the
gate and landed harshly on his neck before he completely flipped over onto his stomach.

1.

The older man snapped his head around to face the dolls’ arms that were milliseconds away
from crushing him before he held up a hand as if to try and stop it.

Then, the dolls’ arms crushed him with a satisfying mix of a squelch and a crunch.

“Players 078, 100, 156, 223, 240 eliminated.”

And as Jongwoo’s eyes stayed fixated on the spot that Player 100 had once been laying in, he
heard footsteps behind him rapidly approaching.
“Jagiya? Are you okay?” Moonjo placed a hand on Jongwoo’s shoulder, but the younger man
kept his eyes on the spot even when the dolls’ arms began to lift again.

Jongwoo guessed that anyone would be squeamish if they had to look at the mangled mess of
one of their fellow peers, but in this case, the satisfaction was far more prevalent than the
nausea.

Seemingly a little confused as to why Jongwoo hadn’t responded to him, Moonjo followed
Jongwoo’s eyeline until it landed on the bloodied jumpsuit of a player. Moonjo narrowed his
eyes as he read the number before opening his mouth as if to say “Ah.”

“Good fucking riddance.” Jongwoo spat, finally turning away from the gut-curdling sight to
instead face Moonjo.

Moonjo simply smiled in response.

And before either man could say another word, guards were pushing past them and were
beginning to wash the remnants of the players over the edge of the platform and into the pit.

“Let’s go back to the others.” Moonjo finally spoke up and Jongwoo let the man guide him
back to the rest of the group who had been fortunate enough to have not run into as many
issues as Jongwoo had. Lucky bastards.

His eyes drifted across the team who was standing in a row on the yellow lane before they
fell on Junhee who was looking rather pale and clutching at her stomach fairly firmly.
Honestly, good on her. Jongwoo was having a million issues with trying to stay alive as is, let
alone having to carry a baby through it all too. Junhee was a soldier for being able to survive
all this time whilst also being pregnant.

Then, his eyes drifted and landed on Myung-gi beside her who was acting as her support
beam for the time being. Come to think of it, that was probably the one good thing he had
done for her since he had got here. Congratulations, only took several near death experiences
to get there.

Soon enough, once the lanes were free from the leftover body parts of the recently eliminated
players, the guards left and retreated back through the doors that they had come through.

“Now, the final round will begin.” The woman’s voice echoed through the PA system and
Jongwoo almost celebrated upon hearing the words. Thank fuck this was the last round.
Jongwoo didn’t think he’d be able to do this for very much longer.

Moonjo wrapped his hand back around Jongwoo’s and pulled him closer, determined not to
lose him in the chaos like last time. And much like before, Jongwoo tightened his grip around
the man’s hand too.

Suddenly, the traffic light switched to green and the pastel coloured lane beneath their feet
began to rotate.

“Open the East, East, East Grand Gate,”

Wobbling ever so slightly before regaining his balance, Jongwoo watched as the room around
him spun as the lane began whizzing him around the infinity symbol-shape path and away
from the dolls.

“Open the South, South, South Grand Gate,”

Once again, Jongwoo tried to calculate where they would be when the song ended, but his
brain wasn’t keeping up. Thankfully, Gi-hun’s was.

“I think we can stay on this one!” Gi-hun announced loudly.

And almost immediately, everyone - including Jongwoo - leaned in to look at the man with
skepticism plastered across each of their faces.

“You think? Are you sure?” Young-il screamed back.

“Yeah! I think we’ll avoid it if we just don’t move.” Gi-hun followed up loudly, and Jongwoo
couldn’t help but feel dubious about the whole thing. Wouldn’t it just be better to hop on a
different lane just to be safe?

“When it’s at twelve sharp,”

They were approaching the archway at a rapid speed, and Jongwoo swallowed back the lump
in his throat that had crept up out of nowhere. And as they entered the arch made by the dolls,
Jongwoo couldn’t help as he looked up to the red stained arms above him, shaking with fear.

But just as quickly as they had entered it, they were already leaving it. Sure it was a narrow
window, but Gi-hun had been right.

“The Gates are closed.”

The traffic light turned red whilst the lanes simultaneously came to a sudden halt, causing
Jongwoo and Moonjo to stumble on their feet but catching themselves before they could hit
the ground. Then, Jongwoo turned around and…

His heart dropped.

The gates, which were literally only a few feet away from them, came crashing down and
Jongwoo’s eyes fell on the cowering duo that had been at the end of the line and had been
caught on the inside the gates.

Junhee and Myung-gi.

When the horrifying click of the dolls’ arms unlocking rang out in Jongwoo’s ears only
moments later, he found that he had already ripped himself out of Moonjo’s grasp and that his
legs were already moving on their own before he could even register it.

All previous grudges against Myung-gi seemingly disappeared into thin air as he frantically
ran over to where the duo was standing.
5.

Jongwoo had been at the front of the line so he was much further away then the others, and
even if he was putting everything into this run, it didn’t seem like it was going to be enough.

Then, Myung-gi made his decision.

4.

Jongwoo watched from afar, still closing the distance between them, as Myung-gi grabbed
onto Junhee rather harshly before he kicked out her legs from underneath her, causing her to
fall onto her ass.

3.

And in one swift motion, Myung-gi reeled the woman back before sending her flying across
the slippery floor coated with a pink layer of water - courtesy of the guards. Jongwoo, who
had now approached the gate, watched as Junhee clutched onto her belly as she slid
effortlessly under the gate before she came to sudden stop just in front of him.

2.

And of course, almost immediately, Junhee came to her senses and quickly realised what the
man had done. Jongwoo grabbed onto the woman who was, despite her large belly,
scrambling to try and get up to her feet so she could go back for Myung-gi. Holding her
down as she desperately squirmed in his arms, Jongwoo’s eyes fell back onto Myung-gi who
was simply just standing there.

1.

He watched as a single tear fell from the man’s eye. Junhee let out a visceral scream as the
dolls’ arms were milliseconds away from crushing the father to her baby.

And somehow, despite his limited time remaining, Myung-gi mouthed two words in his final
moments.

“I’m sorry.”

And with that, the arms came crashing down on top of him, followed by a deafening squelch.

“Players 093, 170, 290, 325, 333 eliminated.”

Almost instantly, Junhee went still in his arms. But it didn’t last long until she erupted into a
manic burst of horror and anger.

“Myung-gi!” Her voice was hoarse and it sounded as if she was ruining her vocal cords as
she screamed. And while it pierced Jongwoo’s ears at just how loud she was being, he
couldn’t possibly be angry at her.
Trying to calm her down, Jongwoo wrapped both his arms around her and pulled her into a
tight hug to get her to stop moving around so much.

And then Junhee broke down.

She let her head drop onto Jongwoo’s shoulder and then she just began to endlessly sob.
Jongwoo let her cry into his jumpsuit, not caring if she was dirtying it with her snot or tears.

And as the arms began to retreat back up to their original position, Jongwoo brought a hand
up to the back of Junhee’s head, holding it there firmly so she couldn’t look back and see
what was leftover of the man.

Jongwoo swallowed back the bile that had built up in his throat yet again upon seeing the
gruesome sight. He tensed his teeth as he recalled Myung-gi’s final moments.

He was an asshole, but he didn’t deserve that.

Even if Jongwoo had originally thought that Myung-gi wanted nothing to do with Junhee and
the baby, he quickly revoked his opinion. Maybe Myung-gi really did want to be a better
father figure to their baby after all.

And it was as if the makers of the game were taunting them, as the woman’s voice echoed
over the speakers shortly after.

“Game over.”

Junhee began to sob much louder upon hearing the woman’s words, seemingly being
reminded that they were so close to finishing the game and that they had lost someone in
literally the last few seconds. In response, Jongwoo squeezed her tighter hoping to calm her
down once again.

And as the doors that they had originally walked through at the beginning opened once again
but this time with much more guards, Jongwoo sighed as he realised that Junhee wasn’t going
to be able to mourn Myung-gi properly anytime soon.

Suddenly, Jongwoo felt a hand cup his free shoulder from behind. Upon the touch, he tilted
his head back as far as he could without disturbing Junhee before his eyes fell on the two
women standing behind him.

It was Hyunju and Geumja.

The strained frown on their two faces was enough for Jongwoo to understand. Without
needing to say anything at all, Jongwoo nodded before he gently let go of the limp woman
against his shoulder. And before she could fall back upon Jongwoo’s sudden retraction,
Hyunju bent down and slithered an arm around Junhee’s waist, quickly taking over
Jongwoo’s job.

Geumja supported Hyunju as they both worked to help Junhee rise to her wobbly feet.
Jongwoo watched as Hyunju turned back to him dejectedly and pressed her lips together in a
 thin line before she spun around and began slowly walking in the direction that the guards
were leading them in.

Jongwoo rose to his feet shortly after, patting at his pants to rid them of any leftover dirt
before he sighed as he watched the wobbly trio walk away. His shoulder felt damp with
Junhee’s tears but he ignored it. Then, Jongwoo heard someone rapidly approaching him
from behind.

And as he turned around and realised it was Moonjo, he let his shoulders drop in misery. Had
he done the right thing?

Then, it was almost as if Moonjo had read his mind, as he quickly spoke up upon seeing the
younger man’s disheartened expression.

“You did the right thing, jagiya.” Moonjo softly whispered as he reached his hand up to tuck
a single fallen strand of Jongwoo’s hair behind his ear gently.

It was true, he probably had done the right thing. But Jongwoo still felt inherently guilty by
having held back someone from trying to save their significant other from imminent death.
He imagined himself in the exact situation and how he’d—

“Don’t think about it too much. Let’s just go back, okay?” Moonjo’s voice was soothing and
silky, and it effectively brought Jongwoo out of his internal dilemma.

But rather than outright responding to the man’s question, Jongwoo instead wrapped both of
his hands around Moonjo’s arm and shuffled in closer to him. Moonjo smiled softly before he
was soon pulling both of them in the direction of the doors that the guards had come through.

While they walked, Jongwoo couldn’t help as his mind began to wander.

Putting away all of his prior dismissive feelings and opinions about the man, Jongwoo soon
realised something. Asshole or not, that was a good thing that Myung-gi did. And even if
Jongwoo wasn’t particularly fond of the man, he couldn’t deny that Myung-gi sacrificed
himself for something that was more important in his life.

Junhee and their baby.

And as Jongwoo squeezed Moonjo’s arm tighter as he let the guard’s lead them back through
the doors and down the stairs, Jongwoo thoroughly believed that the man’s bittersweet ending
was going to stick with him for a while. One final thought crossed Jongwoo’s mind as he
took the final step down from the stairs.

Rest in peace Myung-gi, rest in peace.

Chapter End Notes

Okay, maybe I had been exaggerating when i said to hold onto your faves for this
chapter. GOTTA GET THE TENSION UP YK?? Haha but fr tho, as much as i hated
myung-gi as a character in this fic, his death actually kinda made me tear up 😢 You will
be remembered, and I respect you for sacrificing yourself for the woman bearing your
child That’s a real man right there

This chapter was an emotional rollercoaster man. Had me giggling w/ the mjjw scene in
round 3 (i think) and then had me squealing in excitement after killing off player 100
only to get into the feels with 333. LIKE AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH It was so much oml
😭😭

It was super fun to design this game and i hope that you all liked my interpretation of it!
Just a heads up, i know that in the original korean child’s game that when the two people
who form the arch (the “gatekeepers”) bring their arms down to trap the other ppl
underneath, those players who were caught are meant to switch with the gatekeepers
BUT i thought that it wouldn’t really work in a squid game setting. So i didn’t intend to
purposefully change the rules of the game, i just did it for the sake of the plot haha!! But
regardless, hope it was fun to read! I was writing it like holy SHIT i’d hate to be there.
Because wdym all the lanes are going in different directions and different speeds?
Nahhhh i’d be a goner man.

and HELLO? THANK U SM FOR LIKE 850 KUDOS AND 10K HITS?? HOLY
SHIT!! I first wrote this as like a self indulgent thing so this support is honestly so crazy
to me 😭 Thank you guys so much for all your lovely words of encouragement, it means
so much to me! I’m glad that you’re all enjoying this as much as I am enjoying to write
it ❤ Y’all are the best!!

Side note: I go back to school in like 2/3 days so updates may (keyword: MAY) slow
down a little. But not too much i hope!! I don’t plan on giving this fic up anytime soon
so DONT WORRY!! I couldn’t do mjjw like that no way ❌ So yeah, please just keep
that in mind from now on 🥰
P.S: If you’re having a hard time envisioning what the game room would look like/how
the game would work, check out the account @luckgood_456 on tiktok!! Their video
was my main inspiration and i kinda just added a few things on top of it to make it more
exciting (and gruesome, oopsies!). So yeah, be sure to check out their videos!

edit: have just realised thanks to one of my lovely readers (xeniums TY) that i missed
daeho… Dw yall, hes not dead he was just too ashamed to rejoin the group after what he
did w/ the magazines. But its okay, he will be making a comeback in probably the next
chapter haha
 Aftermath
Chapter Summary

Emotions are running high after the recent wipeout of more than half of the players and
a certain doppelganger. What could possibly go wrong?

Chapter Notes

SORRY FOR THE WAIT LOVELIES!! One word: school 😕 (+ i found this chapter so
hard to write for some reason 😭, but mainly school haha)

Hope it doesn’t disappoint! Lots of drama between characters going on in this chapter
i’d say…

See the end of the chapter for more notes

The walk back to the sleeping quarters was quiet. And not only because more than half of the
player base had been eliminated, but because nobody was brave enough to speak up after
what had happened. While Myung-gi wasn’t a particularly likeable person to anyone, no one
was stupid enough to tell that to a certain mourning pregnant woman who happened to be
carrying the asshole’s baby around.

Apart from the muffled sobs of Junhee and the heavy footsteps of players descending the
stairs, it was almost dead silent. That still didn’t change once they were actually back inside
of the sleeping quarters, with the large room only making the silence even more pronounced.

Jongwoo was one of the last players to step back inside, with Moonjo following closely
behind him. When players began to disperse and retreat back to their respective corners of the
room, Jongwoo found himself searching for Junhee. He didn’t know why he cared so much
though. Jongwoo was far from being friends with Junhee, or let alone friendly with Myung-gi
enough to warrant his concern for her. Still, Jongwoo scanned the room until his eyes landed
on a familiar duo holding up a rather defeated looking woman between them.

Soon enough, Jongwoo - and Moonjo technically, but he always followed the younger man
wherever he went - was heading in the direction of the trio. And upon approaching them,
Jongwoo felt his shoulders ever so slightly deflate upon seeing Junhee still actively crying
into Hyunju’s shoulder. The taller woman’s jumpsuit had many wet patches from where
Junhee had sobbed endlessly into her, but just like Jongwoo, Hyunju didn’t seem to care.
But as Jongwoo watched the broken woman cry, he quickly realised that he didn’t know what
to say to her. How does one go about this sort of thing? Jongwoo didn’t have much
experience with approaching someone after their significant other had passed. So, he’d just
have to guess and hope it wouldn’t stir her up even more.

“I’m so sorry, Junhee.” Was what Jongwoo managed, his voice low and careful.

Not surprisingly, Junhee didn’t respond. Jongwoo didn’t really expect her to anyway. He just
wanted to let her know that he was there for her in case she needed it.

Jongwoo caught the dejected gazes from both Hyunju and Geumja, with the older woman
rubbing her hand in soothing, circular motions on Junhee’s back. Then, Hyunju broke the
silence that had temporarily engulfed them.

“Junhee, you should get some rest.” Her voice was quiet as she brought a hand up to gently
brush through Junhee’s hair with her fingers.

Junhee nodded weakly against her shoulder before she fully pulled back. She used her jacket
sleeve to wipe the lingering tears off of her face, trying to make herself look more put
together despite how her current state was totally understandable. And as Junhee turned
around, she held her head down low, not making eye contact with anyone but rather just
staring down at her protruding belly with even more tears brimming her eyes.

Jongwoo frowned upon seeing the state of the usually happy and smiling woman before he
reached out an arm and placed a reassuring and empathic hand on her shoulder. He squeezed
it gently before he eventually retracted it, hoping that his condolences would get through to
her.

When Jongwoo pulled away, Junhee tilted her head back up to instead face him. And almost
instantly, Jongwoo watched as the woman’s eyes quickly began to fill up with tears before
they were soon streaming down her face once more. Everyone seemed to be a little startled
but Hyunju quickly pulled Junhee back into her embrace, hugging her tightly.

Jongwoo shot her look as if to say “What?” and Hyunju shrugged as much as her body would
allow it with Junhee’s head still resting on her shoulder. But as the two exchanged confused
glances, it was a broken sound that spilled out from Junhee that caused Hyunju to
immediately lean in closer to her.

“Sorry Junhee, I didn’t quite hear you?” Hyunju repeated softly, but her statement came out
more like a question than anything else.

Then, Junhee, between her heartbreaking sobs, choked out something that only Hyunju could
hear. And when Hyunju seemed to process what she had said, it looked as if she had deflated
even more. Her eyes then met Jongwoo’s once again, but this time, there was a hint of…
guilt? Was he seeing this correctly?

“Jongwoo…” She trailed off defeatedly.

“What happened?” Jongwoo asked sincerely, confused as to what had happened in the few
seconds he had been standing there.

“…You should go.” And as the words left Hyunju’s mouth, it looked as if it pained the taller
woman to say them in the first place.

Jongwoo froze.

…What?

But despite his confusion, Jongwoo managed to come up with a response.

“What do you mean?” He replied while his brows furrowed in confusion at the woman’s
words.

“It’s nothing personal.” Hyunju countered as her grip on Junhee tightened when the smaller
woman began to sob louder.

“Then what is it? I just want to help—” But before he could finish, Hyunju interrupted
Jongwoo.

“You look like him.”

Jongwoo blinked back his shock and confusion before he began to feel upset. What the hell?

“That’s not my fault.” Jongwoo retorted, trying to sound composed and not at all hurt by her
words, but failing miserably.

“I know it isn’t, Jongwoo. But you have to understand that you’re a splitting image of him,
and Junhee…” Hyunju paused, “Well, she’s still processing it all, you know?”

Jongwoo narrowed his eyes on the woman. It made sense but Jongwoo still had every right to
feel hurt. He wasn’t Myung-gi. He would never be him. So why was he being cast away
because of him?

“Look, I don’t want to be the one who brings up painful memories for her, but I can’t control
how I look.” Jongwoo argued back, still maintaining a relatively gentle tone, before he
quickly added, “Let me try and help at least. Please.”

“Jongwoo…” Hyunju relented as she cradled Junhee in her arms even more.

“Please.” He begged, and Hyunju sighed at his stubbornness.

“Do you want what’s best for Junhee?” The taller woman questioned with a pained
expression fronting her face.

“Yes, I do.” Jongwoo agreed, also nodding his head as if to prove that he truly cared about
the woman.
“Then you’d give her some space.” Hyunju dejectedly replied before she quickly added, “At
least for now anyway.”

Jongwoo dropped his shoulders in defeat upon hearing the woman’s words. As much as he
wanted to stay around and comfort her just like everybody else, he knew that his presence
wasn’t exactly welcomed at the moment.

“…Okay.” Jongwoo eventually whispered, letting his head droop ever so slightly.

Then, following along with her request, Jongwoo soon found himself turning away from the
trio and heading in the other direction. Moonjo, who Jongwoo had forgotten had been
standing there the whole time, soon caught up to him too.

Jongwoo’s footsteps were unnecessarily heavy as he made his way back to his bed. And once
he made it to the top of his ladder and crawled onto his bed, he slumped down against the
bedframe harshly. Jongwoo couldn’t quite tell if he was more hurt or angry that they were
pushing him away. Maybe both.

Moonjo soon crawled up next to him and then sat down silently, before he eventually spoke
up, effectively bringing Jongwoo hurtling back to reality.

“It’s for the best, jagiya.” Moonjo uttered softly, his gaze on Jongwoo staying steady despite
Jongwoo’s unwillingness to return it.

“She can’t even look at me.” Jongwoo mumbled under his breath as he dropped his head into
his hands.

“Jagiya…I don’t know what you want me to say. You do look like Myung-gi.” Moonjo
countered, his tone still flat as ever.

“He looks like me.” Jongwoo corrected pointlessly. There was no point in correcting the man,
but something inside him ignited at the thought of him being the copy of Myung-gi and not
the other way around. And upon his sudden outburst, Jongwoo had lifted his head up to face
the older man.

“Yes, you’re very right. It’s a shame that he’s such a splitting image of you then.” The older
man rectified as the corners of his lips upturned in fond amusement at Jongwoo’s snappy
remark.

“Why do you care? I can’t imagine you particularly caring about either of them.” Jongwoo
snarkily retorted, and even his own tone caught himself off guard. Why was he getting so
worked up about this?

“When you care, I care.” Moonjo commented smugly, smiling as if Jongwoo’s angry tone
was music to his ears.

In response, Jongwoo just rolled his eyes and raised a hand and waved it in the air, as if he
was swatting away the man’s remark entirely. Then, Jongwoo let out a defeated sigh as all his
previous anger seemingly melted away along with it.
“…I just don’t understand.” Jongwoo muttered, letting his shoulders droop as the words left
his mouth.

“Hm?” Moonjo hummed, encouraging the younger man to continue.

“She was using my shoulder to cry on only minutes ago.” Jongwoo confessed as he racked
his brain as to what possibly could have happened within that time that warranted her sudden
inability to look at him face on.

Moonjo seemed to contemplate his answer for a few moments before he finally decided to
chime in.

“She was seeking an escape. Support. A distraction. In the end, you were the closest one to
her at the time. It would’ve been strange if she hadn't sought you out for comfort.”

That was…actually a good point, as much as he wanted to deny it. Jongwoo just happened to
be the one who caught her when Myung-gi threw her. She probably had been too blinded by
the grief to have been picky about who she wanted to comfort her.

“I guess.” Jongwoo shrugged weakly, knowing that he couldn’t be too mad at Junhee for
wanting to keep her space from him.

Soon enough, the two men fell into a somewhat comfortable silence. Thankfully, Moonjo
didn’t push any further and left Jongwoo to his thoughts as he stared off into the distance
absentmindedly.

His thoughts indeed…

“Jagiya, are you alright? You’re looking pale.” Moonjo asked sincerely, and Jongwoo
snapped his head back around to face the man.

“What? Yeah, of course I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” Jongwoo assured, trying to brush the
man off.

Then, Moonjo went deathly quiet as he narrowed his eyes on the younger man. But just as
quickly as silence engulfed them once again, Moonjo spoke up and broke it.

“I almost lost you today.”

And almost instantly, the memory of Jongwoo running for his life with only seconds to spare
flooded his mind. With him jumping into Moonjo’s arms. And more than anything else, with
him feeling safe in the older man’s embrace.

Jongwoo went to open his mouth to retort, but nothing came out. And much to his dismay,
Jongwoo felt the remaining walls he had built for himself begin to crumble. Jongwoo’s mind
hopped between painful and fond memories as if someone was smashing the TV remote and
rapidly changing the channels as a result.

His mind settled on a particular figure first - his mother.

Jongwoo wished he could see her one final time. He wished he could be held in her arms and
be told that everything was going to be okay, like when he was younger. Now that he had
seen the true horrors of the outside world, he wanted nothing more than to be comforted by
her one last time. And if he saw her again, he wanted to tell her about everything. About
Eden, about his job, about the games, everything. He didn't want to hide anything from her
anymore.

But would he be able to tell her? Would he be able to face her after everything he has done?
Would she understand?

Probably not. Nobody seemed to understand.

And then his mind skipped right over to a different individual who happened to also be sitting
next to him at this very moment.

Moonjo.

He understood. He knew what Jongwoo had done and he had accepted it. Fuck, Moonjo
encouraged it for the matter. More times than not, it seemed that Moonjo knew Jongwoo
more than he knew himself. From the moment the man saw him, Moonjo knew what he truly
was. Moonjo knew that Jongwoo was just like him.

And in a matter of a short week of staying at Eden, Moonjo had been able to bring him and
his sanity crashing down. Jongwoo distantly remembered how livid he was when he initially
caved in, but that disappointment soon lost to a different kind of feeling when he began his
killing spree that fateful night. Fervour.

After living a long, arduous life of constantly holding himself back and having to be a
doormat to anyone who held any sort of authority over him, being able to finally let go was
intoxicating to say the least. But on the path Jongwoo had been taking, he was bound to snap
sooner or later. Moonjo was simply another pawn in the grand scheme of things that brought
him into a spiral of instability and insanity. He was just like Jieun, Jaeho, Byeongmin, the
other residents, and anyone else in his life really. In the end, it was inevitable.

And come to think of it, could he even fight the inevitable? Prolong it perhaps, but not
prevent it.

Some could argue that Moonjo has done nothing but bring the worst out of him, but Jongwoo
disagreed ever so slightly. What Moonjo brought out was him. His true self, beyond all the
walls and precautions Jongwoo had put in place. And once that part of him finally surfaced,
Moonjo accepted Jongwoo for who he truly was with no judgement. Only affection and
admiration.

And Jongwoo may have been in a 5 year long relationship with Jieun up until a month ago,
but he has never felt this valued by someone else. This admired. This loved.
And now that he had finally come to terms with his true outlook on the world and realised
that it made him feel more content than guilty, Jongwoo certainly didn’t want that to end.
After all this time, he finally had a reason to live. And while people would still step all over
him when they had the chance, at the very least, Jongwoo would no longer feel bad about not
holding himself back if it came to it. Moonjo had merely unlocked the chains holding him
down, and now Jongwoo finally felt free.

In a world of assholes, was it so wrong to gravitate toward someone that didn’t make him feel
so shitty about himself?

No, Jongwoo didn’t think so.

Suddenly, the cold feeling of a tear trickling down Jongwoo’s cheek brought him out of his
internal dilemma.

…Was he crying?

“Oh, jagiya…” Moonjo trailed off before he held out his arms, “Come here.”

And while his rational brain screamed at him to not let the man see him so vulnerable, it was
another, deeper and more suppressed part of Jongwoo that made him eventually submit. So
before he even knew it, Jongwoo leaned into Moonjo and let the older man circle his arms
around him.

Then, much to his dismay, Jongwoo broke down.

He just wanted to go home, wherever that may be now.

Jongwoo sunk his face into the man’s shoulder, letting his tears relentlessly dampen the
man’s jumpsuit that had random splotches of dried blood all over it. Moonjo dropped a hand
from his waist to instead reach a hand up to cup the back of his head, interlocking his fingers
with Jongwoo’s hair and holding him there against his shoulder.

“I- I’m so scared…” Jongwoo croaked out, turning his head to the side so his words could be
heard by the other. Moonjo didn’t say anything in return, but instead his hold around the man
tightened.

“…I don’t want to die like this.” Jongwoo mumbled, his breath catching in a sob. Moonjo let
out a disheartened sigh, and Jongwoo could feel the man’s warm breath ghosting the back of
his neck as he spoke.

“Jagiya, you won’t die here,” Moonjo paused before continuing, “because I won’t allow it.”

Jongwoo wanted to believe the man, he really did. But unfortunately for Jongwoo, life had
never treated him fairly. He didn’t want to be here any longer than he had to be.

“Moonjo?” His voice cracked as he spoke, and despite the hold on the back of his head,
Jongwoo managed to pull back so he was face to face with the older man. Upon Jongwoo’s
sudden retraction, Moonjo’s grip slightly loosened, but he still let his hand roam around
Jongwoo’s hair gently.

“Yes?” Moonjo replied softly. And as Jongwoo came into view, Moonjo wasted no time to
retract his hand from the back of Jongwoo’s head to instead reach it up to cup the younger
man’s face. Then, Moonjo, using his thumb, gently wiped a tear that had pooled just under
Jongwoo’s eye.

“Will you leave with me?” Jongwoo quietly asked, pausing to let the question sink in before
he quickly added a desperate, “Please.”

The thumb caressing his cheek immediately froze and Jongwoo watched as Moonjo’s pupils
dilated ever so slightly at his plea. And when Moonjo failed to answer him, Jongwoo decided
to continue.

“I want to leave with you before it’s too late.”

Silence.

When Moonjo failed to answer yet again, Jongwoo shifted uncomfortably in his hold. Had he
read the man all wrong? Jongwoo could’ve sworn that Moonjo would’ve liked to—

“…You do?” Moonjo’s voice was uncharacteristically meek, and if it hadn’t been for how
close they were sitting, Jongwoo wouldn’t have heard him.

“Yeah.” Jongwoo nodded weakly, his gaze on the older man never once faltering. But instead
of staying as a crying, hot mess any longer, Jongwoo sniffled and took a deep breath, trying
to compose himself a bit more. He probably looked like shit though.

“Jagiya,” Moonjo paused as he resumed the soft caress of his thumb over Jongwoo’s cheek,
“Every step you take, I’ll be there, walking beside you.”

Despite his current state, Jongwoo couldn’t help but crack a small smile at the man’s words.
It probably would’ve been a romantic promise, but seeing as it was Moonjo who was saying
it, Jongwoo just found it amusing to say the least. He didn’t think Moonjo would leave him
alone even if he begged for it. But strangely enough, Jongwoo was fine with that.

Moonjo seemed to take notice of Jongwoo’s odd behaviour and he dropped the hand from his
cheek to instead rest it back on the younger man’s waist.

“Jagiya?” Moonjo questioned sincerely as he cocked his head, studying Jongwoo in

confusion as to what he could have possibly found so funny.

Jongwoo, feeling much better and no longer crying, simply reached a hand up and waved it
around in the air, brushing off the man. Perhaps it was because he had jumped between being
angry to upset to now completely fine so rapidly, Jongwoo was feeling a little delirious. And
maybe it was also the events of the day finally catching up to him, but Jongwoo could feel
the beginnings of a headache on its way.

So, Jongwoo leaned back into the man’s shoulder before he spoke up again.
“…I’m tired.” Was all he managed, his eyelids becoming increasingly heavier as he spoke.

Moonjo simply hummed in response, before he used his hold on the younger man to bring
them both down onto the bed beneath them. Much like always, Jongwoo rested his head on
the man’s chest as he began to slowly succumb to his sleep after a hard day of both mental
and physical exertion. Hopefully he could just sleep it all off and feel better when he woke
up.

Jongwoo snuggled closer into the older man, wrapping his own arms around Moonjo’s torso
firmly. And soon enough, Jongwoo found himself completely surrendering to his sleep. He
certainly didn’t want to dwell on the fact that this whole situation had somehow become a
routine for them over the past couple days. But even so, in a matter of minutes, he fell fast
asleep in Moonjo’s arms once again.

A few hours later, Jongwoo found his eyes fluttering open to the fluorescent light shining
down upon him, his mind foggy and his limbs heavy, as if sleep still clung to him like a
weight. The first thing he noticed was how much lighter his head felt. It seemed that sleep
really was the cure for everything at this point.

Letting out a deep groan as his still slightly sensitive eyes adjusted to the bright light,
Jongwoo groggily patted the surface beneath him, quickly coming to the abrupt realisation
that Moonjo was no longer there as he palmed the mattress sheet with tired fingers.

Suddenly feeling much more awake, Jongwoo felt his breathing quicken ever so slightly as
he sat up in his bed. Then, his eyes scanned over the rest of the bed, searching for what
wasn’t there.

Where had Moonjo gone?

Then, as his senses began to come back to him, Jongwoo's ears picked up the not-so distant
shuffling of players beneath his bed. Confused as to what exactly was happening, Jongwoo
shuffled over to the side of the bed before he leaned over. He didn’t know what he was
expecting to be honest, but he certainly wasn’t surprised as to what he saw. The remaining
players were all lined up and getting what Jongwoo assumed to be dinner. Thankfully, the
game master - or the Frontman as they were apparently called - hadn’t also been stingy about
dinner. And as if almost right on cue, Jongwoo’s stomach began to growl upon the mere sight
of the food.

But before Jongwoo could reel himself back in, a sudden voice coming from behind startled
him, nearly causing him to topple over the edge and plummet to his death yet again.

“I’m here, jagiya.” Moonjo announced, popping his head just above the ladder.

“Fucking hell! You scared the shit outta me.” Jongwoo quipped as he pulled back from the
ledge, turning around and then holding a hand to his heart as if to signify how badly it had
scared him.
And for whatever reason, Jongwoo watched as Moonjo furrowed his brows at him. But
before he could ask him about it, Moonjo lifted himself up onto the bed and sat himself down
just in front of Jongwoo.

“Were you looking for me?” Moonjo questioned, cocking his head in amusement.

Well, at first Jongwoo was looking for him but he quickly got distracted by the food. But,
he’d never tell Moonjo that. The man’s ego was already inflated enough. So instead of giving
the man exactly what he wanted to hear, Jongwoo went down a different route.

“Please, don’t flatter yourself.” Jongwoo scoffed at the man’s sudden audacity. “I was just
trying to see what was on the menu tonight.”

Moonjo’s gaze on the younger man narrowed and Jongwoo suddenly felt rather self-
conscious. What was his problem?

“What are you looking at?” Jongwoo spat, as he shifted uncomfortably under the man’s
intense gaze. Then, after a few moments, Moonjo’s stare finally softened and he eventually
spoke up.

“Jagiya, I must say that you’re a lot nicer when you’re crying.”

Jongwoo scrunched his face up before memories from only hours prior started feverishly
flooding into his mind. Ah, he had forgotten about that. His whole “I don’t want to leave
without you” thing. Yikes.

Almost immediately, blood rushed up to Jongwoo’s face, leaving a rosy tint on his cheeks as
he recalled just how desperately he had begged Moonjo to leave with him. Feeling rather
embarrassed about his previous deluded behaviour, Jongwoo turned away from the older
man, not wanting to even face him in his current flustered state.

As he purposely stared off into the distance and watched as more players retrieved their
dinner for the night, Jongwoo heard Moonjo let out a low, amused chuckle. Moonjo was
probably having a field day about all of this. And when Moonjo shuffled in his spot and took
a deep breath to say something, Jongwoo braced himself for a series of follow up questions
that he was absolutely dreading having to answer. However, when Moonjo’s question came,
Jongwoo was a little surprised.

“Are you hungry?” Moonjo asked, his tone painstakingly civil.

Jongwoo whipped his head back around despite his previous protests and eyed the man in
mild confusion. But Jongwoo had no reason to complain about Moonjo’s sudden topic
change, so his once confused expression quickly dissipated. Rather than answering the man
outright however, Jongwoo just nodded his head in response, his cheeks still adorning a slight
pink finish. If Moonjo had a reason as to why he didn’t push the topic, then who was
Jongwoo to question him? It worked in his favour anyway.

Moonjo also went nonverbal and instead held up a single finger as if to tell the younger man
to wait. And with that, Jongwoo sat idly as he watched how Moonjo retreated back to the
ladder before he swung himself over and began to descend down it.

Jongwoo couldn’t quite hide the confusion that crept up to his face. He had legs, he could just
go get his dinner himself. So, a little annoyed at how Moonjo thought he was incapable of
doing anything for himself, Jongwoo shuffled over to the ladder before he peered over the
side. And then strangely enough, his eyes quickly fell on the familiar black mop of hair
sitting on the bed underneath him and just to the side of the ladder. What the hell was this guy
doing?

But before he could yell out and question the weird actions of the older man beneath him,
Moonjo lifted his head up and quickly returned Jongwoo’s eye contact. And Moonjo
looked…relieved to see him?

“Jagiya, can you take these? It’s quite hard to climb the ladder holding both of them.”
Moonjo requested, and Jongwoo’s eyes quickly fell on the two brown, paperboard containers
in his hands.

And almost immediately, wanting to get a better understanding of what exactly he was
looking at, Jongwoo flipped over the side of the bed until he was hanging over the edge. Now
completely upside down, Jongwoo’s eyes skipped between a confused Moonjo and the splay
of random wooden cutlery pieces speckled over the bed beneath him.

“Is this your bed?” Was the first question Jongwoo finally asked as he turned to solely focus
on Moonjo. He could feel the blood quickly rushing to his head in his current position, but he
refused to give up until all of his questions were answered.

“…No?” Moonjo quietly replied, still holding the two paperboard bowls in his hands.

Jongwoo then scrunched his face up in disbelief, hoping that despite his current odd position
that Moonjo was able to understand just how he felt about his actions.

“Fuck, have some decency then! You can’t just use someone else’s bed as a dumping ground
for all of your shit.” Jongwoo snapped back, a little taken aback at how Moonjo could be so
careless.

“Well, the player who was using this bed died in the previous game. So with that in mind,
they’re certainly not going to be using it anytime soon, are they?” Moonjo smugly countered.

“That doesn’t make it any less rude! I don’t care if they’ve died or not, just get out of their
bed.” Jongwoo retorted with irritation evident in his voice as he tried to deal with the
annoying man.

Moonjo simply hummed in response, seemingly content that he had managed to get under
Jongwoo’s nerves yet again. Then, he spoke up.

“Of course. Mind giving me a hand?” Moonjo pompously asked as he once again offered the
two bowls out to Jongwoo.
Whatever, Jongwoo was too hungry to continue fighting with Moonjo anyway. And so
Jongwoo found himself reaching out and grabbing the two containers off of Moonjo, before
he hoisted himself back up onto the bed in one swift motion. Thank goodness he still had
some sort of ab strength left in him, or otherwise that move could’ve ended very differently
with Jongwoo 30 feet below rather than safely on his bed.

And as Jongwoo shuffled backwards until his back was lined up with the bed frame, it was
only a few moments until Moonjo was joining him too. When the older man scooted over
until he was just in front of Jongwoo, he reached into his jacket pocket and fished out two
wooden spoons and two pairs of chopsticks.

“For you.” Moonjo smiled smugly as he held out both a spoon and a set of chopsticks for
Jongwoo.

Jongwoo didn’t respond, but instead he just took the cutlery from the man and stared down at
it in confusion. If the guards really wanted to encourage violence among the players, then
they wouldn’t have been given a wooden spoon or wooden chopsticks to fight with. The only
reasoning he could think of was that maybe the guards wanted them to be more creative
about their kills. But even with the limited weapons in his arsenal, if it really came down to
it, Jongwoo would still find a way to use them to his advantage. After all, if there’s a will,
there’s a way.

Quickly shrugging off the thought as his grumbling stomach grew louder, Jongwoo reached
down and picked up one of the paperboard containers. And as he inspected the bowl
skeptically, he couldn’t help but think that the whole thing was strange. Maybe the guards
were just getting lazy now. Or, just maybe, they were secretly huge environmentalists. But as
he genuinely considered the theory, it seemed quite far-fetched.

Massacring all these people in these fucked up games was fine, but using plastic containers
that harmed the environment was where these people drew the line? That logic was totally
flawed.

Jongwoo brushed off the contradicting theory, swiftly giving up in his attempt to try and
understand the guard’s strange motives behind the recyclable cutlery and containers, before
he finally opened the lid and looked inside. What he saw was an arrangement of various
colourful vegetables and pickles, strips of bulgolgi, and a fried egg all served on top of a
handful of rice.

Ah, it was bibimbap.

Jongwoo didn’t waste any time whatsoever as he immediately began to mix the ingredients
together, before he scooped up a mounted spoonful of the mix and shoved it into his mouth.
And…it was bland. Even just after one mouthful, Jongwoo knew that it desperately needed
some sort of sesame oil or gochujang to make it even somewhat more bearable. But why was
he so surprised? The food here up until now had been nothing but plain, so why would this
meal be any different?

But, food was food in the end. Jongwoo wasn’t that picky, and he’d certainly had worse
dishes in his lifetime. He just needed the energy, and if that meant having to eat this bland
bibimbap, then so be it.

The two men ate the rest of their dinner in a comfortable silence, with neither one bothering
to try and rock up a conversation. They were both pretty content in the silence and they didn’t
feel the need to have to talk to one another, so they didn’t.

And as Jongwoo eventually finished his lackluster bibimbap, he was a little bummed that
they hadn’t received a drink alongside their meal. It would’ve been nice to wash some of the
food down with something that actually had some flavour to it.

But before Jongwoo could mourn the lack of an accompanying drink to his meal for too
much longer, a voice suddenly called out for him from below.

“Jongwoo? Jongwoo!” The voice shouted.

Quickly giving Moonjo a confused glance as to whom it could possibly be, Jongwoo found
himself already shuffling over to the side before he leaned over the bed and peered down at
the figure.

Oh, it was just Young-il.

Moonjo, who had also finished his meal not too long ago, crawled over and sat beside
Jongwoo before he too was looking over the edge and down at the man.

“Oh, hello Moonjo! I was looking for you earlier but I couldn’t find you. But now that I have
and that you two are together, I’ll tell you both this.” Young-il yelled out loudly. Jongwoo
narrowed his eyes on the older man as he waited for him to continue.

“We’re going to try and make a plan for the vote, so join us whenever you’re done eating.”
Young-il concluded as both men nodded their heads in response to show that they had
understood.

Young-il started making his way back to wherever he came from, and soon enough, both
Jongwoo and Moonjo were already climbing down the ladder. And as they made their way
over to where Young-il and two other players were now standing, Jongwoo couldn’t help but
think how exactly this vote would go down. There was a significant reduction in players from
both sides, and by now, surely the money between all of them would suffice and pay off
people’s debts? Hopefully, the remaining players would finally come to their senses and get
out while they could.

Jongwoo - with Moonjo following closely behind - then approached the rest of their group, if
he could even call it that. It was only Hyunju and Gi-hun at the moment, and Young-il had
already let them know before he left that he was going to go to try and find Yongsik and
Geumja. The only other person from their group remaining that wasn’t currently here was
Junhee, and Jongwoo found himself scanning the room to try and find her. But it seemed that
Hyunju had taken notice of his efforts, as she soon broke the silence and spoke up.

“She’s resting.” Hyunju muttered, sending Jongwoo a half-hearted smile.

Jongwoo dropped his attempts in trying to locate the woman and instead focused on Hyunju
in front of him.

“Is she alright?” Jongwoo questioned hopefully.

Hyunju nodded weakly, “Yeah, she’s…okay.”

But before Jongwoo could follow up with another question about the woman’s current state,
Hyunju chimed in again and effectively cut him off.

“I know you want to help Jongwoo, I really do. But I think just giving her some time and
space would be the best thing for her right now.” Her voice wobbled as she talked, full of
worry and concern for her mourning companion.

Rather than replying to Hyunju’s comment, Jongwoo instead bit back his response and sighed
defeatedly. He just wanted to help Junhee, and if that meant that he needed to stay away from
her for the time being, then that was what it was going to have to be.

But before Jongwoo could continue to dwell on the matter any longer, Young-il approached
with both Yongsik and Geumja following closely behind. Quickly snapping out of it,
Jongwoo listened in carefully to the man as he spoke.

“Alright, I think we should first get an idea of how many X players are left. Then, we can go
from there.” Young-il announced as he drifted his attention between each of the team
members. Then, it was Gi-hun who spoke up next.

“There’s less players on both sides so I think it will be easier to convince a few to come over
to the X side. Anyone got any ideas on how to persuade them?” Gi-hun asked hopefully.

But as the rest of the group chimed in with their various persuasion techniques, Jongwoo
zoned out when he saw a familiar figure approaching them from behind the others. Since he
and Moonjo were the only ones facing that direction, it seemed that it was only them who
saw the individual heading their way.

Then, the person cleared their throat, effectively gaining them the attention of the rest of the
group as they whipped around to face the mystery player.

“Daeho…?” Young-il trailed off as he studied the man in a mix of surprise and confusion.
Jongwoo couldn’t help but notice how the marine’s eyes bags were much more prominent
and how even his eyes were red and dry as if he had just been crying. Poor guy, he probably
hasn’t gotten any sleep lately.

“Daeho! You’re alive!” Hyunju ran up to him excitedly as she brought the trembling man into
a friendly embrace before she eventually pulled back. Jongwoo was surprised to see the man
too. It seemed that Daeho had managed to get through the last game as well despite his
current state.

“Are you okay?” She softly whispered as she scanned over the clearly nervous man standing
in front of her.
In response, Daeho nodded his head weakly and shot her a pained smile before he took a
deep breath to try and calm his nerves. Jongwoo’s eyes darted around the group to try and
gather an idea of how everyone was feeling before they fell on a particular tense figure
standing beside Young-il.

Gi-hun.

To say he looked glad to see Daeho had to have been the biggest lie of the century, as the
older man looked utterly livid. But it was strange. Why wouldn’t he be happy to see that his
friend had survived?

But before Jongwoo could ponder the man’s sudden switch up, Daeho began apologising to
the group.

“I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry. If I had brought back those magazines, maybe we all
would’ve been out of here by now.” Daeho’s voice cracked as he spoke, and it wasn’t long
until he broke out into a small sob.

“Daeho, it’s not your fault! Please don’t blame yourself.” Hyunju reassured as she began to
softly rub the man’s back to try and comfort him.

“Yeah, it’s okay Daeho. You did as much as you could and that’s alright.” This time, it was
Geumja who perked up as she flashed a sympathetic smile to the upset man.

And as Daeho continued to spit out unintelligible apologies and excuses while the rest of the
group tried to calm him down, it was a particular figure who spoke up that effectively made
him stop.

“Jungbae died because we ran out of ammo.” Gi-hun’s blunt statement hung heavy in the air
between them all, and Jongwoo immediately tensed upon the sudden mood change.

But even so, Jongwoo furrowed his brows at the older man’s random comment. This wasn’t
like Gi-hun, so what on earth was he doing?

“I was s-scared…” Daeho stammered out between sobs that had gotten louder upon hearing
the name of his recently passed friend.

Everyone snapped to look at Gi-hun in disbelief, but the older man didn't seem to be fazed by
the team’s crippling and judgmental stares on him.

“Now Gi-hun, I don’t think that’s—” Young-il tried before Gi-hun swiftly cut him off.

“No! We could’ve won!” Gi-hun interrupted, pausing before he continued, “Jungbae would
be alive if you hadn’t ran away and hid like a coward!” He spat, holding up an angry finger at
a stunned Daeho.

Suddenly, Jongwoo found his body moving before he could even register it. The harsh slap of
Jongwoo’s palm meeting Gi-hun’s cheek echoed out in the room, above all the chatter of the
other players. And almost immediately, everyone gasped at Jongwoo’s sudden outburst, but
to be fair, it was probably an even mix of shock between Gi-hun’s out of pocket statement
and Jongwoo’s slap.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? You can’t possibly blame him for what happened!”
Jongwoo hissed angrily, watching as the older man clutched a hand over his now red, irritated
cheek.

“You weren’t there! You don’t understand!” Gi-hun spurred back as he regained his footing
after being knocked off his balance by Jongwoo’s harsh slap.

Jongwoo simply rolled his eyes at the man’s pathetic retort before he shot back.

“Look, I know you lost your friend and all, but you cannot take it out on Daeho! He doesn’t
deserve that, it wasn’t his fault.” Jongwoo spat back.

“We needed the ammo and he just left it here!” Gi-hun retaliated, now bringing his hand back
down to his side. Jongwoo fought back the smile that dared to grace his lips upon seeing the
clear, red outline of his hand on the older man’s face. If no one else was willing to slap some
sense into this man - literally - then Jongwoo was more than happy too.

“And so you’re blaming Daeho for your poorly planned attack?” Jongwoo snapped as he
threw his hands up in a dramatic frustration. And apparently all of a sudden a cat’s got Gi-
hun’s tongue temporarily, and Jongwoo didn’t hesitate to use the man’s silence to land a
particularly nasty remark.

“The only person you should be blaming is yourself! You’re the one who led everyone to
their deaths because of your shitty plan!” Jongwoo’s tone was snarky and downright
offensive. Okay, maybe that was too far. But Jongwoo was impulsive at heart and rarely
thought before he spoke, so this sort of thing was bound to happen one way or another.

And almost immediately, Jongwoo watched as Gi-hun’s eyes widened in anger. Then, Gi-hun
hastily reeled back his arm before his fist collided with the side of Jongwoo’s face. Jongwoo
stumbled back at the man’s hit, more out of shock than anything else, and then stared back at
Gi-hun with a fiery gaze. The nerve on this fucking dickhead—

“That’s enough.” Young-il and Moonjo simultaneously commanded, their voices morphing
into one as they spoke.

And before Jongwoo could swing back, he found that Moonjo had already stepped up to hold
him back. Young-il was instead holding Gi-hun down, not at all fazed by the man’s desperate
retaliations in his arms. Jongwoo too squirmed in Moonjo’s hold, desperate to not let Gi-hun
get away with punching him, but his protests soon weakened as he began to calm down.

“Let’s not be rash, shall we? We’re all on the same side here.” Young-il’s tone was stern as he
tightened his grip on a still very angry Gi-hun. But as the man spoke, Jongwoo couldn’t help
but notice how his words seemed to only be directed at him, and not Gi-hun.

Jongwoo scoffed as he quickly realised what was going on, “Why are you looking at me?
He’s the one who started it!”
And as the words left his mouth, Jongwoo immediately felt as if he was acting like a middle
schooler. But that was probably because he was.

“It doesn’t matter who started it, but it needs to stop. We’re a team, so let’s act like it!”
Young-il yelled strictly, as Jongwoo felt like he was being scolded by his teacher.

The rest of the group, still a little stunned by what just happened, nodded their heads in
agreement but Jongwoo just rolled his eyes in response. Even with his so-called ‘teammates’
here, Jongwoo didn’t feel even remotely valued. They looked at Jongwoo as if he was the
crazy one for speaking up in the first place. Fucking assholes. They call themselves friends of
Daeho but they didn’t even bother to defend him when Gi-hin started making crass
accusations.

“He just needs a minute.” Moonjo’s sudden deep voice behind Jongwoo startled him, but he
quickly regained his composure. Young-il nodded in agreement, as if to say “Yeah, him too”
before Moonjo announced their departure.

“Let’s go, jagiya.”

And with that, Jongwoo let the older man guide him away from the stunned group and in the
direction of a fairly secluded corner where Jongwoo could fully cool down. On the way,
Jongwoo couldn’t help as his mind began to wander.

“Why’d you hold me back? Out of everyone, I thought you’d be the last person to break up a
fight.” Jongwoo perked up, quickly gaining him the attention of the older man beside him.

“As much as I wanted to see the fight unfold, it wouldn’t be a smart move.” Moonjo replied
placidly. Jongwoo simply raised an eyebrow up at him, wordlessly encouraging him to
continue. And so he did.

“We don’t want to kill our only allies. What if the next game is team-based?” Moonjo
reasoned, and Jongwoo sighed as he quickly realised that Moonjo had a point.

“Maybe later though.” Moonjo quickly added. Almost instantly, Jongwoo narrowed his eyes
on the man in confusion.

“I didn’t want to kill him.” Jongwoo retorted before he quickly corrected himself, “I don’t
want to.”

“Why not?” Moonjo asked. Thankfully, by now, they had reached a secluded enough spot
where no players were around to eavesdrop in on their concerning conversation.

“He’s a good person.” Was what Jongwoo managed as his once intense gaze on the older man
eventually softened, no longer feeling irritated.

“Do good people punch others?” Moonjo swiftly countered. Jongwoo shot the man an
unimpressed look before he spoke up.

“It was just misplaced anger. He’s still mourning.” Jongwoo replied flatly. He knew that he
couldn’t completely hold Gi-hun responsible for his outbursts seeing as he was still utterly
devastated about his friend’s death and his emotions were still out of whack. But that’s not to
say that Gi-hun hadn’t been a bit of a dick regardless.

“Then why did you try to fight back?” Moonjo inquired as he tilted his head to the side in
amusement.

“And willingly let him beat my ass? Yeah, as if.” Jongwoo scoffed, and even Moonjo let out
a low chuckle beside him. But before the older man could respond, Jongwoo continued.

“Not every fight has to end in me killing my opponent.” Jongwoo added.

“Because you don’t want to kill them?” Moonjo inquired as he studied the younger man
intently.

“No, more because I get into too many fights. It would be far too exhausting.” Jongwoo
quipped quickly. He hated how easily he was talking about brutally ending someone’s life,
but even so, Jongwoo made no effort to correct himself. In response, Moonjo let a smug
smile creep up onto his face before he eventually replied.

“If you say so, jagiya.” His words were laced with an overwhelming amount of satisfaction,
but Jongwoo let it slide.

Soon enough, they fell into a comfortable silence once again. Thankfully, Jongwoo had
calmed down for the most part and wasn’t at risk of ruining their only chance of having any
real alliances.

Suddenly, the sound of the doors opening echoed in the room loudly as a group of guards
soon piled in. Jongwoo whipped his head to face the group as the square-masked guard
stepped forward and began their announcement.

“Congratulations on making it through the fourth game. Now, here are the results of the
fourth game.”

Jongwoo’s eyes then fell on the ceiling that opened to reveal the golden pigging descending
from out of the sky. The guard continued to speak as the glass bank kept moving.

“In total, after the fourth game and taking into account other circumstances that occurred
during the night, 66 players have been eliminated. The prize money accumulated up to this
point is 42.7 billion won. Since there are 29 players remaining, each person’s share is
approximately 1.472 billion won.”

Staring up at the piggy bank that continued to fill up with an endless amount of new stacks of
money, Jongwoo’s eyes enlarged at the man’s words. Holy shit, that was a lot of money. At
least for him anyway.

“The vote will once again be conducted in reverse order of your player numbers.” The guard
commanded, and soon enough, the rest of the players - including both Jongwoo and Moonjo -
were retreating to their usual positions in the space between the beds.
But before the guard could call up the first player to cast their vote, Young-il yelled out to the
remaining players.

“This is enough money! Let’s get out while we can!” He pleaded desperately, hoping that
people would finally come to their senses. But unfortunately for him, Player 226 who
somehow had managed to stay alive this whole time emerged from the crowd before he
retaliated.

“Everyone, listen up! After the next game, we will probably get around 5 billion each! Or
maybe even more!” The O player shouted, letting his statement sink in before he continued.

“We’d be able to pay off all of our debts and start a new life!” Player 226 loudly commented,
and almost immediately, a few murmurs broke out among the crowd. But before either side
could defend their position, the guard interrupted them.

“We will begin the vote now. Player 456, please cast your vote.”

The crowd immediately went quiet, and Jongwoo let his eyes fall on the back of Gi-hun’s
head who had began walking down the aisle and up to the podium. He gritted his teeth upon
seeing him, the memory of the man’s punch still lingering on his mind, but Jongwoo quickly
brushed it off. There was nothing he could do about it at this very moment. And to no one’s
surprise like always, Gi-hun didn’t hesitate to bring his palm smashing down onto the X
button, and the counter on the TV screen increased accordingly.

Then, as more and more players began getting called up to cast their vote, Jongwoo’s
attention then fell on the current player count of each side. He looked around the X side,
quickly realising that it only consisted of his team and a few stragglers who had managed to
make it through both the night and the fourth game. His eyes then drifted over to the O side
which was unfortunately a little more populated, but even so, it seemed that they still suffered
quite a big loss after the recent game and thanks to Jongwoo and Moonjo’s rampage during
the night.

But as more players were called up to the podium to cast their vote, Jongwoo was pleasantly
surprised when some of the O players began to switch sides. Maybe they’d actually have a
chance now? It seemed that the O players were less motivated to continue the games, and
Jongwoo liked to think that was because their main driving force had not-so-sadly died
during the last game. Player 100 had it coming honestly, and if the game hadn't killed him,
Jongwoo wouldn’t have let the man see another day anyway.

The vote ratio on the screen read a hopeful 6 votes for the X side and 5 for the O side. But
since the player base had decreased significantly, the waiting time had also reduced just as
much. So, before he could dwell on the promising prospect of the vote, the guard called up a
familiar player.

“Player 304.”

Upon hearing the older man’s number, Jongwoo turned to face him, hoping that Moonjo had
taken into consideration his embarrassing plea to leave with him while they still could.
Moonjo’s expression remained blank and it wasn’t long before he had pushed through the
crowd and was heading toward the podium. When he eventually approached it, Jongwoo
could barely contain himself. Jongwoo’s heart began to beat a million times faster as he
watched the older man hover his hand over the two buttons. He prayed with every fibre in his
body that Moonjo would give up his stubbornness and do the right thing for once in his life.

Then, Moonjo made his decision.

With his gaze on the man never once faltering, Jongwoo felt his breath hitch as he watched
how Moonjo’s face lit up in a deep, red colour.

Oh shit.

Soon enough, Moonjo ripped off the O patch from his jacket before he handed it over to the
guard and received the X one instead. Swiftly attaching the red patch to the velcro, Moonjo
swivelled around and began to head over to X side.

Jongwoo, still a little dazed by the fact that Moonjo had actually listened to him for once, had
to be physically shaken out of his trance by Young-il when his number was called.

“Player 303.”

He shook the surprise off as much as he could, and he quickly forced his body to move,
heading in the direction of the podium on unsteady legs. And Jongwoo didn’t even need a
split second to make his decision, as he almost immediately pressed the X button upon his
arrival at the voting podium.

Turning around to head in the direction of the X side, Jongwoo swiftly met Moonjo’s eyes as
he neared the older man. It wasn’t exactly difficult to locate the man given just how little
players remained. Plus, Moonjo stood out like a sore thumb anyway.

As Jongwoo approached the man and found a spot next to him, he couldn’t help as he looked
up at Moonjo with a puzzled expression. Almost sensing Jongwoo’s gaze on him, Moonjo
turned to face the younger man before he let a content smile grace his lips.

“I want to leave with you too.” Was all the older man said, and Jongwoo didn’t bother to
respond to him as he instead turned his head back in the direction of the podium. Now wasn’t
the time to talk about this anyway.

And for the next couple of votes, Jongwoo simply watched as the ratio remained relatively
even. It was scarily reminiscent of the first time they ever had to vote, but different in the
sense that they had several hundred people less this time around.

“Player 222.” The guard announced loudly.

When Junhee’s number was called out, Jongwoo found himself scanning the room for the
woman before his eyes fell on the familiar trio walking down the aisle. Both Hyunju and
Geumja were holding her up and helping her walk to the podium, where her face eventually
lit up in red as she weakly pressed the X button. Then, instead of heading in the direction of
the X side, the trio began making their way back to Junhee’s bed. Jongwoo frowned upon the
sight of the woman, her eye bags heavy and her movements slow. In the nicest way possible,
she looked awful to say the least.

But as soon as Junhee had placed her vote and was on her way back to her bed, Jongwoo
found himself absentmindedly keeping track of the votes, until he eventually snapped out of
it when he quickly realised that there weren’t very many players left to vote. He stared up at
the counter on the TV screen as his heart began to race.

It read 12 votes for the X side and 13 votes for the O side.

His eyes then fell to instead turn to face the remaining players who had yet to cast their vote.
Jongwoo drifted over Young-il before he focused on the other players who all, unfortunately,
were wearing O patches on their jackets. But, he couldn’t lose hope too quickly. If this vote
taught him anything, it was that many more people were finally realising that it was time to
end the games.

When one of four remaining players were called up, Jongwoo silently cheered when he
watched how her face lit up in that satisfying, red colour. The woman quickly switched out
her O patch for an X one, and soon enough, she joined Jongwoo’s side. Upon her arrival,
some of the other X players applauded her and thanked her for changing her mind.

It was 13 vs 13 now.

But for the next vote, the X side wasn’t so lucky. The next player walked up confidently
before they immediately pressed down hard onto the O button, his face immediately lighting
up in a bright, blue colour as the counter on the screen increased by one. The O side erupted
in a loud cheer as they were now in the lead.

13 vs 14.

And as Jongwoo turned to face the last two remaining players, his heart almost began doing
summersaults. Young-il was a confirmed X vote for sure, but if this next player voted O, then
Young-il’s vote wouldn’t even matter that much. But they were so fucking close. This could
be it. They could actually go home.

Jongwoo’s eyes tracked the second final player to cast his vote as he soon approached the
podium. He held out a hand over the two buttons, and it seemed that he was trying to
consider the pros and cons of each side. Jongwoo could barely breathe.

And then it happened.

The reflection of the vibrant, blue O button was painted across the player’s face in a matter of
seconds. And almost instantly, the entire O side began cheering and applauding as they too
seemed to realise that they had already won despite whatever Young-il was going to vote for.
The man turned around and made his way over to the O side where he was greeted with
various appreciative gestures and words from the other players.
On the other hand, the X side immediately deflated.

“Player 001.”

When Young-il’s number was called out, Jongwoo didn’t even bother to look over at the man.
What was the point anyway?

It seemed that Young-il also realised that his vote no longer mattered, as his journey to the
podium was much slower and quite dejected. And as he defeatedly smashed a fist into the X
button, Jongwoo watched as the counter on the TV screen pointlessly clicked over to the next
number.

In the end, it was 14 votes for the X side and 15 votes for the O side.

And as the X side remained tense while the O side continued to celebrate, the guard suddenly
spoke up, effectively bringing everyone’s attention to them within seconds.

“The voting has concluded, and as stated in the consent form, the majority vote wins.
Therefore, the games will continue tomorrow. We thank you for your cooperation.” The
square-masked guard declared. And with that, the doors opened and the rest of the guards
retreated back into them before the doors shut closely behind them.

Jongwoo simply stood there rooted in his position due to his disbelief. Whereas the O players
were already dispersing and goofing around, seemingly in a good mood after the success of
the vote outcome. A few of the X players sighed in defeat before they too were making their
way over to their beds, but for the most part, the rest of the X players were just as stunned as
Jongwoo. And if it hadn't been for the woman’s voice playing out over the speakers, Jongwoo
was sure that he and the other players would’ve stayed right there all night.

“Lights out in 10 minutes.” The woman announced as a timer simultaneously appeared on the
TV screen.

But even as much as Jongwoo felt he was glued to his spot, he knew that he’d regret not
sleeping in the morning if he stayed there all night. So, he slowly turned his head to face the
eerily silent man beside him before he eventually spoke up.

“…Let’s go.” Jongwoo reluctantly said as he motioned for the two to return to his bed.
Moonjo, who Jongwoo felt had been strangely quiet for quite some time now, simply nodded
his head in agreement.

Soon enough, the two men were heading in the direction of Jongwoo’s bed in a comfortable
silence. And once they were both safely seated on the younger man’s bed, Jongwoo quickly
came to a startling realisation.

Was he going to have to defend himself tonight as well?

Suddenly remembering that he had thrown away his dirtied wooden cutlery pieces long ago,
Jongwoo quickly realised that he was not as well equipped for the night as he would have
liked to be. And while a wooden spoon or a pair of chopsticks wasn’t exactly an intimidating
weapon to be wielding, something was better than nothing. But then again, if it came down to
it, Jongwoo was more than capable of defending himself using just his bare hands. It was just
that having a weapon made things easier and was a million times less exhausting and taxing
on the body. But unfortunately for Jongwoo, he wouldn’t really have a choice seeing as he
had already thrown away his only weapons.

Then, Jongwoo finally broke the silence that had engulfed them.

“Do you think that people will try and kill again tonight?” Jongwoo asked as he cocked his
head to the side inquisitively.

“I don’t know.” Moonjo deadpanned. It certainly wasn’t what Jongwoo wanted to hear but
Moonjo couldn’t predict the future, so he couldn’t be too angry about the man’s response. So
instead, Jongwoo let out a small sigh before he continued.

“Should we take turns as lookouts?” Jongwoo suggested and almost immediately, Moonjo
nodded his head and agreed to his proposition.

“I’ll be on the first watch.” Moonjo offered. In response, Jongwoo raised an eyebrow at the
man’s sudden volunteering. He really needed to talk to Moonjo about watching him sleep.
The older man wasn’t even trying to hide it anymore either.

But whatever, Jongwoo was more than happy to get some sleep in while he could. Shortly
enough, Moonjo leaned back against his bed frame before he lifted his arm up as if to invite
Jongwoo under it.

At first, Jongwoo hesitated. But just as quickly as he did, Jongwoo already gave up and was
crawling over to the older man before he was soon slotting himself under his arm. And as if it
was his daily routine now, Jongwoo let his head fall on Moonjo's chest as if it were a pillow
as he tried to find a comfortable position for the rest of his body. But before he could fall
asleep, Jongwoo spoke up one final time.

“If anything happens, wake me up. Okay?” He warned sternly despite his very contradictory
appearance snuggled up to Moonjo’s side. Rather than outright responding to him, Moonjo
just nodded his head gently instead.

Then, despite the lights having not gone out yet, Jongwoo slowly drifted off to sleep, letting
Moonjo once again fondle at his stray locks until he finally fell fast asleep.

Moonjo didn’t wake Jongwoo up at all that night. What woke Jongwoo up was the lights that
suddenly flashed on, immediately shining down upon the duo and blinding Jongwoo despite
his eyes being shut.

Upon the rude and abrupt awakening, Jongwoo scrunched his face up and groaned onto
Moonjo’s chest as his eyes strained at the sudden light above him. Then, he flickered his eyes
open before they quickly fell on a sleeping Moonjo only a few inches away from his face.
Jongwoo studied the man’s resting figure, surprised that Moonjo had finally decided to go to
sleep for once. For a serial killer, he looked so peaceful as he slept. Jongwoo’s eyes drifted
over the man’s pale and smooth skin, his sharp cheekbones, before his eyes fell on the man’s
cupid bow. It was delicately arched, giving his lips a natural elegant shape.

It was all too strange. Moonjo looked so unbelievably serene as he slept - a harsh contrast to
his usual violent and intimidating personality. Jongwoo wished the man would stay like this
forever, seemingly captivated by Moonjo’s natural and effortless beauty as he slept so
soundly.

“You’re staring.”

Jongwoo visibly flinched at Moonjo’s sudden deep voice as he quickly watched as the man in
front of him fluttered his eyes open innocently. Well, he should’ve known that something was
up from the second Jongwoo saw him sleeping. That was the first red flag. But in the end,
trying to distract himself from the awkward moment, Jongwoo jested the theory that Moonjo
was perhaps just some sort of vampire that didn’t need to sleep.

Jongwoo quickly cleared his throat to try and clear the air before he pulled away from
Moonjo and completely sat up.

“No I wasn’t.” Jongwoo retorted, but even his voice sounded unconvincing. In response,
Moonjo simply smiled in satisfaction as he very easily saw right through Jongwoo’s poor
attempt at a rebuttal.

“What were you thinking about?” Moonjo’s voice was velvety soft as he spoke.

Jongwoo wouldn’t dare give Moonjo the satisfaction of telling him what he was truly
thinking about, so Jongwoo settled for his usual snarky comeback. So, ignoring how his
cheeks were so very clearly flushed by the embarrassment of being caught, Jongwoo shot the
man an unimpressed look before he continued.

“How shitty of a lookout you are.” Jongwoo countered, and Moonjo simply chuckled in
response, not looking too convinced by his words.

“There was nothing to look out for.” Moonjo placidly replied as he watched how Jongwoo’s
brows instantly furrowed up in confusion.

“…Nobody died?” The younger man followed up as he swiftly recalled how he had been able
to get a full night's sleep without any interruptions.

“Are you disappointed?” Moonjo’s reply came quickly.

Jongwoo immediately pushed down the part of him that was disappointed that nothing had
happened during the night. As much as it pained him to say it, Jongwoo wouldn’t have
minded taking out a bit more of his anger that had resurfaced after his little scuffle with Gi-
hun earlier. But unfortunately, it seemed that the other players had realised that going for each
other’s throats wasn’t really worth it. Yes, it increased the prize money each time someone
was eliminated, but Jongwoo seriously doubted that most of the players in here could hold
 their ground in a fight. Especially the players that were remaining now, because they were
most likely the ones who had hid the entire night and let everyone else fight it out.

But Jongwoo soon brushed the thought off, not being bothered to give it any more attention
than it needed. Then, he finally responded.

“Whatever, I’m just glad I got some sleep this time.” Jongwoo quipped, completely dodging
the man’s previous comment. Moonjo cocked an eyebrow at Jongwoo’s very unconvincing
response before he watched as the younger man began to stretch his arms out to try and wake
himself up a bit more.

But as Jongwoo suddenly realised that Moonjo was watching him, he dropped his arms
almost immediately and he felt the blood rush up to his cheeks.

Why was he getting so flustered all of a sudden? They had slept in the same bed every other
night, so why was Jongwoo feeling this way all of sudden?

Moonjo scanned Jongwoo with amused eyes, but as the older man opened his mouth to say
something, Jongwoo quickly cut him off. And judging by the overwhelming amount of
affection and desire evident in the man’s eyes, it seemed that Jongwoo had made the right
decision before Moonjo had said something too inappropriate.

“I’m going for a walk.”

Chapter End Notes

YESSS!! THAT’S WHAT WE LIKE TO SEE!! JONGWOO GETTING MUCH

CLOSER TO ACCEPTING HIS FEELINGS FOR MOONJO!! Wohoo 🎉
This chapter was very drama-packed, but i think Jongwoo’s beef w/ Gi-hun was kinda
justified. Whether u think it’s OOC for Gi-hun, that’s up to you but i thought it made
sense (i fear i’m not as good as writing gi-hun in canon in comparison to mjjw, so
yeah just keep that in mind HAHA) But Everyone thank jongwoo for trying to slap

IT LEAVE HIM ALONE 💔

some sense into Gi-bun because wdym ur blaming Daeho 😭 HE DOESNT DESERVE
And the whole thing w/ junhee, aw man…Jongwoo hasn’t
lost anyone but he’s still going through it too LMFAO n just to clarify in case i havent
made it clear enough, jongwoo has 0 romantic interest in 222 😭 he is merely a
concerned teammate THATS ALL ❌ THIS IS MJJW TERRITORY!!!

Fun fact that nobody asked for: I went to Korea in early november last year and one of
my first official korean meals was bibimbap!! It was so bloody delicious and i miss
korea every day 😔 Especially because it was snowing like crazy over there and i’m so
used to scorching hot days over here in australia 😿 Good times…good times…
🚨 I HAVE A QUESTION FOR ALL READERS!!🚨
Q: I can certainly promise you that Mjjw WILL be finally sealing the deal VERY
SOON!! SO, my question for you all is, what would you all want to see more? I’m
happy to write an actual like smut scene or whatever & change the rating on this fic to
explicit but i just wanted to see if anyone actually wanted that before i did it 😅 The
other option is that it will remain as just like making out and just base level stuff like
that 😚 SO WHAT DO U GUYS WANT?? I’m happy to do either, i just want to get a
better idea of what the ppl want to see fr!!
edit: Heads up, if i do go through with changing it to explicit, it’ll ease into the more
heated scenes!! As much as i WANT them to get it on lol i think it just wouldn’t make
sense for jongwoo’s character to accept his feelings and then immediately have sex with
moonjo right then and there 😭 SO YEAH!! Keep that in mind ;)

🥲
edit x2 : UPDATE, i think that i may just leave the fic rating as is…(sorry to anyone i
disappointed ) I mean dont get me wrong id love to see it too lol but i think for THIS
fic, im just gonna stay with kissing/making out and nothing too crazy I think it
would fit better into the storyline imo!! BUT when this is all said and done, if there’s
enough ppl who want like a “where are they now” sorta thing, then maybe ill include
some of it there
🤭
idk + i may still write that little oneshot about moonjo
convincing the recruiter to let him join the games… BUT YEAH!! Thanks to
everyone who commented, i appreciate ur honesty

AS ALWAYS, thank you for tuning in yet again! The support i’ve received on this fic
still continues to baffle me and I’m so blown away by it all. And the way i was on tiktok
and found a video about a sfh x sg crossover and ppl in the comments were looking for
fic recs and MY work was being recommended ❤😭 Stoppp i literally feel like a
celebrity HAHAHA But fr, thank you all so much and i hope u continue to enjoy my
work! Sorry that this one took a little longer, school’s a bitch even just 2 days in :)
 Dog Bone
Chapter Summary

Even more bittersweet goodbyes.

Chapter Notes

so hard to keep up with

words as an apology, haha
🙄
UGHHHH school has been such a bitch!! Who knew the last year of schooling would be
(i did) Anyway…sorry for the wait lovelies! Here is 13k

P.S: I know that most theories are suggesting that the next game is going to be human
chess, but quite frankly, I don’t want to write about chess. That’s because: 1. I don’t
know how to play (+ too lazy to learn how). 2. It sounds kinda boring to write 😭
Sooooo, I did some research of my own! I use the term research loosely however, as my
research was in fact just me watching various K-pop groups playing playground games
on YouTube LMFAOO 😀 Whether or not Dog Bone is a true Korean children’s game
idk, but if ATEEZ is playing it, that’s good enough for me

I’ll do my best to set the scene, but if you are having a hard time trying to picture what
the game is like, I HIGHLY suggest that you go check out the video of ATEEZ playing
this game. It is from their “WANTEEZ” Episode 22 on YT and you can skip to

the beginning. (+ u should just support ateez anyway )

Okay, enough yip-yapping, LET’S GO!!
🤩
approximately 11:35 minutes in for the rules if you don’t want to watch their little skit at

🧍
and uh… ♀upcoming minor character death/s? heh…😀 (sorry, not everyone can
survive ☹)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Jongwoo swiftly slipped out from the covers and crawled over to the ladder before he started
to climb down it. As he thought about it a bit more, he realised that there were only so many
places to explore in here, and he had practically already been everywhere by now. Jongwoo
would’ve killed for some sunlight, or hell, even some fresh air.

But he wouldn’t get that, no matter how many people he killed. So, Jongwoo settled on just
doing laps around the room to both kill time and clear his mind of…previous thoughts. As he
jumped down onto the floor beneath him, Jongwoo cleared his throat once again and began
his first lap.

With every lap he took, Jongwoo would pass by Gi-hun’s group. And whenever he passed by,
Jongwoo couldn’t help but notice how Gi-hun was starting to look a bit guilty as he would
refuse to meet Jongwoo’s eyes at all.

Good. Daeho didn’t deserve any of that shit. Gi-hun certainly had been projecting and Daeho
was unlucky enough to get caught at the end of it.

But just as Jongwoo was beginning his fourth lap around the room, he felt someone tap
lightly on his shoulder. Stopping dead in his tracks, he turned around and immediately came
face to face with a familiar figure.

“Oh, hey Daeho.” Jongwoo muttered as he studied the man in front of him intently. In
response, Daeho simply flashed a weak smile before he eventually spoke up.

“Thank you…for earlier.” Daeho’s voice cracked ever so slightly as he spoke. It was clear
that the man was still a little shaken by it all.

“Oh, it was nothing. Really.” Jongwoo politely replied, waving off the man.

“Please, I appreciate it.” Daeho insisted, bowing at his waist to further prove his gratitude.
But before Jongwoo could humbly downplay his contribution even more, Daeho rose back up
and then continued.

“I wanted to go back, I really did. But something came over me and then I couldn’t, I just…”
He trailed off, but Jongwoo knew all too well what he was trying to say.

“I understand, it’s okay.” Jongwoo responded as he gave the man a half-hearted smile before
continuing.

“I still have nightmares about my military days sometimes. So I get it. Nobody blames you
for what you did.” He added, as he patted a reassuring hand on the man’s shoulder.

“Well, except for Gi-hun.” Daeho chuckled awkwardly, trying to make light out of a fairly
unfortunate situation. A pained smile crept up Jongwoo’s face as he did his best to humour
the man back.

Then, the sound of footsteps quickly approaching the duo made Jongwoo snap his head
around. Ah, speaking of the devil.

Gi-hun stopped just in front of the duo, with an inherently guilty expression plastered across
his face. Daeho looked uncomfortable in his presence as he looked to Jongwoo for guidance,
but before Jongwoo could say anything, Gi-hun took a deep breath and then spoke up.

“Daeho, I’d just like to apologise for what I said.” Gi-hun announced as he turned to focus on
the now startled man beside Jongwoo. Daeho furrowed his brows at the man’s sudden mood
change before he tried to brush him off.
“It’s okay, you’re still mourni—” Daeho tried but Gi-hun quickly cut him off.

“No, it’s not okay.” Gi-hun paused, “That doesn’t excuse my behaviour. It wasn’t your fault
and I never should have taken out my anger on you.”

Daeho remained dead silent as he took in the older man’s apology. Whereas on the other
hand, Jongwoo selfishly wondered if Gi-hun was going to apologise to him too. He was a
victim too…sort of.

“You didn’t kill Jungbae, the Frontman did. So I’m sorry for everything I said, you didn’t
deserve that.” Gi-hun solemnly concluded.

Jongwoo would’ve applauded the man for finally coming to his senses but he shouldn’t clap
for the bare minimum. Gi-hun was merely acting like the adult he was and finally taking
accountability for his rash behaviour, so it would be pointless if Jongwoo clapped for that.

But as Daeho remained in his stunned silence and failed to answer him, Gi-hun took the
man’s brief moment of surprise to instead turn to Jongwoo.

“Thank you, Jongwoo.” Gi-hun smiled weakly before continuing, “You literally slapped the
sense into me, so thank you for that.”

Hearing the older man’s apology wasn’t nearly as satisfying as Jongwoo once thought, as he
suddenly felt quite guilty as he recalled what he had said during the argument. He wasn’t
exactly off the hook either.

“And I’m sorry about what I said at the end. It was rude, and I shouldn’t have said it.”
Jongwoo apologised as he let his head drop in mild regret.

“It’s fine. Sometimes the truth hurts.” Gi-hun swiftly quipped.

Jongwoo opened his mouth to respond, but quickly shut it when he realised that he didn’t
know what to say. In these sorts of situations, Jongwoo knew better than to speak his true
mind, no matter how much it gnawed at him. And while he had meant every word of what he
had said, he still probably shouldn’t have said it. If he wanted to keep his allies, Jongwoo
realised that he can’t just go around telling people that they were the reason they killed their
friends. So in the end, Jongwoo just dropped it and hoped that Gi-hun wouldn’t hold too
much of a grudge against him after this.

“I forgive you Gi-hun, and I’m sure Jongwoo does too. This place brings out the worst in
people, so something was bound to happen anyway.” Daeho said, effectively breaking the
silence that had fallen between them.

“We all just want to get out of here too. Nothing good comes out of fighting each other.”
Daeho quickly added.

And even if a sliver of Jongwoo still wanted to beat Gi-hun’s head in for having gotten away
with punching him, he knew Daeho had a point. Even Young-il and Hyunju had said it
themselves - they needed to work as a team or more people would die unnecessarily.
Jongwoo knew that he could be impulsive and rather short tempered at times, but he wasn’t
stupid enough to estrange himself from his teammates. They had to do this together if they
wanted a chance of surviving.

Jongwoo simply nodded his head in agreement with Daeho, and so did Gi-hun. Then, the
older man spoke up.

“Alright then. Truce?” Gi-hun questioned as he shortly reached out his hand as an offering to
settle the dispute. Jongwoo jumped between Gi-hun’s hand and his face trying to gather his
thoughts, but it wasn’t long that he was also reaching his hand out to shake the older man’s.
And once Jongwoo and Daeho took turns to shake his hand - effectively restoring the alliance
between them once again - Gi-hun then made an announcement.

“Now then, shall we head back to the others?” Gi-hun stated, and Jongwoo noticed how the
man’s shoulders looked much lighter after their conversation. And in a way, Jongwoo’s did
too. It was one less thing to worry about.

Daeho agreed as he soon trailed behind the older man’s. But rather than following the duo
over to the rest of the group, Jongwoo found himself lingering behind. And when Gi-hun
seemed to take notice, he questioned the man.

“Are you coming?” Gi-hun said as he furrowed his brows in confusion as to why Jongwoo
had yet to move.

“I’ll be over in a second, I’m just going to get Moonjo—” He tried before cutting himself off
when he felt a familiar hand reaching up to rest in the curve of his lower back, “Ah, never
mind.”

Gi-hun simply chuckled in response before turning back around and resuming on his way
over to the rest of the team, with Daeho following closely behind.

Jongwoo turned his head to the side and his eyes quickly fell on the taller figure standing
beside him.

“I take it all’s been forgiven?” Moonjo questioned as he returned Jongwoo’s eye contact
intently. Jongwoo nodded his head in response before eventually speaking up.

“Yeah, everything’s back to normal now.” Jongwoo replied before he turned his head back
around to instead focus on a chattering Gi-hun in the distance. But before Moonjo could say
anything, Jongwoo continued.

“But anyway, now that you’re here, let’s go over. They’re probably waiting for us.” He added
before gently pulling away from Moonjo as he focused his energy on regrouping with the rest
of the team.

“Of course, jagiya.” Moonjo called out after him, swiftly catching up with the younger man
as they eventually approached the group.
Hyunju flashed the duo a friendly smile as they neared the rest of the team fairly quickly.
And once they were in the group huddle again, Young-il suddenly spoke up.

“I’m glad everything has been settled and we’re back to being a team.” Young-il announced
gratefully. Then, Hyunju chimed in.

“Yeah, and it’s nice to see you two,” Hyunju pointed at Jongwoo and Gi-hun, “no longer
going at each other’s throats. Fighting really only makes things—”

Suddenly, the sound of the doors on the stage opening echoed throughout the room followed
shortly by the synced marching of a herd of guards emerging from behind them.

“—worse.” She concluded, but the group’s attention was no longer on her as everyone’s
heads had turned to face the entering guards who were bringing in trays of food and drink.

Jongwoo eyed the table full of their breakfast items cheerfully, and it felt as if his prayers had
been answered. And apparently his stomach thought so too, as it loudly grumbled eagerly
upon the sight of the food.

Young-il let out a low chuckle at Jongwoo’s keenness before he added one final statement.

“I guess we can continue this later. Let’s eat first.”

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement as they began to make their way over to the
queues of players lining up for their breakfast. Once Jongwoo eventually made it to the front,
he pouted when he saw what was being served.

It was the same bread roll and cartoon of milk from one of the first days that they had been
here. What a shame.

And when Jongwoo swivelled on his feet and began to head back in the direction of his bed
like always, he was waved down by Gi-hun and the others. Quickly realising that there was
no need to isolate himself any longer, Jongwoo swiftly changed the directory of his path. By
now, Moonjo had also gotten his serve and was following only a few footsteps behind
Jongwoo on their way over to the group.

Once they approached the rest of the team, both Jongwoo and Moonjo soon found an open
spot on the staircase and sat down. Then, for the next couple of minutes, the group ate their
boring breakfast in a comfortable silence. Jongwoo let his eyes drift between each of the
members of the team before they fell on Hyunju who was trying to cheer up a relatively still
depressed Junhee in a nearby bed. From his position, Jongwoo could only assume that the
taller woman was trying to encourage the other to get some food onto her system for the next
game.

Oh yeah, the game.

It seemed that Young-il had also come to the startling conclusion that it wasn’t long until the
next game began, as he quickly cleared his throat, bringing all attention to him in a matter of
seconds.
“What do we think the next game is going to be?” He questioned, looking around at the rest
of the group.

Jongwoo let himself ponder for a moment as he moved his untouched carton of milk to the
side. Honestly, it was a miracle that his body didn’t react when he had chugged the entire
thing last time. So, he certainly wasn’t going to take any chances this time around. He was
thirsty, sure, but he wasn’t that desperate.

Gi-hun let out a low hum and Jongwoo’s attention quickly fell on the man.

“I think it could be a team-based game.” Gi-hun quipped, and everyone seemed to raise an
eyebrow at the man’s sudden confidence.

“What makes you think that?” It was Yongsik who spoke up this time, with a confused
expression plastered across his face.

“I’m not too sure, but going off last time—” He tried but was soon cut off by Young-il.

“But haven’t we already established that the games are different this time around?” The older
man flatly asked as he looked at Gi-hun inquisitively.

In response, Gi-hun simply sighed as he realised that Young-il had a point. But before anyone
else could speak up, Jongwoo found his mouth opening for him.

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter. What are some games that we haven’t played yet? Maybe we
could think of some strategies for some of them in advance.” Jongwoo reasoned as the rest of
the group’s attention quickly fell on him.

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement before silence quickly engulfed them as they
began to brainstorm. Then, surprisingly, Moonjo spoke up.

“Hide and Seek?” He offered, cocking his head to the side.

And as the rest of the group considered what the best way of going about staying alive for a
game of Hide and Seek was, Jongwoo simply narrowed his eyes on the older man as his mind
began to wander. It was so strange to think that Moonjo - the cannibal, serial killer Moonjo -
was once a child too. Jongwoo wondered if Moonjo had always been like he was or if he
grew into his illegal hobbies. But, to be fair, Jongwoo wouldn’t be that surprised if he learnt
that Moonjo had also been some sort of a demon child. In the end, it was Moonjo after all.

But as the chatter about different strategies for the proposed game soon died down, Jongwoo
casted away the thought as he once again rejoined the conversation. Maybe he’d ask Moonjo
about it later.

“What about Yut Nori? Like with the four wooden sticks and the tokens? I mean, it is a team-
based game.” Daeho suggested.

“I don’t know, do kids even play that nowadays? It seems quite old-fashioned.” Jongwoo
retorted as he tried to remember the last time he had played such a traditional game. And
well, the answer was about 20 years ago.
“Well, you never kno—” But before the marine could finish, the sound of the doors opening
once again caused him to immediately stop talking. And as everyone turned to face the group
of guards reemerging once again, it seemed that all of their shoulders seemed to droop in
sync as they quickly realised that they were about to find out.

“Attention, players. The fifth game will begin momentarily. Please follow the staff’s
instructions and swiftly make your way towards the game hall.” The woman’s voice played
out over the speakers loudly.

Hyunju swiftly made her way over to Junhee, but thankfully, it seemed that the smaller
woman was feeling ever so slightly better as Hyunju didn’t need to hold her up anymore.
Jongwoo felt a small smile grace his lips before his attention quickly fell back onto the
guards that were motioning for them to follow them to the next game.

But just as Jongwoo took a step, he suddenly felt a cold hand wrap around his wrists
effectively holding him in place. And when he turned around, he wasn’t even remotely
surprised to see Moonjo.

Jongwoo dropped his eyes to focus on the man’s tight grasp on his wrist before he lifted them
back up to Moonjo’s face. Almost immediately, Jongwoo felt that he knew what the older
man wanted. So when Moonjo opened his mouth to say something, Jongwoo swiftly cut him
off before he could even try.

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” Jongwoo quipped, rolling his eyes dramatically before he pulled
away from Moonjo’s grasp only to interlock his fingers with his in a firm hand hold.
“Happy?” He added sarcastically.

However, Jongwoo quickly realised that he may have read the older man wrong as Moonjo
was looking at him in a mix of confusion and amusement. Then, just as quickly as he was
once confused by Jongwoo’s odd reaction, a mocking smirk crept up from Moonjo’s lips.

“I was just going to ask you to wait for the others but this is certainly better.” Moonjo smugly
mused, only tightening his grip around the other’s hand. There was no way in hell Jongwoo
was going to get out of his hold now, so really, there was no point in trying.

Jongwoo shook his head in disbelief before he let out a defeated sigh. Then, he eventually
spoke up.

“Whatever, let’s just go. They can catch up.” Jongwoo muttered as he nodded in the direction
of the remaining lingering group members. Moonjo simply smiled in response as he let
Jongwoo guide him in the direction of the guards.

Once again travelling through the peculiarly designed room, Jongwoo could feel his nerves
resurfacing once again. What was the game going to be this time? Jongwoo continued to rack
his brain for possible ideas as to what the next game could be before a tight squeeze from the
taller man sent him hurtling back into reality.

“Jagiya, don’t stress yourself out. We’ll figure out what the game is any second.” Moonjo
assured, stopping in his tracks and pulling on their connected hands to get the younger man to
face him as he spoke.

“…Yeah.” Was all Jongwoo managed. While Moonjo had a point, it wasn’t enough to calm
his nerves. But who wouldn’t be scared shitless in this situation? Jongwoo didn’t think he
was being that crazy for worrying about what the next game that could possibly take his life
could be.

“No matter what happens, I’ll always be there.” Moonjo continued reassuringly, and in
response, Jongwoo took a deep breath to once again try and calm himself down. At this rate,
he was just going to psyche himself out and then he really was going to fuck this up and die.
He needed to get it together.

Rather than outright responding to the man, Jongwoo flashed Moonjo a half-hearted smile
before he turned back around and continued following the guard in front of him. It wasn’t
like he was doing something he hasn’t done before. They were children’s games after all, and
even with the whole ‘You’re playing for your life’ thing, the rules were practically the same.

And as Jongwoo continued to reassure himself that he was fully capable of surviving any of
the games if he played strategically enough, he soon got distracted when the guards led them
into an even more eerie room than before. Rather than being oddly bright and colourful, the
walls were completely white and void of any sort of welcoming colour. Jongwoo followed
the guard closely as they led the remaining players down the ghost-white staircase and into a
fairly open space below. If it hadn't been for the large green door at the end of the room,
Jongwoo would’ve thought they had just entered a solitary confinement cell.

But as the last few players dwindled down the stairs as they studied the room in confusion, a
familiar voice played out over the PA system once again.

“Players, welcome to the fifth game. For this game, you will play in teams.”

Jongwoo snapped his head to face an equally dumbfounded Moonjo to his right. Gi-hun had
actually been right. Speaking of Gi-hun, Jongwoo let his eyes drift over to the man who was
standing only a few feet away. He couldn't help but notice how the older man looked frozen
and rooted in his spot, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. But Jongwoo couldn’t
dwell on it for long, as the woman over the speakers continued her instructions.

“All players, please divide yourselves into teams of seven people. Your time limit will be five
minutes.” The woman declared, and almost immediately, both confused and frightened
murmurs broke out within the crowd.

“Let me repeat the instructions.”

But rather than standing around and waiting for the woman to repeat the exact same thing he
had already understood the first time around, Jongwoo pulled Moonjo along as they pushed
through the not-so-dense crowd until they had been reunited with the rest of their team.

“However, as there is an uneven amount of players remaining, one player will be randomly
chosen to get escorted back to the sleeping quarters.”
And if the chatter from the remaining players wasn’t already getting louder as it was, it
practically erupted as soon as the words came out of the woman’s mouth. Jongwoo even felt
his heart skip a beat as he comprehended the situation.

So one person was going to get a free pass and skip the game entirely? Shit, that would
practically solve all of Jongwoo’s worries at this moment.

“Now, the guards will elect the nominated player through drawing a player number out of the
box.”

And only seconds later, a different guard was approaching the other staff members holding a
fairly large, black box in their hands. Then, the guard swiftly reached their hand into the box
and shuffled around the pieces of paper until they settled on one in particular.

Suddenly, the room fell deathly quiet as everyone watched the guard’s movement in
increasing anticipation. And as the guard pulled their hand out of the box and held the piece
of paper up to their face, Jongwoo heft was beating at a million miles per hour. Maybe after
all these years of bad luck, Jongwoo would finally—

“Player 222.” The guard sternly announced.

Instantly, the attention of the remaining players - including Jongwoo - swiftly fell onto a
startled Junhee cowering in the back behind everyone. She was gripping her belly tightly as
her eyes darted around the room in confusion as to what had just happened.

But even though a sliver of Jongwoo wanted to be selfish and try to fight his way into taking
over the woman’s spot, he knew that Junhee probably needed the break the most. However, it
seemed that letting a pregnant woman get a free pass for one of the games was far too
outrageous for some random O player.

“Take me instead of her! I need it more than she does!” The man shrieked as he scrambled in
front of the guard that was holding Junhee’s player number. He pointed at his bruised and
bloodied leg, and Jongwoo could only assume that he had been caught in the crossfire during
one of the many fights that had occurred over the last couple of days.

What an asshole.

“The decision is final,” The guard declared, pausing to let the statement sink in much to the
dismay of several other players who had been thinking the same thing, before they continued,
“Player 222, please follow the staff back to the sleeping quarters promptly.”

And almost immediately, Junhee was whisked off of her feet by two guards that had emerged
from somewhere in the room during the whole ordeal. Her eyes jumped between her leftover
friends in horror before she hurriedly yelled out before she disappeared beyond the doors
once again.

“If any of you die, I’ll fucking kill you!” Junhee screeched before she was pulled away and
out of sight. For that being the first time Jongwoo has heard the woman speak in a while, the
profanity sounded jarring in comparison to her usually well-mannered and kind words.
Once Junhee was undoubtedly out of the way and on her way back to the sleeping quarters,
the woman’s voice once again echoed over the speakers.

“The five minute timer begins now. Players, please begin to form your teams of seven.”

And with that, Jongwoo’s eyes quickly fell on the suddenly decreasing timer above the large
green door in front of him. But rather than watching the time fly by, Jongwoo’s attention
refocused back on the rest of the group that also stood just in front of him. Then, Gi-hun
began counting.

“One,” he pointed to himself, “Two,” then Young-il, “Three & four,” back to Jongwoo and
Moonjo, “Five,” Hyunju, “Six & seven,” to Yongsik and Geumja, “…and eight.” He
concluded as he weakly pointed a defeated finger at Daeho.

For fucks sake. Of course they had one too many. Life couldn’t be that easy, could it?
Honestly, what a pain in the ass.

Everyone dejectedly looked around, wondering what their next move could be, before Daeho
suddenly broke the silence himself.

“I’ll go.”

Jongwoo, alongside literally everyone else, snapped their heads up to face Daeho who had
raised a hand up to signify his volunteering.

“No, no. Absolutely not. Why on earth would you purposely—” Hyunju started rather
aggressively before swiftly getting cut off.

“Then who else will?” Daeho countered firmly as he looked between his still stunned
counterparts. Hyunju choked on her words and Daeho didn’t waste a single second to use her
brief moment of silence to continue.

“Please, let me do this. It’s the least I could do for you all after everything that has
happened.” Daeho added, but his tone was much softer this time.

“Daeho, we never blamed you in the first place. You don't need to keep punishing yourself!”
Hyunju snapped back, but it was no use. Daeho was already excusing himself from the group
as he turned his back to his mortified team and walked off in the direction of a different group
of players.

And when Hyunju went to run after the man, it was Gi-hun who reached out a hand in front
of her, effectively stopping her from continuing. Then, he spoke up.

“Don’t.” Gi-hun muttered as he held a firm hand out in front of the woman.

“We can’t just let him leave!” Hyunju desperately retorted as she scanned the room for the
man who had recently wandered off.

“We have no other choice, and he did what all of us were too afraid to do.”
And while Gi-hun’s tone was stern, Jongwoo could tell that the man was just as upset about it
all than Hyunju was. But, unlike everyone else, he put on a brave face and quickly became
the voice of reason for them all. Because in the end, Gi-hun was right. Daeho had put himself
forward when no one else was willing to. Jongwoo certainly knew that he didn’t want to
volunteer, and he highly doubted that Moonjo would suddenly leave his side either, so they
were no better than the others who had failed to offer.

It seemed that the rest of the group agreed with Gi-hun’s harsh but honest truth, as they all
nodded their heads weakly. And since there were now only 28 remaining players, excluding
Junhee of course, it wasn’t long until the four groups of seven had been formed. The teams
huddled in their respective corners of the room and began brainstorming as to what the game
could be.

Seriously, what game required seven players to participate? Jongwoo sifted through his
memories as a child but he didn’t get very far in his search.

Eventually, the sound of the five minute timer ending sounded, thus bringing everyone’s
attention back to the woman’s voice over the PA system.

“The time for forming your teams is over. All players, please line up with your teammates at
the entrance to the game hall.”

And as Jongwoo went to stand in front of the large green door, he was quickly reminded of
the older man’s hand who he was still holding onto after all this time. Jongwoo let his hand
drop from Moonjo’s, and he almost chuckled when the other man pouted at his sudden
retraction. But instead of indulging the man or poking fun at him, Jongwoo simply looked
away and tried to refocus on the situation at hand.

Then, the doors began to slide open. Jongwoo’s eyes quickly fell on an open dirt field painted
with two playground markings on either side of the room.

…And wait, this room looked familiar—

Oh! This was the field that they played Red Light Green Light on.

Jongwoo scrunched his face up in confusion as he quickly noticed the familiar doll and tree
standing at the far end of the room. Seriously, how many fucking dolls did they have?

But as the guards motioned them into the room further until they shut the doors behind them,
Jongwoo realised that he didn’t want to dwell on the strange nostalgic feeling any longer. So,
he focused his attention on something else instead.

Jongwoo studied the peculiar floor markings a little closer as he tried to make sense of what
exactly he was seeing. There were white markings that formed a large triangle, and at each of
the points was a circle. Connecting each of the circles were narrow but long lanes, clearly
separated from the middle of the triangle by thick, white lines.

It looked unfathomably familiar, but Jongwoo couldn’t quite put his finger on it—
“Welcome to the fifth game. Players, the game you will be playing is Dog Bone.” The
woman’s voice playing out over the speakers interrupted.

Ah. So that’s what it was.

“Two teams will be versing each other and will be divided into attackers and defenders.
Attackers will begin in one of the circles, or the safe zones, and it is their mission to all
individually and successfully complete a full rotation until they have hit all of the safe zones
and have returned back to the original circle. Defenders, it is your responsibility to prevent
the attackers from completing their rounds by pushing or blocking them as they run between
the lanes connecting each of the safe zones. You must do so whilst staying within the central
area of the triangle.”

Even though Jongwoo was pretty confident he understood the rules, the woman’s words were
still a lot to take in. He was just grateful that he had played this game so often with his little
brother back when they were younger or he would have been absolutely lost. Then, the
woman continued.

“There will be a 10 minute timer. If the attackers complete their rounds within the time limit,
they win and the defenders will be eliminated. However, if the attackers are pushed out of
their boundaries by a defender, they will be eliminated. Defenders, to win you must effectively
prevent the attackers from completing their rounds within the time limit. In addition,
defenders, if you step outside of your boundaries, you too will be eliminated.”

Jongwoo stilled as he listened to the woman’s words carefully. No matter how long he had
been here or how many games he played, the gruesomeness of these games was always
beyond Jongwoo. How could they turn such innocent children’s games into something so
catastrophic and vicious?

“Let me repeat the instructions.”

But instead of listening to her explain the rules once more, Jongwoo turned around to face
Moonjo, trying to gather how the older man was feeling about all of this. His eyes fell on a
rather relaxed figure behind him, but Jongwoo quickly brushed off the thought as he even
knew that it was rare to see Moonjo fronting an emotion other than a haunting curation of
calmness and indifference.

“Being a defender sounds simpler.” Moonjo’s sudden voice quickly brought Jongwoo out of
his trance as he raised an eyebrow up at him inquisitively.

“Why do you think that?” Jongwoo replied as he studied the man’s face carefully.

“Attackers have to worry about timing their runs and avoiding the defender’s attacks,
whereas the defenders only have to worry about knocking them off course and outside of the
boundaries.” Moonjo flatly responded.

Jongwoo contemplated the man’s claim a little longer until he settled on the fact that Moonjo
was right. Other than the typical ‘Your life is at stake’ kind of pressure, it was totally less
stressful to be a defender than it was an attacker.
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. And plus, I think you’d be a perfect defender.” Jongwoo jested
as the corners of his lips upturned in a sneaky smile.

Moonjo cocked an eyebrow at the younger man’s comment before he opened his mouth to
continue.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you always push people to their limits anyway, so what’s the difference?” Jongwoo
mocked as he let a smug smile grace his lips. It wasn’t even funny but Jongwoo found
himself holding back a laugh before Moonjo eventually responded.

“Do I get under your skin, jagiya?” And unfortunately for Jongwoo, Moonjo didn’t look even
remotely affected by his remark. Rather, he looked quite pleased with himself.

However, rather than indulging the man, Jongwoo simply let out an annoyed grunt seeing as
his comment didn’t land the way he had intended it to. Thankfully, it was the sound of
footsteps on the gravely field that quickly caught Jongwoo’s attention as he swivelled back
around to face the open field in front of him. Then, his eyes fell on two other guards standing
on either side of a square-masked guard that were holding a makeshift podium each that had
black boxes perched on top of them. Then, the square-masked guard spoke up.

“Now, I will draw numbers to decide which two teams will play first.” The guard suddenly
announced. And before he even knew it, the two other guards were reaching into their
respective boxes before they each pulled out a ball that displayed a number.

“Teams 2 and 3 will be competing against each other, which therefore leaves Teams 1 and 4
to verse one another.” The guard declared firmly.

Jongwoo’s eyes then drifted down the line of the other teams standing in single file lines
beside him. Almost immediately, Jongwoo assumed that they were Team 1 as his group was
the first in line. But before Jongwoo could scope out who his competitors were going to be,
the guard continued.

“Now, I will now flip a coin to decide which team is going to be the attackers.” They said
before swiftly pulling a single coin out of their jumpsuit pocket.

“If it lands on Heads, Teams 2 and 4 will be the attackers. If it lands on tails, Teams 1 and 3
will be the attackers.” And with that, the guard immediately tossed the coin up into the air.

It was as if time seemed to slow down as the coin was falling through the air because
Jongwoo watched as it rotated frantically until finally landing on the guard's open palm.
Then, the guard flipped his hand over - with the coin still firmly in his palm - before
smacking it down onto the top of his other hand.

Jongwoo watched in nervous anticipation as the guard began to slide his hand off agonizingly
slowly. He wasn’t particularly religious or anything, but Jongwoo found himself praying that
someone - anyone - would hear his desperate pleas and help him out. Just this once.
And then the guard completely pulled away his hand. Jongwoo tried to peer over to see what
the outcome was but he was too far away to see which side the coin had landed on. So, he
waited eagerly until the square-masked guard finally spoke up.

“It was Heads. Therefore, Teams 2 and 4 will be the attackers while Teams 1 and 3 will be
the defenders.”

Jongwoo silently cheered upon hearing the guard’s relieving words. Amidst his celebratory
daze, Jongwoo had turned around to face Moonjo only to be met with an amused smile from
the older man. Letting his hands that had probably risen sometime during his celebration
drop, Jongwoo grumbled as his moment of happiness was short lived. Of course Moonjo
always had to ruin a moment with his unrelenting stares.

Whatever, the game was starting soon anyway. Jongwoo could whinge about Moonjo’s
constant, unwavering attention on him later. Right now, he had to focus on surviving the
game. As the three guards returned to their respective signposts off to the side, the woman’s
voice soon echoed out throughout the vast room.

“Teams 1 & 4, please make your way over to the left playing area. Then, for Teams 2 & 3,
please head to the right one.”

And soon enough, Jongwoo found himself leading the rest of his team over to where could
possibly be their last 10 minutes of being alive. Shortly followed by Moonjo and the rest of
his group, Jongwoo stepped over one of the lanes and into the central area of the triangle.

Now, there really was no way out. He was truly and utterly stuck. The only way he’d be
walking outside of this triangle again would be if they successfully fended off the other team.

…Or if he fell.

Anyway, while Team 4 was slowly approaching in this distance, Young-il gestured for them
to make a group huddle before the game began. Both Jongwoo and Moonjo quickly narrowed
their attention on the older man as he spoke.

“We need to spread ourselves out evenly across the inner sides of each of the lanes. That way,
we’re covered on all fronts. Got it?” Young-il questioned, his voice becoming purposefully
quieter as the other team approached. The rest of the group simply nodded their heads in
reaffirmation before it was Gi-hun who made the next announcement.

“Young-il and I will take this side. Yongsik, Guemja & Hyunju, you three can take that one.
And that leaves you two for the remaining side.” Gi-hun declared as he pointed between each
of the three sides of the triangle. Then, he continued.

“Is everyone clear on how to play? Or does someone need a quick reminder?” Gi-hun added
as he looked between each of his team members hopefully. And thankfully, everyone shook
their heads to symbolise that there was no need for a demonstration on how to play.

The attacking team had ventured into their beginning safe zone and was also huddled tightly
together to discuss their strategies. But just as quickly as they had grouped together, they
were separated once more. Jongwoo couldn’t recognise any of the other players, but he
distantly wondered what team Daeho was on. He hoped that the marine would make it out
too.

Knowing that the game was bound to start any second, Jongwoo and the rest of his team
quickly found their position along their designated side of the triangle. Jongwoo kicked a few
large pebbles from under his feet away, making sure that there was no way he’d make some
stupid slip up and accidentally get himself eliminated. Once the ground was relatively clear,
Jongwoo brought his head back up before he turned around to face where the attackers were
standing. Jongwoo and Moonjo’s efforts would only be needed if the one of the other groups
had failed to throw them off course and eliminate them. But since the attackers could choose
whatever direction to take, Jongwoo knew that he’d constantly have to keep checking the two
safe zones on either side of the lane that they were standing behind to ensure that there were
no stragglers.

Then, before it was too late, Young-il suddenly yelled out.

“Victory at all costs!” He cheered, hoping to hype up the rest of the team.

And it worked. Jongwoo too found himself yelling back the chant passionately in order to try
and prepare himself for what was about to come. Then, the woman’s voice suddenly played
out over the speakers.

“Let the game begin.”

And with that, the 10 minute timer in the distance immediately began and an obnoxiously
loud horn sounded to symbolise the beginning of the game.

Jongwoo, who had rotated his body so he could see what was going on behind him, watched
in shock as almost immediately two attackers made a run for it. Evidently, the attacking team
had planned for the first two attackers to go as soon as the alarm sounded and in different
directions to try and catch the defenders off guard.

And…it worked, unfortunately.

As his eyes darted between each side, Jongwoo watched as both Young-il and Gi-hun failed
to land any successful pushes, but rather having completely missed the mark as the attacker
easily weaved around their arms. On the other hand, the side with the trio had gotten slightly
thrown off balance and had been distracted by the deafening sound of the timer beginning
that they hadn’t managed to react in time to stop the attacker from reaching the other safe
zone.

And as both attackers leapt into the safe zone, their feet crashing into the gravelly floor,
Jongwoo immediately snapped his body back around to face them. He and Moonjo were the
next line of defence now.

Readying his arms by stretching them, Jongwoo found himself whipping his eyes between
the two sides trying to anticipate when one of them was going to pounce. Then, it happened.
But, unlike last time, the two players staggered their runs. It was the attacker closest to
Jongwoo who began to rapidly approach, and it wasn’t long until Jongwoo thrusted out his
arms until his palms were in contact with the other man’s side. And as he pushed the player
off balance mid-run, Jongwoo felt his feet and calves working overtime to try and maintain
his balance without toppling over forwards.

The attacker stumbled upon the sudden force, and soon enough, he stepped outside of the
lane. He snapped his head up to face Jongwoo in horror, and it wasn’t long until a nearby
guard that was wielding a rifle was approaching him. The attacker froze in place as he
watched the guard load his gun before holding the barrel only a mere foot or two away from
his forehead.

Jongwoo flinched at the loud, point blank shot and watched as the lifeless corpse of the
attacker’s body slammed down into the ground behind him. But before he could take in what
he just saw, a different guard who was standing nearby and was not holding a rifle suddenly
spoke up.

“Player 192, eliminated. The attacking team must complete 6 successful rounds now.” They
announced firmly.

Unfortunately, it was amidst both Jongwoo’s and Moonjo’s brief moment of shock that the
remaining player from Moonjo’s side decided to absolutely book it down the narrow lane.
And by the time Jongwoo snapped out of it, the man had already dodged Jongwoo’s half-ass
attempts of trying to push him out due to his late reaction. The attacker landed with two feet
safely into the next safe zone, and Jongwoo gritted his teeth as he realised that the man only
had one more run to make before he was already back at the original safe zone.

So, Jongwoo kept a firm glance over his shoulder so he’d be able to keep track of the
whereabouts of the other attackers until they arrived at he and Moonjo’s lane. Speaking of
Moonjo…

“What the fuck Moonjo! What’s the point of having such long, lanky ass arms if you’re not
going to fucking use them?” Jongwoo suddenly spat as he reached over and grabbed the man
by his jacket sleeves, wiggling it around to emphasise his point.

Moonjo, who had also been keeping an eye on the rest of the attackers still huddled at the
first safe zone, swivelled around until he was facing a particularly annoyed Jongwoo.

“Sorry jagiya, it was my mistake. It won’t happen again.” Moonjo flatly replied, not even
sounding remotely sorry in his tone of voice. In response, Jongwoo scoffed before he
continued.

“Yeah, it won’t. Or you’ll happily find yourself two feet that way,” he pointed an aggressive
finger at the outside of the triangle and beyond the lane, “lying down with a nice, oddly-
bullet-shaped hole in your fucking forehead.” Jongwoo hissed through his teeth
threateningly.

It was hard to maintain eye contact with the older man if he was trying to keep track of the
attackers behind him, but Jongwoo managed to catch a glimpse of an ever growing smile
from Moonjo between his glances. But just as the older man opened his mouth to smugly
retort, the sound of an attacker hurdling into the safe zone next to Jongwoo brought both of
them out of their conversation.

Jongwoo watched as the woman landed on her hands and knees, her jumpsuit littered with
dirt and various gravelly debris from the field. Eventually, she stood up and brushed off the
dirt from her hands and knees before she was looking at the lane ahead.

What the fuck were the others doing? Why were the attackers getting through so easily?

But seeing as it wouldn’t be very smart to turn his head away from the woman to look at what
his other teammates were doing, Jongwoo instead cracked his knuckles and prepared himself
for when the woman tried to make a run for it. He watched as she lined herself up with the far
side of the lane, trying to keep as much distance as she could between her and Jongwoo. But
it seemed that the woman’s hesitant preparation was all a rouge, as she suddenly leapt into
action and began bolting down the narrow lane.

Much like last time, Jongwoo managed to thrust his palms into the side of her body, quickly
sending her stumbling over her feet and falling out of her lane. However, unfortunately for
Jongwoo, the woman somehow managed to turn her body mid air enough to instead reach out
an arm and latch onto Jongwoo. Within a split second, Jongwoo’s eyes lit up in horror as he
realised that the woman was trying to take him down with her. Her sharp, jagged nails dug
into his forearm harshly, clinging onto him like a parasite.

Jongwoo felt himself falling forward at the sudden force, and it wasn’t long until both he and
the woman were rapidly approaching the ground closer and closer. But before any part of him
could fall into the lane, Jongwoo’s descent was interrupted when a strong hand clasped onto
the back of his jacket and stopped him, effectively holding him in place. Jongwoo looked
over his shoulder with stunned eyes at Moonjo holding onto his jacket firmly, with a tense
vein appearing up his neck at just how hard he was straining himself to keep Jongwoo upright
in such an awkward position with only one hand. Moonjo’s face however, like always, was
calmer than anything.

Quickly returning his attention back to the woman whose fingernails were still dug deeply
into him, Jongwoo swiftly realised that she was only staying upright too because he was. And
so, without needing much more thought, Jongwoo brought a hand up to hers and began
prying her fingers off of his forearm. And when the rest of the woman’s fingers were peeled
off, Jongwoo watched as she fell backwards, flailing her arms around to try and get a grip on
something before it was too late.

However, in a matter of seconds, the woman’s back hit the ground of the lane, followed
shortly by her head hitting the floor outside of the lane. And almost instantly after she had
fallen, Moonjo heaved Jongwoo up until he was safely standing back in his original position.
Jongwoo, breathing heavily and erratically after the chaotic events of what just happened,
simply watched from the other side of the lane as the same armed guard walked over and
pointed the gun at the woman’s head. She wailed and begged the guard for mercy but the
sound of her screams was quickly overshadowed by a much louder, more gruesome sound of
the gun going off.
Blood instantly began to pool under her head, staining the dirt field beneath her. Then, before
he even knew it, the armed guard was grabbing the woman by her arms and dragging her
body off of the lane. There was no black boxes with pink ribbons by the looks of it, but
Jongwoo was glad that they moved her body out of the way at the very least. One less thing
to worry about.

“Player 449 eliminated. The attacking team must complete 5 successful rounds now.” The
square-masked guard loudly shouted.

And as Jongwoo comprehended the guard’s words a little more, he realised that they were
counting down. It seemed that the attacking team also coincidentally realised this, as they
pointed it out loudly, much to the rest of Jongwoo’s team’s benefit.

“Guys, only 5 of us have to do it now! And look, we have so much time. We’ve surely got
this!” One of the attacking players said, causing Jongwoo to whip his head around to face the
rest of the attackers who had yet to move. Then, Jongwoo followed his finger up to the timer
that displayed an uneasy 6:11 minutes remaining.

Shit, why was time moving so slowly? Even though Jongwoo had managed to push out two
attackers already, his body was still screaming at him. But, it could have very well been just
the nerves of having to play for his life that made his body ache. Only 4 minutes down and
Jongwoo felt like he had been on a rollercoaster of emotions already.

However, Jongwoo couldn’t dwell on his feelings too much as one of the other attackers was
lining themselves up with the trio’s lane, preparing to make a run for it at any second.
Jongwoo’s eyes fell on Hyunju who, upon seeing the player readying himself, lifted a leg up
and held it out like a barrier. And while she had long legs that blocked the entirety of the
lane, it was a risky move. If the attacker really wanted to, they could just jump on her leg and
bring it crashing down into the lane, thus effectively eliminating her.

But just as quickly as the thought crossed his mind, Jongwoo brushed it off. From what he’s
seen, Hyunju wasn’t an idiot, and she surely wasn’t going to go down without a fight. She
didn’t seem like the type that would act impulsively without much coordination or thinking
behind her actions.

So, as Hyunju balanced on one foot with her other leg sticking out, both Geumja and Yongsik
prepared themselves beside her. The attacking player looked as if he was contemplating his
next move and how to avoid all of the trio’s attacks and also Hyunju’s barrier.

Suddenly, the man bee-lined down the middle of the lane, rapidly approaching the mother-
son duo. From afar, Jongwoo watched as the man weaved between their pathetic attempts at
pushing him over before he was only a few feet away from Hyunju’s lifted leg.

Jongwoo didn’t know what he was expecting when the man approached Hyunju’s leg, but he
couldn’t exactly say he had anticipated the player leaping up and over her leg as if it was a
hurdle. It seemed that Hyunju had also been stunted by the man’s sudden splay of athleticism
that she was unable to snap out of it in time to chase after the player.
However, fully expecting the man to stop in his new, recently acquired safe zone, Jongwoo
was immediately thrown off guard when the man used his momentum to instead blitz through
both Jongwoo and Moonjo. By the time Moonjo had thrusted his arms out to try and push the
other man out of the lane, it was too late and the player was already jumping into the next
safe zone.

For fucks sake. Maybe being a defender wasn’t as easy as he had once hoped.

Jongwoo then focused his attention on the older duo who were their last line of defense. And
unlike last time, the man had come to screeching halt and seemed to be debating when he was
going to try and make a run for it.

Then, since everyone’s attention was on the man who had easily tore through both Jongwoo
and Moonjo’s defence and Hyunju, Geumja, and Yongsik’s, Jongwoo snapped his head over
to where a player from the starting safe zone began to bolt down the older duo’s empty lane.

Even Gi-hun and Young-il had been caught off guard by the second man as they had failed to
notice how the original player had also decided to charge down the lane in unison with his
counterpart. And once the two attackers were rapidly approaching and were about to cross
paths, Young-il thrusted his palms out until they collided with the man closest to him.
However, it didn’t quite work out the way that he had wanted. Rather, the man was pushed
into the player behind him. But instead of both attackers falling over and stumbling out of the
lane, the second player simply pushed his teammate back onto his feet. Then, even amidst
their brief struggle, the two attackers managed to push past one another, using each other as
sort of a launching pad to throw themselves at the safe zones on either side of the lane.

And as both players landed into their respective safe areas within seconds, Jongwoo felt his
shoulders tense as he quickly realised that the attacking team was one player closer to
completing all of their rounds. So far, now 2 out of the 5 remaining players had finished, with
the third already having made it past their first round of defence. While both teams were
practically even in terms of either eliminating each other or completing a full rotation,
Jongwoo couldn’t shake the dread gnawing at his stomach. At this rate, they were all going to
die.

Letting his eyes drift back up to the timer, Jongwoo read how there was only 3:26 minutes
remaining. However, Jongwoo swiftly ripped his eyes off of the timer and back onto the man
that was standing in the safe zone on Moonjo’s side. He was taking a bit of a breather after
having almost taken out both he and his teammate in his previous run. So, using the man’s
brief moment of recuperation, Jongwoo yelled out to Moonjo.

“Moonjo! Use your arms as a barrier like Hyunju did!” He shouted, with the older man
immediately turning to look at him with a confused expression plastered across his face.
Jongwoo didn’t know exactly why he was suggesting it after having just witnessed that it
clearly hadn’t worked for Hyunju, but Jongwoo was willing to take the risk that not everyone
was as athletic as that one player was. And despite his confused attitude, Moonjo eventually
obliged as he leaned over with both of his arms stretching out over the lane.

Soon enough, Jongwoo too found himself preparing for what was about to come. He bounced
on his toes, shaking out his arms, and rolled his shoulders. Taking a deep breath to compose
himself, Jongwoo felt his fingers twitching at his sides, arms buzzing with anticipation.

Then, everything blurred into motion.

The player suddenly leapt forward, rapidly approaching Moonjo’s makeshift obstacle with
heavy footsteps. And as the man sprinted closer and closer to Moonjo, Jongwoo couldn’t help
but notice that the man wasn’t slowing down. What the hell was this idiot planning to—

Suddenly, using his accumulated momentum, the man dropped down onto his ass before he
slid under Moonjo’s arms with ease, somewhat using the dirt beneath him as an odd lubricant
to glide quicker. Okay, maybe the other players were more athletic than Jongwoo had
thought…

Jongwoo’s eyes snapped to the man that was now using his sliding acceleration to, with a
swift push, pop himself back up onto his feet in one fluid motion, ready to move again. And
almost instantly, Jongwoo jolted out of his stunned state and prepared himself to take down
the man himself instead. But just as quickly as the player was approaching him, Jongwoo
watched as he was suddenly yanked back and stopped dead in his tracks.

Then, Jongwoo’s eyes fell on Moonjo who had somehow managed to rotate his body quick
enough to reach out and grab the attacker before he could continue on any longer.

“Moonjo, you’re meant to push them out, not hold onto them you idiot!” Jongwoo spat in a
mix of disbelief and irritation, but it was no use. The player suddenly snapped his head back
around and looked down at Moonjo’s grip on his shoulder angrily. And from where Jongwoo
was standing, even he knew that the grip looked particularly unrelenting and painfully harsh.
Watching as the man inspected Moonjo’s tight hold, Jongwoo only assumed that he had
realised that he wasn't going to be able to pry himself out of it anytime soon. So, rather than
wasting his energy on trying to unravel Moonjo’s impossibly harsh grip, the player settled on
a different strategy that caught both Jongwoo and Moonjo inherently off guard.

Suddenly, he reached out his own arm and grabbed onto Moonjo’s forearm before he began
yanking the older man toward him. Almost immediately, Jongwoo’s eyes widened as he
watched Moonjo’s feet shuffle forward at the sudden force before they came to a screeching
halt, with the tips of his shoes barely avoiding the lane’s bordering lines.

Jongwoo felt his breath hitch at the sight. No matter how abnormally strong Moonjo was, it
was insanely difficult to keep his balance in such an awkward position whilst having an arm
firmly attached to the player’s shoulder. So, even as he tried to dig his feet into the ground to
keep his balance, Moonjo was involuntarily getting brought up onto the tips of his toes as the
other player continued to pull him in.

And then Jongwoo stepped in.

He moved without thinking and soon enough, he was wrapping his arms around Moonjo’s
waist and slamming his feet into a wide stance to ground both of them. Using all of his
strength, Jongwoo pulled Moonjo back as hard as he could until the entirety of the man’s feet
were both back safely planted on the ground.
And even though it was now a 2 v 1, Jongwoo and Moonjo’s position was far from perfect
and Jongwoo could already feel his feet slipping forward on the gravelly floor with every pull
of the other player. So, quickly thinking on the spot, Jongwoo yelled out desperately.

“Unravel his fucking fingers!” Jongwoo screeched as he tightened his hold on Moonjo’s
waist and tried to dig his feet into the ground further.

And thankfully, Moonjo immediately obliged, bringing his free hand up to the other’s hand
that was wrapped around his forearm. Moonjo fiddled with the player’s fingers trying to pry
him off, but struggled as the man only gripped onto Moonjo’s arm harsher in response.
However, unluckily for the other player, he didn’t know what Moonjo was capable of if it
really came down to it. So, using a final stowed away burst of feral energy, Moonjo ripped
the man’s hand off of his arm before letting go of the man’s shoulder completely.

Upon the sudden change in force, both parties went flying back. And since Jongwoo had
been behind Moonjo and was securing him down, when they went flying back, Moonjo’s
large frame toppled down onto Jongwoo. But even as the wind had simultaneously been
knocked out of him upon the sudden collision and caused his brain to go out of whack,
Jongwoo managed to make out the distant cursing of the player who had not been so lucky to
have landed in his designated playing area, but rather ass-first into the ground beyond the
lane’s lines.

Even as Moonjo groaned above him upon falling on the not-so soft landing pad of a certain
younger man, it wasn’t long until a gunshot rang out in the room. Then, the guard spoke up.

“Player 089, eliminated. The attacking team must complete 4 successful rounds now.”

However, as Jongwoo realised he was practically getting suffocated by the older man who
had yet to move, he hissed at Moonjo.

“Get off me, you’re heavy as shit.” He grunted, using his hands to try and push off the man’s
body that was still harshly pinning him down to the field. Thankfully, Moonjo quickly
realised the issue with their current position and rolled off of Jongwoo. And just as swiftly as
he had gotten off of the younger man, Moonjo was already rising to his feet before he held
out a hand to the younger man politely.

After catching his breath, Jongwoo eventually took the man’s hand and let Moonjo help him
back up until his feet were once again safely planted on the floor. And as Jongwoo let go of
his hand to pat the lingering dirt off of his ass and pants, Moonjo began talking.

“Thank you, jagiya. You saved me.” Moonjo cooed, smiling at the younger man with an
indescribable amount of appreciation and gratitude pooled in his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. We need to get back to our positions or otherwise someone
might—”

Someone ran through.

“—run through…Fuck!” Jongwoo hissed as he immediately ran up to the edge of the lane,
looking down at the player that was standing in the safe zone with a smug expression
plastered across his face.

Where the fuck had he come from?

And before he could even register it, the straggler began bolting down the lane with the final
safe zone in sight, expertly dodging both Young-il and Gi-hun’s pathetic attempts at
defending.

Fucking hell, now 3 out of the 4 remaining attackers had finished their rounds.

And even though Jongwoo and Moonjo had let a few slip past too, he couldn’t help but feel
that they were absolutely carrying the team here. Has anyone else eliminated any of the
attacking players? No, they hadn’t. Clearly, it seemed that it was only Moonjo and Jongwoo
doing the brute force here. Were the others too worried to get their hands dirty? Jongwoo
couldn’t remember a single instance where either group had used the entirety of their body to
try and push an attacker out, let alone getting close enough for any of the players to latch
onto them to try and bring them down with them. Seriously, what were they doing? Jongwoo
knew that not everyone was naturally good at games nor had they probably played it as much
as Jongwoo had, but even so, they were playing for their lives for fucks sake! Have a little bit
of urgency!

Then, a thought crossed his mind briefly. Or perhaps, was it because they felt like they were
the ones killing the attackers if they pushed them out? Was it becoming too ‘real’ for their
liking? Gi-hun had mentioned that the prize money was just showing how much blood they
had on their hands, but excluding a few circumstances, they weren’t technically the ones that
killed one another. However, in this game, players had really turned against each other.
Honestly, it was a test of morality as much as it was a test of skill and strategy. And for once,
Jongwoo was grateful that his morality was a little fucked up. He was glad that he had never
hesitated or held back when it came to defending his lane, or otherwise, he wouldn’t have
helped to eliminate three of the other team’s players.

Brushing off his thoughts to refocus his attention back on the game, Jongwoo let his eyes
drift up to the timer that displayed an equally relieving and nerve-wracking 1:01 minutes
remaining. Soon dropping his head back down to focus on the last remaining attacker,
Jongwoo realised that while she didn’t have too much time to spare, it was certainly possible
if Jongwoo’s team didn’t get it together sooner or later.

Jongwoo studied the woman as she lined herself up with Gi-hun and Young-il’s lane, his eyes
roaming over her as he tried to predict what her movements would be like. She was a smaller,
younger woman, but even so, Jongwoo couldn’t help but notice how her body carried an
effortless kind of fitness, the kind that didn’t show in sheer size but in the way they moved as
she stretched - light, quick, controlled. Undeniably, even just from a first glance, Jongwoo
knew that she was an agile woman.

Then, just as quickly as she was stretching, she suddenly exploded into action and was
dashing down the narrow lane. Using her slim and small frame to her advantage, she easily
slipped past both Young-il and Gi-hun’s shitty defense attacks. She leapt into the safe zone on
Jongwoo’s side, landing harshly on her two feet as she caught her breath at the sudden burst
of energy.

The woman quickly regained her composure and began bouncing on her toes, once again
readying herself for her upcoming sprint down their lane. And Jongwoo swiftly did the same
as he cracked his neck to the side and stretched his shoulders. He hoped that Moonjo was
doing the same, because if they fucked this up, they were both dead. Hell, they were all dead.
It was now or never to get their shit together.

In a flash, the woman suddenly surged forward, her toned legs bringing her closer and closer
to Jongwoo in an instant. But just as she neared him, Jongwoo lunged his arms forward,
palms facing out to her side. However, as Jongwoo braced for impact, he was almost thrown
off balance when he met only empty air. The woman bobbed under and out of his reach,
leaving Jongwoo with his arms stretched out and pushing the air like an idiot. His balance
temporarily wavered - momentum carrying him forward as his fingers grasped at nothing.
Thankfully, Jongwoo swiftly lurched back, forcing a quick stumble to catch himself before he
could’ve accidentally toppled over into the lane in front of him.

As Jongwoo lifted his head back up to refocus his attention back on the woman who had
somehow evaded his attack, he watched as she faked out Moonjo with a large step forward
before she leaned back far enough to avoid his arms that had shot out in response. Then,
using Moonjo’s brief moment of bewilderment, she jolted forward once again, weaving
around Moonjo’s hands before she was already on her way to the safe zone on the other side.

To say the least, both Jongwoo and Moonjo were left gobsmacked. As he watched how the
woman once again caught her breath in the next safe zone, Jongwoo absentmindedly
wondered what she could have possibly done before the games that justified her sheer agility
and speed. Maybe she was a dancer? She moved with such precision and gracefulness that it
was certainly a possibility. Or perhaps she was a boxer since she was able to expertly dodge
their attacks due to being quick on her feet?

But there was no time to ponder any of it, as Jongwoo completely turned his body around to
face their last line of defense. And seeing as how the woman had managed to weave between
two different lanes of defense with ease, Jongwoo didn’t have much hope.

His eyes then drifted up to the timer that read a tantalizing 00:30 seconds remaining. Fuck…

Even though Jongwoo still had faith in his teammates to pull through and throw the last
attacker off course, he couldn’t ignore the creeping knot of dread that pooled in his stomach,
taunting him as the disheartening thoughts loomed over his head.

This was it.

He was actually going to die.

…

Unlike Young-il and Gi-hun who had run over to the trio’s side to provide extra support,
Jongwoo found himself heading in a different direction.

Overwhelmed by his gut feeling that the end was looming just out of sight but was rapidly
approaching, Jongwoo stepped toward Moonjo, looking up at him with a pained expression.
Moonjo simply looked down at him silently, and Jongwoo could sense the man’s uneasiness
as Moonjo let his shoulders droop in defeat, seemingly also realising that their fate was
sealed.

And before he even knew it, Jongwoo was bringing Moonjo into a close embrace, wrapping
his arms around the man’s waist once again. But this time, not to save his life - but rather as a
final acknowledgement that it wasn’t long until they’d be both joining the collection of
corpses on the floor beneath them.

Moonjo didn’t hesitate to also slither his arms around Jongwoo, before he rested his chin on
top of the younger man’s head gently. The feeling was clearly mutual - with both parties no
longer paying attention to what was going to happen in the final seconds of the game.

Jongwoo turned his head to the side in their embrace, letting his cheek rest softly against
Moonjo’s chest, before his eyes slowly drifted up toward the ever decreasing timer.

00:09 seconds left.

And as Jongwoo closed his eyes solemnly, not wanting to focus on the fact that he had less
than 10 seconds remaining in his life, he distantly wondered what the hold up was for the
final player. Perhaps it was because both Young-il and Gi-hun had joined the likes of
Yongsik, Geumja, and Hyunju along the last lane? Two people were very different to five,
and Jongwoo only assumed that she hesitated this time around whilst she tried to calculate
the best way to go about crossing the lane successfully.

By now, the three waiting attackers in the other safe zone were desperately yelling at the
woman to hurry up and get a move on. Jongwoo tried to block them out, but it was too
difficult. Instead, he hoped his eyes back up until they fell on the timer in the distance.

00:07 seconds remaining.

Then, by what Jongwoo could only assume was the case since the once obnoxious and rowdy
attacking team fell deathly silent, the woman made a run for it. Despite his previous
reservations, Jongwoo found himself turning his head to face the rest of the crowd.

Jongwoo watched as the woman dodged expertly dodged the first four player’s attacks,
shuffling between random weaves and ducking below stretched out his teammate’s arms.
Instinctively, Jongwoo squeezed Moonjo a little tighter as the woman quickly approached a
trembling Yongsik at the end of the lane who stood just in front of the final safe zone.
Moonjo quickly reciprocated the squeeze, bringing Jongwoo impossibly closer as the duo
waited in an already defeated silence.
00:05 seconds left.

The woman kept her momentum and didn’t slow down as she dashed closer and closer in the
direction of the curly haired man.

00:04 seconds.

Then, she dove toward the safe zone.

00:03 seconds remaining.

But before she could crash down into the safe area, Jongwoo’s eyes widened in horror as he
watched how Yongsik lunged forward, grabbing onto the woman mid-air, before bringing
them both slamming down onto the dirt floor outside of the lane’s lines.

00:02 seconds remaining.

The duo landed on the floor with a deafening crash, but just as quickly as Yongsik had fallen
down, he swivelled his head around and Jongwoo watched as his face dropped in horror upon
seeing who had also stepped forward in reaction to his sudden sacrifice.

Geumja.

00:01 second left.

Jongwoo’s hold on Moonjo loosened ever so slightly as he watched the whole scene unfold,
bringing a hand up to his mouth in pure shock.

“Eomma!” He screeched as he scrambled off of the other woman and up onto his feet in an
instant. Then, as he held her by her arms with shaking hands, Youngsik continued.

“Go back, you still have—”

The sound of the timer hitting 00:00 blared out over the speakers, effectively interrupting
him.

“It’s too late for that now.” Geumja choked out as she shakily pointed down to her feet that
were very clearly inside of the lane. Yongsik followed her finger, but almost immediately
snapped his head back up as if he didn't want to believe what he was seeing.

“W- Why…Why would you do that?” Yongsik croaked, his breath catching in the back of his
throat as he spoke. His grip on the older woman’s arms tightened and he began to shake her
gently as if it would get an answer out of her quicker.

Jongwoo’s attention then flicked over to the approaching armed guard in the distance, and his
stomach sank. This couldn’t be happening, right?

…Right?

…
“Didn’t I tell you? I wouldn’t have a reason to live without you even if I made it out of here.”
Her voice cracked as she spoke, and it wasn't long until tears began to trickle down her
cheek.

The sound of the guard’s footsteps getting closer aas enough for the older woman to bring her
now profusely sobbing son into one final embrace. But even between his relentless cries,
Yongsik managed to speak up.

“I’m sorry, emma. You deserved a better son than I ever was.” He cried feverishly as he
buried his face into the woman’s shoulder, squeezing her tightly.

His mother raised a comforting hand up to cup the back of his head before she too replied.
Tears streamed down her cheeks, unstoppable, relentless - like a storm that wouldn’t break.

“Don’t be. If reincarnation is real, I’d want to come back as your mother. Always.” Was
Geumja’s last words as she tightened her grip on her crying son one final time as the guard
pointed the barrel of their gun at the two of them.

Jongwoo, not wanting to watch anymore, immediately swivelled around and turned away
from his teammates’ final moments. And not long later, Jongwoo couldn’t stop himself from
flinching as the guard emptied their magazine into the mother-son duo before turning around
to finish off the remaining attacker.

Then, it was silent. It was a silence that spoke louder than any words - drowning out
everything, leaving nothing but a sense of defeat in its wake.

And despite how the two teams on the other side were not nearly as quiet as they were, it
didn’t matter. Jongwoo’s - and probably everyone else’s - hearing had been muffled by the
sheer distraught and pain of having just witnessed two more of their friends succumb to their
fates.

But before anyone could even process what had just happened, the square masked guard that
had been overseeing their game from the beginning suddenly made an announcement.

“Team 4, only 3 of the remaining 4 attackers were able to complete their rounds in the time
limit. Therefore, Team 1, you are the winners.”

And Jongwoo should've felt happy to hear those words. But he wasn’t. Amidst the raging mix
of emotions he was experiencing, one stood out above them all.

Guilt.

Why did they have to sacrifice themselves? They were good people. Jongwoo and Moonjo
weren’t. If either he or Moonjo had done something similar when the attacker was in their
lane, then the mother-son duo would still be alive. Jongwoo felt unfathomably guilty as he
stood in Moonjo’s arms, alive and well. It wasn’t fair.

Why did all the bad things have to happen to those who least deserve them?
While Jongwoo curled up into Moonjo closer, trying to distract himself from the unbearable
amount of guilt weighing down his shoulders, gunshots distantly echoed throughout the
room, coming from both Jongwoo’s side and where the other two teams had been playing.
Then, Jongwoo heard the staggered thuds of three more nearby bodies collapsing to the
gravely floor shortly after.

However, it couldn’t have been more than 20 seconds later that a much larger group of guards
were emerging from the hall that they had formed the teams in. Jongwoo flicked his eyes
open and turned back around to face the oncoming guards, his face still painted with an
overwhelming mix of disbelief and sadness. Clearly, the guards didn't care whether they lost
a close friend or not because as they approached, they immediately began motioning for the
last remaining players to follow them back through the doors that they had come through
initially.

Jongwoo let out a long, defeated sigh as he reluctantly pulled away from Moonjo and
completely turned his body to face the doors. And as his eyes accidentally drifted over the
hauntingly familiar corpses of his old teammates, Jongwoo winced upon seeing the recently
passed mother-son duo before him. He clamped his eyes shut and brought a hand back up to
his mouth, hoping that it would hold down the bile that had suddenly risen up his throat.

Then, Jongwoo felt a large hand cup his back before it began to gently push him forward. As
Jongwoo looked over his shoulder and returned Moonjo’s eye contact, the older man
suddenly spoke up.

“Jagiya, we have to go.” His voice was low and raspy due to not having spoken in quite some
time. Jongwoo also liked to think that his strained tone of voice was a sliver of his carefully
curated person mask slipping after having witnessed his fellow teammates die in such a
heartbreaking manner. But who knows what Moonjo was thinking.

While Jongwoo felt frozen, he knew better than to stay around here. So, he forced himself to
move forward on unsteady legs, following the guards closely as they led him back into the
room coated in a blinding white. Moonjo kept his hand on Jongwoo’s back, using it to catch
the younger man whenever he faltered in his footing due to his sudden lack of energy.

Jongwoo didn’t even bother to look back once they were once again brought back into the
brightly coloured and oddly shaped room. He was too overcome with the survivor's guilt that
he was unable to check up on how his other teammates were doing.

And so, the walk back was, as always, deathly silent.

Not only because the player base had now shrunk down considerably, but also because
neither remaining team felt particularly good to be the ones walking out of there. Sure they
were glad that they survived, but both teams had lost people or, at the very least, had to have
been the ones to have eliminated their opponents. It wasn’t every day that people were the
direct cause of ending someone’s life. Well, that was more the case for the other players, but
Jongwoo could still feel its effects on him. …Sort of.

Once they reached the sleeping quarters again, Jongwoo strolled in first, his shoulders tense
and heavy as he walked in. However, it was the rapidly approaching pit patter of a certain
 pregnant woman that caused Jongwoo to finally lift his head up to face her.

And as the rest of the players eventually piled in, the combined nearing footsteps of Gi-hun,
Young-il, and Hyunju all morphed into one. Their feet barely lifted off the ground, dragging
with the weight of defeat, each step slower than the last. Then, out of the corner of his eye,
Jongwoo noticed a rather familiar marine walking toward him. Almost at the same time, both
Daeho and the trio stopped at Jongwoo and Moonjo’s side, with one party looking more
distraught than the other. However, before Daeho could ask what happened that could have
justified their defeated expressions, it wasn’t long until Junhee closed the remaining distance
between them.

Her eyes darted between the dejected faces of the group and Jongwoo watched as she peered
around them to try and find the rest of her teammates. Then, her eyes fell back onto Jongwoo,
studying him intensely. It was a shame that Junhee had only just gotten a little better after
having lost Myung-gi, and now Jongwoo had to be the bearer of even more bad news. At the
very least, the woman was finally looking at him. Too bad this was going to be their first
conversation in a while.

“Where’s Geumja and Yongsik?” She demanded. And while her tone was stern, Jongwoo
knew that the woman was beyond worried.

Jongwoo turned to the side and looked at the other members of his team hoping for guidance,
but they were looking just as sorrowful and lost as he was.

“Jongwoo, tell me.” Junhee continued, her voice considerably less stern and trembling ever
so slightly.

And with that, Jongwoo swivelled his head back around to face the woman with a pained
expression painted across his face. Then, he let out a big sigh before he reluctantly decided to
speak up.

This was certainly going to be Junhee’s last straw.

“…I’m sorry, Junhee.” Jongwoo muttered, his voice cracking as he spoke. The pregnant
woman immediately froze as she listened to Jongwoo’s next words.

“They’re gone.”

Chapter End Notes

😭😭😭 OH MY GOD THIS WAS SO SAD MY POOR BABIES 💔 I was originally

only going to kill Yongsik, but i reckon that Geumja (much like in the show) would be
unable to continue the games w/o her son (aka should would get so depressed that she’d
probably purposefully die in a diff game so that she could be with him). It was either
they both live or they both die, i’m sorry IM SORRY IF THEY WERE UR FAVS!! I
have nothing against them, it’s just that not everyone can survive these games :(
My oh my, this chapter took a lot longer than i had anticipated. Literally only the second
week in and i’m getting absolutely bombarded with a bucketload of assignments and
homework 😭 + i’ve been rostered on for work literally every day after school these past
couple days + over the weekend, so i literally only managed to write a few hundred
words each night before i would get too tired and go to bed 😅 But today was my first
day off and i promised to myself that i’d get this chap done before i went to sleep. And
here we are, wohoo!!

mark 🤯
Speaking of getting this chap done, i have just realised that i have hit the 100k word
i don’t think i’ve ever written this many words LMFAOO i don’t even think
i’ve written this many words in the entirety of my high school life HAHA. Who knew
all it took was two gay serial killers joining some weird game run by even weirder
weirdos? Anywho, giving myself a pat on the back. u WILL catch me adding that to
my resume ;) tehee

NOTE: I think this fic is only going to have a few more chapters (don’t know how many
just yet, but no more than 5 more i think??). I don’t plan to add onto any of the side plots

🤡
(aka like the special guard that used to work as a mascot or inho’s brother) because this
is just a silly little fic and i don’t really want to write the entire plot for s3 i fear that
would take too long…I’ll discuss this a bit more in the notes of my next chapter but
yeah, please keep that in mind!! But yeah, with that being said, i have the skeleton for
each of the upcoming chapters. All i have to do now is to fill it in, wohoo! But that’s
easier said than done LOL, my notes are atrocious. OK i’m rambling, but that’s the gist
of where this fic is headed. Hope y’all aren’t too disappointed w/ that!

As always, y’all are literally the best and i hope u enjoyed this chapter! Even if it was a

🎉
little sad…AND Y’ALL DW!! Mjjw is probably going to (finally) get it on in the next
chapter (WOHOO ) so fear not!! I feel like Jongwoo has come to terms with his
feelings more the most part, and it is just the last hurdle (of going beyond just cuddling)
that he needs to jump over 😌 Can’t wait until i get to that part tho LMFAO it feels like
it’s been so long haha. Anywhooooo THANKS AGAIN AND I HOPE MY NEXT
CHAP WONT BE TOO LONG!!

🧐🧐
p.s: namgyu is still alive he was on daeho’s team for anyone wondering!! Btw this info
will be key for next chapter….i wonder what will happen
 “For Thanos.”
Chapter Summary

Loose ends come back to bite Jongwoo in the ass.

Chapter Notes

Sorry…and then you’re welcome? Uh…enjoy? I hope?

🚨 🚨
i’m so sorry to do this to u guys again:
minor character death/s ahead

See the end of the chapter for more notes

“…What?” Junhee meekly replied.

Jongwoo watched as the pregnant woman tensed up upon hearing his words.

“I’m so sorry.” Was all Jongwoo managed, his voice strained and breathy. Even now, he was
finding it difficult to look at the woman without feeling inherently guilty. He wasn’t the one
who killed them, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling that he could’ve done something to
stop them.

“You’re kidding, right?” Junhee scoffed in disbelief, as if she was trying to tell herself that
the news wasn’t true. But when Jongwoo failed to respond, Junhee continued.

“Jongwoo, tell me you’re kidding.” Her voice dropped to a chilling octave, and her eyes
narrowed on Jongwoo who was struggling to hold her eye contact.

“I’m not.” Jongwoo flatly replied.

“No…no, no, this can’t be happening!” She muttered as she brought her hands up to her
cheeks, cupping them with shaky hands. Jongwoo watched as her eyes began to dart around
the room frantically, trying to make sense of the unbelievable situation.

Then, her knees gave out and she began to fall.

Thankfully, Jongwoo quickly caught her before she could crash to the ground. With one hand
on her shoulder and the other on her waist holding her up, Jongwoo swiftly spoke up.
“Shit, Junhee. Are you okay?” He fretted, scanning over the woman with utmost concern.
The rest of the group had instinctively shuffled forward after the woman had stumbled,
having their hands out to catch her if she ever were to fall again.

Junhee tilted her head back up as she dropped her hands from her face to rest them idly at her
side. As she did so, she locked eyes with a concerned Jongwoo.

And for whatever reason, she didn’t seem too pleased with his question.

“A-am I okay? What the hell do you think?” She croaked out, her voice cracking as she
spoke.

At first, Jongwoo was a little taken aback by Junhee’s straightforwardness, but after seeing
how her eyes began to swell up with tears, he let it go. She was probably still in shock and
trying to figure out her emotions.

“You’re right, it was a stupid question. Let’s just get you seated, I don’t want you to fa—”
But before Jongwoo could finish his plea, Junhee interrupted him.

“What did you do?” She accused rashly.

Jongwoo immediately furrowed his brow in confusion and felt his body freeze up. His mind
went completely blank at the harsh accusation but it wasn’t long until someone else stepped
in.

“Woah, Junhee. I know you’re hurting but let’s not throw around the blame, okay? Let’s take
a seat somewhere while you calm down.” It was Hyunju who had stepped forward, taking
Junhee’s arm in her hand to try and direct her elsewhere. However, the taller woman didn’t
get very far in her attempt when Junhee ripped herself free from both Jongwoo and Hyunju’s
grasp.

She took an exaggerated step back before refocusing her attention on a still very stunned
Jongwoo.

“You did something, didn’t you?” She stammered out between her sobs. Her cheeks glistened
with the tears trickling down from her red, puffy eyes.

Jongwoo opened his mouth to retaliate but he fell short when nothing seemed to come out.

What the fuck was going on? Did Junhee really think that Jongwoo did something to them?
That he killed them?

And when he went to try again, Jongwoo suddenly felt a tall presence beside him that swiftly
answered her before he could.

“He didn’t do anything. They both sacrificed themselves for the team.” Moonjo countered,
his tone painstakingly flat and unwavering.

In response, Junhee loudly sniffled, trying to recompose herself, before she angrily snapped
back.
“And what makes you think that I’d believe that? I saw you two kill all those people the other
night! What’s not to say that you weren’t satisfied enough and killed them too?” Junhee spat,
bringing her hand back up to her face to wipe her tears off of her cheek. But it proved
relatively futile, as the tears just kept on coming.

However, after hearing the woman’s significantly more accusatory words, Jongwoo
immediately perked up. And, before Moonjo could answer for him this time too, he spoke up.

“Junhee, we’ve been through this. It was self defence and you know that.” Jongwoo retorted,
his face scrunching up in mild irritation.

“No! I don’t believe it!” She hissed in response. Then, Hyunju stepped forward and grabbed
hold of the crazed woman.

“You’re not thinking straight, Junhee! Yongsik and Geumja really did sacrifice themselves!
Jongwoo didn’t do anything.” Hyunju desperately screeched as she shook the pregnant
woman gently, hoping it would somehow shake her out of her delirious state.

And much to Jongwoo’s surprise, Junhee began to reel in her previous agitation before she
eventually just broke down.

Again.

Letting the tears gush down her cheek, Junhee collapsed into Hyunju’s shoulder. The taller
woman caught her before reaching a comforting hand up to hold Junhee’s head softly. And as
she cried into Hyunju’s shoulder for the second time in what seemed like the span of only a
few hours, Junhee began stuttering out apologies.

“I- I’m sorry Jongwoo…”

“Jongwoo, I’m s- so sorry…”

“I didn’t mean…”

Despite Junhee’s previous harsh accusations, Jongwoo couldn’t help but feel bad for the
woman. His heart winced as he watched the pregnant woman sob endlessly into Hyunju’s
shoulder, her words muffled but still relatively understandable. So after about the fifth
heartbreaking apology, Jongwoo cleared his throat and finally stopped the crying woman.

“Junhee, it’s okay. Really.” Jongwoo softly reassured.

Jongwoo didn’t really expect the younger woman to respond, so when her sobs failed to
cease, he wasn’t surprised. So, he continued instead, but this time turning his attention to
Hyunju.

“She should get some rest.” Jongwoo insisted, giving the taller woman a pained smile.
Unsurprisingly, Jongwoo was feeling an overwhelming sense of deja vu at the whole
situation but he quickly brushed it away. Everyone was feeling the after effects of the mother-
son duo’s deaths, but it was clear that Junhee was getting the worst of it. Even if he hadn’t
been around them all that much, Jongwoo knew that Junhee and Geumja had gotten
especially closer sometime during the games. He just hoped that Junhee and her baby were
going to be alright.

Hyunju didn’t need much convincing, and so she nodded her head in agreement before
slowly guiding the crying woman over to one of the remaining beds. As soon as Hyunju laid
the woman down on the bed, Jongwoo finally looked away.

It was then that Moonjo suddenly spoke up, causing Jongwoo to jump ever so slightly at the
man’s deep voice.

“She’s not going to last much longer.” Moonjo quipped as he turned to face Jongwoo beside
him.

Jongwoo let out a defeated sigh before he reluctantly returned Moonjo’s eye contact with an
anguished expression plastered across his face.

“No, no she won’t.” Jongwoo muttered, pausing before he eventually continued, “We really
need to end these games.”

In response, Moonjo simply let out an affirming hum in agreement. And soon enough, the
rest of the group were making their way back over to their beds, most likely to debrief each
other what exactly just went down. Jongwoo’s eyes darted between the group and he couldn’t
help but notice that Daeho wasn’t there with them. When had he left? Whatever, it wasn’t
like he could run away or anything. He was somewhere in here.

Anyway, Jongwoo watched as his team disappeared into the distance, but rather than
following them, he found himself turning in a different direction to face the bathroom. But
before he could walk off, Moonjo spoke up.

“Where are you going?” He asked casually.

“Uhm, the bathroom…? I’m just going to freshen up.” Jongwoo deadpanned, not at all
interested in dealing with Moonjo’s antics at the moment.

And so, rather than waiting for the older man to respond, Jongwoo instead swivelled on his
feet and began heading in the direction of the bathroom. But on his way, he couldn’t shake
the feeling that he was being watched.

But by more than just Moonjo.

Jongwoo quickly brushed off the weird sensation as he pushed open the bathroom and
entered. And…it looked brand new.

Seeing as the last time Jongwoo had been in here was when he had gone on his little
rampage, it looked scarily untouched. All the mirrors had been replaced and as well as the
broken urinals that had been caught in the crossfire. The tiles of the bathroom floor looked
squeaky clean - almost too clean - and the walls were a blinding white.
It was eerie.

However, rather than staying and inspecting the scene, Jongwoo ignored the strange feeling
bubbling in his stomach and instead settled on finding an available stall.

He brushed past an already occupied stall before heading into one of the toilets next to it.
After all, Jongwoo didn’t really plan on going to the bathroom at all, but rather just getting
some time to himself without the overbearing presence of anyone else. Namely Moonjo.

So, even if it was a little gross, Jongwoo pulled down the toilet lid and sat down. He brought
his hands up to massage at his temple, trying to help dull the headache that had seemingly
popped up from out of nowhere. And as he sat there, his mind began to wander.

He just wanted to go home already. Why did people have to be so money hungry? Why
didn’t the players value their lives anymore? Jongwoo knew what it felt like to have nothing
and a life that wasn’t worth living, but surely by now people would come to realise that they
should just take their money and leave? Honestly, it’s been a miracle that Jongwoo has
survived up until now too. There’s been multiple occurrences where he was on the brink of
death and he highly doubted that the last remaining players hadn’t also felt that way at some
point.

However, there was a small sliver of hope in Jongwoo that these last few players had finally
come to realise that it was time to end the games. The prize money had to be what, 5 billion
each or something? That had to be enough to cover their debts! Surely…

Jongwoo, realising that it probably wasn’t healthy nor particularly cleanly for him to sit on
the toilet for any longer, quickly stood up and opened his stall door. Exiting his stall with a
little more pep in his step than when he had walked in, Jongwoo approached the bathroom
sink. He hadn’t technically used the toilet but it didn’t hurt to wash his hands anyway. That’s
what his mother had always taught him to do when he was younger.

After washing his hands and then reaching his dripping hands out to a nearby roll of paper
towel, the sound of the bathroom door quickly pulled Jongwoo out of his trance and back to
reality. He lifted his head to face the figure and—

“What the fuck! How are you still alive?” Jongwoo suddenly blurted out before shoving the
paper towel in his hand into the bin beside him.

Namgyu abruptly stopped in front of the door, blocking it so Jongwoo couldn’t leave without
physically pushing the man out of the way.

“What a rude way to greet your friend, wouldn’t you say?” Namgyu slyly retorted, bringing
his lips into a nasty smirk.

“I am not your friend.” Jongwoo spat, clearly displeased as to how the man would’ve ever
thought that they were friends in the first place.

“MG Coin, how could you say—” Namgyu replied before quickly cutting himself off. “Oh
yeah, he died.”
Then, a dramatic and not at all sympathetic pout crept up Namgyu’s lips, and Jongwoo
couldn’t hold back his scowl at the man’s insensitivity. Honestly, Namgyu made Myung-gi
look like an angel in comparison. He was such an asshole.

“Watch it.” Jongwoo hissed through clenched teeth, the annoyance clear in his tone of voice.

“Why do you care? It’s not like you cared about him either, so stop acting so high and
mighty.” Namgyu paused, letting his words sink in before he eventually continued, “You’re
just like me.” Namgyu countered harshly, and Jongwoo immediately tensed upon hearing the
familiar phrase.

“You’re just like me.”

Almost immediately, Jongwoo bit down on his teeth impossibly harder, feeling a sudden
sliver of rage spark up inside of him.

“No the fuck I am not.” He spat, no longer trying to hide his anger.

Jongwoo knew that - whether he liked it or not - his argument that he wasn’t like Moonjo was
holding on by a string at this point. However, he knew for an absolute fact that he and
Namgyu were most definitely not the same. Fuck that guy.

Namgyu merely raised an eyebrow up at Jongwoo’s snappy remark before he let out an
amused chuckle. Whilst he did so, Jongwoo couldn’t help but notice how the man’s eyes
were inherently bloodshot. Whether it was because he had somehow gotten high at some
point during all of this or whether he had been non stop crying, Jongwoo wouldn’t know.
And for that matter, he didn’t really care.

But before Namgyu could reply, Jongwoo quickly tried to dismiss himself.

“Whatever man, I don’t have the energy to deal with…this.” Jongwoo said as he flailed his
hand around in the direction of the other man dramatically.

Jongwoo took one step forward, fully prepared to shove Namgyu out of his way if he refused
to move, before he stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing what the other man had suddenly
pulled out of his jacket pocket.

Namgyu held a fork covered in speckles of dried blood in a shaky hand, pointing it at
Jongwoo threateningly.

“How the fuck do you still have that?” Jongwoo, while he was now significantly more aware
of how this situation could escalate, still kept the irritated tone in his voice as he spoke.
Didn’t the guards take away all of their weapons after the events of the other night? How had
Namgyu managed to hold onto his fork? Fuck, Jongwoo wished he had his fork right about
now.

Namgyu simply let out an unsettling giggle in response, his grip tightening on the fork as he
steadied his trembling hand.

“Shh, don’t tell anyone.” Namgyu whispered as he brought up a childish finger to his lips.
This fucking lunatic.

“Look dude, I’ll just be on my way. I don’t want things to get out of hand, alright?” Jongwoo
tried, but it was useless as Namgyu seemed pretty rooted in his position in front of the
bathroom door.

Following Jongwoo’s plea, Namgyu removed the finger from his lips to instead bring it out in
front of him, wiggling it as if to signify ‘No.’

“We have unfinished business, Mr. Fake MG Coin.” Namgyu jested, his voice weirdly
comical.

Jongwoo scrunched his face up in response to the man’s words before he opened his mouth to
defend himself.

“I didn’t even do anything to you!” Jongwoo snapped back.

Well, maybe he did do some things to Namgyu. But surely everyone has gotten into a few
fights every once in a while, right? So why was he still holding a grudge?

“You see that’s where you’re wrong,” Namgyu countered, pointing the bloodied fork at
Jongwoo, before he continued, “This isn’t for me.”

And then Namgyu went silent for a beat, as if a painful memory had just crossed his mind,
but he quickly recomposed himself in a matter of seconds. However, just as he opened his
mouth to continue, Jongwoo interjected.

“Who’s it for then?” Jongwoo questioned eagerly.

“For Thanos.”

Oh shit.

As soon as the words left the man’s mouth, the memory of Jongwoo plunging a fork into
Thanos’ neck replayed over and over in his head.

Fuck.

He had totally forgotten about Thanos. Fucking hell, he was such an idiot.

And as Jongwoo stilled in response to the man’s words, Namgyu didn’t hesitate to continue.

“You killed him and now you’re going to fucking pay.” Namgyu seethed through his teeth
angrily, his knuckles going white as he clutched onto the fork impossibly tighter.

And then it happened in a split second.

Namgyu leapt forward, wielding his bloody fork tightly in his hand, and aimed for Jongwoo’s
face. Thankfully, Jongwoo was quickly pulled out of his brief frozen moment as he
immediately jerked his head to the side, completely dodging Namgyu’s attack. Namgyu
reeled his arm back in and Jongwoo took the opportunity to take a step back to create a little
bit of distance between them.

They began circling each other as if they were serpents coiling for battle, neither yielding an
inch. And just as Jongwoo’s back was reflecting on one of the newly installed mirrors above
the sinks, it was then that Namgyu pounced again. However, unfortunately for Jongwoo, he
wasn’t quick enough this time around as Namgyu pressured him closer and closer to the sink.
And then he was trapped— Fuck!

But just as Jongwoo tried to calculate how he’d be able to dodge Namgyu’s second attack
despite his lack of area to do so, Namgyu suddenly closed the remaining distance between
them, causing Jongwoo to slam his back against the fresh mirror as he simultaneously
reached his hands up to grab Namgyu’s arm before he could send the fork plunging into his
eye. Almost instantly, the brand new mirror shattered into pieces and scattered across the
floor, but Jongwoo was far too distracted by a certain three pronged piece of cutlery daring to
gouge out his eye to be thrown off by the glass shards suddenly piercing his back.

Jongwoo felt his breathing quicken, but they were short and erratic. Then, he lifted his eyes
up from the fork to instead focus on the crazed maniac who was holding it.

“I’ll fucking kill you!” Namgyu screamed as he began to push the fork toward Jongwoo even
harder.

Feeling his grip loosening by the second, Jongwoo’s eyes widened in horror as his eyes
snapped back to the pointed fork that was edging closer and closer toward his eye. Even
though this whole situation felt oddly familiar, Jongwoo quickly brushed off the thought,
trying to regain his composure before he was officially rendered blind in an eye.

But just as Namgyu let out a maniacal laugh as he forced the fork closer, Jongwoo was taken
off guard when a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around the man’s neck and harshly yanked
Namgyu backwards.

Swiftly composing himself and his sharp and shallow breathing, Jongwoo tilted his head back
up to see who his saviour was. And…

It was Daeho.

Where the fuck had he come from?— Oh. He must have been the one in the stall.

Namgyu screeched upon the sudden tight hold around his neck, but it wasn’t long until he
turned the fork around and sent it crashing down into the arm that was holding him back
before hastily ripping it out. Upon the harsh intrusion, Daeho immediately let go of Namgyu
before he lunged back in pain.

Blood began to trickle out from the wound and Daeho winced as he looked down at the oddly
shaped stab wound. Then, Jongwoo found himself yelling out to the other man before he
could even register it.
“Daeho! Just leave while you can! Let me deal with this!” Jongwoo desperately begged, but
Daeho shook his head rapidly in refusal.

“No, I want to help! Consider this me paying you back for earlier.” Daeho insisted, as he
applied pressure on the still profusely bleeding stab wound.

Jongwoo huffed in response, both a little grateful and irritated by the man’s stubbornness.
Jongwoo could have sworn that he had told Daeho that he didn’t need to repay him for
defending him when Gi-hun was going off, but it was no use. Daeho seemed pretty
determined to help, and there probably wasn’t anything that Jongwoo could do to get the man
to retreat.

However, as if he was like a bad omen, Namgyu suddenly spoke up and ruined the mood.

“Aw, how sweet.” His voice was filled to the brim with sarcasm as he looked between the
two men standing either side of him mockingly.

But before Jongwoo and Daeho could coordinate an attack together, Namgyu suddenly spun
around to Daeho and lunged at him. He jumped into the startled man who had not been
expecting his attack, swinging his fork around frantically.

Jongwoo watched in horror as Namgyu landed a particularly nasty looking jab into Daeho’s
stomach. But rather than pulling out the fork like last time, Namgyu left it plunged in the
man’s abdomen, watching as Daeho stumbled around clutching at the fork in shock. Then, as
if to add salt to the wound, Namgyu lifted his leg up before thrusting it into Daeho’s torso,
causing him to go flying back onto the floor behind him.

Oh fuck.

Quickly realising that Daeho had basically been rendered obsolete by Namgyu, Jongwoo
lunged forward on unsteady legs with his fists clenched, ready to strike. However, before he
could reach the other man, Namgyu’s eyes quickly scanned around the floor beneath him
before they settled on a particularly large glass shard that had bounced over from when the
mirror had been shattered.

How fucking convenient.

And almost immediately, Jongwoo’s eyes widened in terror as he watched Namgyu reel back
the hand clutching tightly onto the jagged glass piece. But it was no use, Jongwoo had far too
much momentum to force himself to suddenly stop.

Then it happened.

Jongwoo suddenly felt a cold, foreign sensation in his lower abdomen, and then he froze
upon realising what had just happened.

Letting his eyes drop down to his stomach, Jongwoo felt his breathing come to a startling halt
as his eyes fell on the shard lodged deeply into him with Namgyu’s bloody hand tightly
wrapped around it. Then, the other man let go, leaving the glass piece in him before letting
out a satisfied chuckle at Jongwoo’s horrified reaction.

And of course, to further add insult to the injury, Namgyu brought his hands up Jongwoo’s
shoulders before shoving him harshly. However, unlike Daeho, Jongwoo managed to keep his
footing. But that didn’t matter, as the pain suddenly hit Jongwoo like a train.

With the glass shard still deeply buried in him, every slight movement sent fresh waves of
agony throughout his body, like the shard was sawing through Jongwoo’s insides. Jongwoo
may have had a relatively high pain tolerance, but this was an entirely different story. It felt
like the glass shard had split his flesh open, leaving the surrounding muscles to spasm in
response to the foreign object in his stomach.

But unfortunately, Jongwoo couldn’t dwell on the pain for too much longer, as he tilted his
head back up to see Namgyu’s back facing him. And then he realised that Namgyu was
quickly approaching a groaning Daeho on the floor in front of him.

Suddenly realising what was about to happen, Jongwoo forced his body to move forward,
every muscle screaming at him to stop whilst he did so. Unfortunately for Jongwoo, the pain
was just too unbearable to stay standing.

Jongwoo felt his knees give out before he landed on the ground with a deafening thud, with
only one arm holding him up with the other one clutched at the shard impaled in his
abdomen. His breathing became erratic and even shallower than before as he groaned out in
pain. But even in his current state, Jongwoo found the strength to lift his head up to face
Daeho.

By now, Namgyu was grasping onto a completely new glass shard, this one smaller than the
last, but albeit still intimidating. He stood over a frightened and stunned Daeho menacingly,
and even with Namgyu’s back facing him, Jongwoo knew that the man probably had some
fucked up smile plastered across his face.

“Stop, please! Please, I’m sorry!” Daeho pleaded desperately as he brought his hands into a
futile prayer. Namgyu was clearly not feeling merciful and by the look on Daeho’s face,
Jongwoo assumed that he had quickly realised that.

Then, as Namgyu began to reel his arm back with the glass shard clenched in his bloody
hand, Jongwoo quickly screamed out to the other man.

“Daeho, run!” Jongwoo screeched.

But his plea went unnoticed in the chaos.

Jongwoo watched as Namgyu sent the sharp shard plummeting down into Daeho’s face,
lodging it just between the man’s eyes. Almost immediately, Daeho’s body instinctively
twitched upon the sudden intrusion, but soon, his body went limp as blood began to
feverishly spill out from the wound.
And if his breathing hadn’t already been fucked up, Jongwoo felt a lump in his throat as his
eyes scanned over Daeho’s motionless body. Even if he had seen more dead bodies than he
could count on his fingers, Jongwoo immediately felt bile rise up from his throat.

But before he could hurl his guts up, Namgyu quickly wrapped his hands around the fork in
Daeho’s abdomen before he harshly ripped out, causing blood to spurt up until his face. The
man grimaced as he wiped the blood off of his face before he leaned to the side and spat out a
particularly red sum of saliva onto the floor.

Then, Namgyu rose from his feet and turned to face a collapsed and shocked Jongwoo with
an overwhelming amount of satisfaction present on his bloodied face.

Jongwoo cursed at himself as he tried to back away from the rapidly approaching man, but
the pain was far too intense and the hand holding him up swiftly dropped down to his
forearm in defeat.

Namgyu sucked his teeth as he bobbed down in front of Jongwoo mockingly, before grabbing
ahold of his hair and forcing Jongwoo to tilt his face up to return Namgyu’s unsettling eye
contact.

“Doesn’t feel so good, does it?” Namgyu sardonically asked, the corners of his lips creeping
up into an eerie smirk as he spoke.

But rather than indulging the man, Jongwoo settled on doing something far different.

He spat on him.

Namgyu clamped both his eyes shut instinctively before he scoffed in disbelief. His hold on
Jongwoo’s hair never once faltered, and Jongwoo simply watched as the man reached his free
hand up to wipe off the spit. And when his face was relatively free of Jongwoo’s childish
outburst, a new emotion settled in Namgyu’s eyes.

Annoyance.

“You disgusting pig,” Namgyu paused, letting his remark sink in, before he continued, “Get
up.”

And with that, the hand in his hair immediately tightened and it wasn’t long until Jongwoo
was being yanked up by his locks and up onto his unsteady feet. Namgyu continued to
manhandle him until his feet were once again planted on the floor, and Jongwoo couldn’t
help but feel like he was being thrown around like a ragdoll. Then, Namgyu finally let go and
took a step back from the crippled man.

He looked Jongwoo up and down with an unamused expression on his face before he let out
an irritated sigh.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Come at me!” Namgyu offered, opening his arms up as if to
invite Jongwoo over.
However, Jongwoo refused to answer him, so he just stayed quiet. And when Namgyu
realised that Jongwoo was going to stay rooted in his current position until further notice, he
dropped his arms in defeat before letting his head droop down too. He kept it there, but just
as quickly as he had dropped it, Namgyu raised his head back up again to face Jongwoo.

“You know, I thought you’d put up a bit more of a fight. What happened to the guy that
nearly beat me to death a few days ago?” Namgyu rudely retorted as he closed the distance
between them only to bring a finger up to poke at Jongwoo’s forehead harshly.

Jongwoo grumbled at the man’s advances, and despite his previous reservations, he found his
mouth moving before he could even catch himself.

“F-fuck you.” He stammered out, but it lacked the venom that Jongwoo had hoped it would
carry.

Namgyu seemed to be amused by his lacklustre remark and then Jongwoo watched as his
eyes lit up as if he was just struck with a revelation. Then, he revealed his newfound idea
with an increasingly paler looking Jongwoo.

“I’m feeling generous today,” Namgyu paused, but he eventually continued, “So how about
this? I’ll even the playing field out a little bit.”

And with that, Jongwoo’s eyes fell to the fork in Namgyu’s hand that was suddenly let go
before it hit the tiles with a loud clang. Then, Namgyu threw his hands up in a playful
manner, flailing his hands around to try and agitate Jongwoo.

Trying to ignore the weird man across from him, Jongwoo scraped his brain for any sort of
plan that would end in him walking out of here alive. He skimmed over what felt like a
million possibilities as to how he could go about this situation, but his mind kept retreating
back to one strategy.

Fuck, he was so going to regret this later. But seeing as he didn’t really have any other
choice, Jongwoo would just have to pull through and hope for the best.

And so, actively curating the plan in his head, Jongwoo immediately began to act out the first
part of his plan.

He let out an overdramatic groan as he exaggerated the wounded expression on his face.
Then, unbeknownst to a rather insane Namgyu, he circled his fingers around the shard in his
abdomen, letting his knuckles turn white at just how hard he was gripping it.

Namgyu simply tilted his head in confusion as he watched the man before him continue to
moan out in exaggerated pain. Then, he cleared his throat before he questioned Jongwoo’s
weird antics.

“What the hell are you doing?” Namgyu asked, as he narrowed his eyes on Jongwoo
inquisitively.
“…This is the problem with you.” Jongwoo groaned, letting his statement sink in for a beat
before he continued, “You’re so stupid.”

“What?” Was all Namgyu replied with, his once relatively composed demeanour now having
competing vanished in an instant.

“You should’ve shoved the shard all the way in!”

And with that, Jongwoo ripped the glass piece out of his own abdomen before swinging it in
Namgyu’s direction. The glass shard traveled effortlessly over the man’s neck, leaving a
deep, jagged wound in its wake.

Almost immediately, Namgyu raced his hands up to clutch at his now bleeding neck, gasping
for air as his final breaths left his lungs.

And while the gaping wound left by the absence of the glass shard began to trickle out blood
even more, Jongwoo managed to get a few last words in before Namgyu kicked the bucket.

“You can never kill me. Do you know why?” Jongwoo piqued, his voice raspy and cracking
due to the sheer amount of pain he was trying to hold back.

“Because there are so many like me in the world.” Even though it hurt an unfathomable
amount to do so, he let out a maniacal laugh before he clutched the glass shard in his hand
and sent it driving into the man’s stomach repeatedly for good measure. And after about the
third stab, Namgyu’s body finally began to succumb to its injuries.

Thank fucking goodness.

Jongwoo pulled back and watched on unsteady feet as the man toppled over backwards, his
head cracking the tiles beneath him as he landed.

And as Jongwoo scanned the asshole’s body, a part of him was a bit bummed that the kill
didn’t feel even remotely satisfying. The kill had lacked that feeling, which was a shame in
itself. But it was probably because he was bleeding out and quite frankly, on the verge of
dying if he didn’t do something soon to fix it.

Jongwoo dropped the bloodied glass shard out of his hard, letting it break into a few more
smaller pieces as it hit the ground. Then, despite his body screaming at him to leave and go
find help, Jongwoo felt his eyes drift over to the still body of Daeho in the distance. An
instant wave of guilt washed over Jongwoo, and he somehow felt it even more prominently
than the agonising pain in his lower abdomen. His mouth opened and he barely squeaked out
his next words.

“You should’ve left when I told you…” Jongwoo muttered, his voice strained as he applied
even more pressure to his ever present gash.

Then, Jongwoo finally listened to his body. He swivelled away from his fallen comrade
before he began to stumble in the direction of the bathroom door, his footsteps heavy and
pained as he approached it. Then, even though it hurt like a bitch to do so, Jongwoo used his
body to push open the door and forced himself down the rest of the hallway.

With every step he took, his body began to shut down piece by piece. He was feeling
delirious after all the blood he had lost and the limbs holding him up were threatening to
collapse at any moment. But even during his long, agonising journey to the final door,
Jongwoo let his mind wander, hoping it would distract him from the pain.

Spoiler alert, it didn’t. It just brought a new pain around.

Guilt.

Daeho didn’t need to do that. He should’ve just listened to Jongwoo when he had the chance.
He would’ve been alive right now and he could’ve gone and asked for help, but no. Daeho
had insisted on helping Jongwoo and look where that had got him. For fucks sake…

And when he finally approached the door that led him back into the sleeping quarters,
Jongwoo used the last remaining strength in himself to push open that final door. Almost
immediately, the harsh lights shined down upon a bloodied and beaten Jongwoo as he entered
the room. Then, he heard a familiar voice play out over the speakers.

“Players 124 and 388 eliminated.”

As he weakly hobbled into the room, Jongwoo left a trail of blood behind him, a rampant
reminder of the gaping wound in his stomach.

Suddenly, it seemed that the sheer loss of blood had quickly caught up to Jongwoo, as he felt
his vision start to go hazy and his hearing began to get muffled. But before he could succumb
to the darkness, his eyes caught the faint silhouette of a familiar man absolutely booking it in
his direction. Among many other outlines of other players, but Jongwoo's eyes were solely
focused on one.

Moonjo.

And when his head became far too heavy for him to hold anymore, Jongwoo let it drop in a
painful defeat. Then, his eyes swiftly fell on his prolifically stained jumpsuit and hand that
was covered in an ungodly amount of crimson blood.

Oh fu—

And then it went dark as Jongwoo collapsed to the floor.

“…ease…wa…up!”
“Jong…ake…up!”

“I thin…he’s…aking up! Jongw…!”

As Jongwoo slowly started to wake up, he tried his best to understand the mystery person’s
words in his dazed and still very delirious state. His hearing was still muffled but he was
catching a few pieces of the person’s words.

And then it hit Jongwoo.

He was awake.

He wasn’t dead.

How…?

But just as the question crossed his mind, Jongwoo’s hearing suddenly cleared up and he was
able to finally decipher what the voice was trying to say.

“Jongwoo, please wake up! Please!” It was a woman’s voice, and Jongwoo distantly
recognised it as Hyunju’s.

However, it was with his hearing that his other senses came back to. And all of a sudden, a
sharp pain rippled up from his stomach whilst he simultaneously felt an aching feeling in his
ribs. And with the sudden sensation, Jongwoo’s eyes immediately jolted open in response. As
soon as he opened them, they strained upon the harsh light shining down upon him, but he
quickly adjusted to the brightly lit environment around him.

Still obviously a little dazed, Jongwoo let his eyes slowly drift between the several faces of
the players standing over him. Then, his eyes fall on a rather reassuring figure. Moonjo.

However, rather than the rest of the players who all simply had permanently shocked and
worried expressions plastered across their faces, Moonjo was actually huffing and puffing, as
if he had just partaken in some vigorous exercise and—

Oh.

Jongwoo quickly connected the last puzzle pieces together. Seeing as Moonjo was a
breathless mess above him and Jongwoo’s ribs were aching as if someone had repeatedly sat
on them or something, Jongwoo swiftly came to realise that Moonjo had given him CPR.

But upon seeing Jongwoo’s now open and curious eyes, even Moonjo relaxed when he saw
the man finally responding to them.

Unfortunately, their moment was short lived. It seemed that Jongwoo’s delirious state had for
whatever reason dulled the pain of his stab wound, so when the ‘magic’ finally wore off,
Jongwoo curled up in agony. He let out a visceral scream upon suddenly feeling the deep
gash in his abdomen about a hundred times more intensely.
And then it was chaos.

Moonjo’s eyes widened in horror but nevertheless, he immediately jumped into action,
reaching down to rip the last layers of Jongwoo’s clothes off of his torso. Haphazardly
chucking them to the side, Moonjo peered down at the now very exposed and bleeding
wound in Jongwoo’s stomach.

The cold air hit the gash as if Jongwoo had just touched a burning hot pan, sending yet
another agonising ripple of pain shooting up through his torso in response. Jongwoo clamped
his teeth down harshly, gritting them together to try and hold back another scream.

Then, Jongwoo felt a warm hand touch his forehead before it gently pushed him back down
onto the pillow below him. And almost instantly, it occurred to Jongwoo that he had to have
been sitting on some poor person’s bed, bleeding out and staining it with his blood. But
literally who cared, Jongwoo felt like he was going to die at any second. Then, it was the
owner of the hand - Hyunju - who spoke up.

“Ssh, don’t look at it. You’re going to be okay.” She soothed, trying to get Jongwoo to focus
on her words and not the very open wound in his lower stomach.

But just as she spoke, Jongwoo’s ears twitched as he listened to Moonjo commanding the
other players to help him with the wound.

“Young-il, help me apply pressure!” Moonjo asserted, his tone scarily serious. And a nearby
Young-il didn’t need to be told twice, as the older man swiftly lunged forward before
wrapping his hands in Jongwoo’s jacket to serve as a divider and then pressing down firmly
onto his bleeding abdomen.

The sudden pressure caused Jongwoo to grit his teeth desperately in response, letting out a
pained groan as tears began to brim his eyes. It was all too much and Jongwoo felt like he
was going to pass out again any second.

“Don’t let him fall unconscious again!” Moonjo loudly declared, his words aimed at Hyunju
who was the closest to Jongwoo’s face. In response, Hyunju nodded her head frantically as
she cupped both of Jongwoo’s cheeks and leaned over until her face was completely blocking
his view. And when Jongwoo felt like he began to fall in and out of consciousness, it was a
gentle but firm slap from Hyunju that brought him back into his painful reality.

Then, Moonjo began to throw out even more frenzied orders.

“Gi-hun, go get some water and some paper towels! We need to clean the wound.” Moonjo
said as he scrambled between checking if Jongwoo was still responding and helping Young-il
to apply pressure on his stomach. But when Gi-hun failed to move a muscle, Moonjo quickly
snapped back.

“Now!” He hissed, his voice dropping to an eerie octave. And it was as if Moonjo’s chilling
tone of voice snapped Gi-hun out of his shock, as he swiftly nodded his head before he
swivelled around and began to bee-line it for the bathroom.
But with every increased amount of pressure that either Young-il or Moonjo forced onto him,
a tear would slip out from his eye and trickle down his cheek. Hyunju did her best to comfort
the man, but her words of encouragement fell on deaf ears as Jongwoo began to zone her
out.

At that very moment, Jongwoo felt like giving up. The pain was becoming unbearable and
Jongwoo didn’t know if he’d be able to hold on for very much longer. But as much as he
wanted to give up, he knew that he couldn’t. He had so much to live for now - so many things
left to do before he died - so Jongwoo would be damned if he went out like this.

Quickly recomposing himself and no longer drowning out Hyunju’s desperate pleas to keep
him awake, Jongwoo put on a brave face despite his current outward appearance that
suggested quite the otherwise.

Then, as if it was music to his ears, Jongwoo heard the very rapidly approaching footsteps of
a certain older man. Then, despite Hyunju’s hold on his face and the fact that she was
practically blocking his vision, Jongwoo managed to catch a glimpse of Gi-hun who was
holding an ungodly amount of paper towels and two…cartons of milk? But even as a
bewildered expression crossed his face, Jongwoo was quickly proved wrong when Moonjo
snatched a carton out of the older man’s hands before he unscrewed it and dumped it over the
wound after Young-il retracted his hands. Half expecting milk to come out, Jongwoo was a
little surprised when water began to flow out of the carton.

However, Hyunju quickly used her grip on Jongwoo’s face to push his head back down into
the pillow, effectively stopping Jongwoo from seeing what exactly was going on. Although,
Jongwoo didn’t really need to see what was happening to understand. After all, he could feel
it.

He felt some of the water pool in his deep gash before he heard the sound of paper towels
ripping, and then it wasn’t long until he felt someone using it to wipe away the excess blood
and visible small glass remnants on his stomach. It was an odd sensation, but albeit a pleasant
one as it briefly distracted Jongwoo from his real pain.

Amidst the chaos, at one point Jongwoo’s eyes flickered over to a trembling Junhee who was
standing just behind the taller woman. She looked like she desperately wanted to help but just
didn’t know how too. Jongwoo absentmindedly hoped that he wasn’t putting too much stress
on the pregnant woman. Even if Moonjo had some doctoral experience just as a dentist,
Jongwoo couldn’t help but assume that this area would make for a fairly difficult birthing
facility.

However, Jongwoo couldn’t dwell on the thought for very long as the hand cleaning up his
wound suddenly retracted. Sometime during the madness, Hyunju had backed away a little
bit, allowing Jongwoo to get a somewhat clear view of what was happening only a foot or
two away on his stomach.

He watched as Moonjo tossed the blooded paper towel to the side, seemingly satisfied with
his DIY job. He most certainly didn’t have the proper medical equipment needed to better
help Jongwoo, but he had to improvise. Then, Moonjo informed Young-il to reapply the
pressure back onto Jongwoo’s abdomen. In the meantime, Moonjo darted his head around
before it settled on what he had been looking for - Jongwoo’s shirt.

Instantly inspecting the shirt and trying to locate a relatively untouched patch of cloth,
Moonjo began to rip the shirt into several long strips. And soon enough, Moonjo leaned back
over Jongwoo before commanding Young-il to once again remove his hold on the younger
man. Hyunju also took that as her cue to remove her hold on Jongwoo’s face, moving away
to give Moonjo more room to work with Jongwoo.

Both Hyunju and Young-il immediately pulled away - with Young-il taking the profusely
stained jacket with him - before Moonjo scrambled to wrap the makeshift bandage around the
wound. Using one arm, Moonjo delicately lifted Jongwoo up before feeding the strip of his t-
shirt under and over until it had successfully circled him. Then, Moonjo dropped Jongwoo
back down onto the bed as gently as he possibly could before he started to make quick work
of the bandage.

And then Moonjo repeated the same steps for about three or four more strips of Jongwoo’s
shirt. Jongwoo would be lifted up and then he’d feel an arm slither around him, trying to grab
the threaded shirt from under him before he was swiftly placed back down and secured in by
the tight bandage.

As he tucked in the final strand of the last bandage, Moonjo finally pulled away from
Jongwoo, his gaze on the younger man never once wavering. Then, after what felt like an
entirety, Moonjo spoke up.

“How are you feeling, jagiya?” Moonjo asked sincerely, his voice a million times more
soothing than Hyunju’s ever could be. He shuffled closer to Jongwoo as he eagerly waited for
his response.

“Mm…” Was all Jongwoo managed, as he pulled his lips into a weak smile.

Moonjo sighed loudly as he dropped his head, but it was Gi-hun’s voice that caused him to
lift it back up again.

“He’s going to be okay, right?” Gi-hun asked as he inspected Jongwoo’s now newly clothed
abdomen intently.

In response, Moonjo shrugged his shoulders in defeat.

“I hope so.” Moonjo eventually replied with, his voice laced with a heartbreaking amount of
concern as he spoke.

“Is there anything we can do to help him?” This time it was Hyunju who spoke up, bringing
Moonjo’s attention quickly to her upon hearing her desperate offer.

“No, unfortunately there isn’t.” Moonjo countered, pausing ever so slightly before
continuing, “We just have to hope that my handiwork will be enough.”
But as soon as the words left the older man’s mouth, the rest of the group burst out into
reassuring and hopeful comments. But one stood above all.

“Moonjo, if it weren’t for you, Jongwoo may not have made it this far at all.” Hyunju
affirmed, and the others began to nod their heads weakly in agreement at her comment.

Moonjo let a polite but strained smile surface his face before he swiftly dropped it, not
particularly keen on listening to anymore of their compliments and comments.

And despite his current state, it was almost as if Jongwoo sensed Moonjo’s
uncomfortableness, as he softly opened his mouth to interrupt.

“…Sorry, but can I have a m-minute?” Jongwoo eventually stuttered out, his voice meek but
still loud enough for the group to hear him. And when they did, a deafening silence quickly
engulfed them. But after a few silent seconds, it was - out of everyone - Junhee who decided
to speak up.

“Of course, Jongwoo. Let’s go guys, he needs to rest more than any of us.” Junhee gently
replied as she flashed the man a sympathetic smile.

In response, Jongwoo gave her a half-hearted smile back. But as he went to lift his head off
the pillow to try and get a better look at the rest of his team, he clenched his ab muscles
instinctively and he felt a sudden sharp pain in his stomach.

Moonjo immediately pushed his head back down onto the pillow, leaning over Jongwoo as if
he was a guardian angel.

A fucked up guardian angel, sure, but an angel nonetheless.

“Jagiya, don’t try to move or it will hurt and mess up the bandages.” Moonjo declared as he
cupped Jongwoo’s cheek tenderly. Then, before Jongwoo could speak up, Moonjo continued.

“If you need anything, I’ll be right there in a moment’s notice.” He soothed, letting his thumb
swipe over a lingering tear that had dropped from Jongwoo’s cheek at some point during the
chaos.

But just as Moonjo slipped away, Jongwoo found himself reaching his arm out to stop the
man.

“No…you stay.” Jongwoo mumbled, but it didn’t matter if Moonjo had heard his words or
not, because Jongwoo’s eyes conveyed everything that he wanted to say anyway.

Moonjo let out a surprised chuckle, not in a mocking manner, but more because he had been
a little taken aback by Jongwoo’s request. But, Moonjo certainly didn’t need to be told twice.

Before he found his position next to Jongwoo again, Moonjo turned to the rest of the group
who were already nodding their heads and looking at him with friendly, knowing smiles.

And with that, Hyunju, Junhee, Young-il, and Gi-hun all swiftly turned around and began to
walk away from the duo. A little crowd had gathered around them at one point, and it didn’t
take long until Young-il and Gi-hun were yelling at the lingering players to disperse and head
back to their own beds.

Watching as the older men duo effectively got rid of the onlookers, Jongwoo couldn’t help as
a smile crept up his face despite the ache he could distantly feel in his lower torso. Sure it still
hurt like a bitch, but the added security made it significantly more bearable. Moonjo had
done a good job.

Speaking of Moonjo, the older man sat down on the edge of Jongwoo’s bed, careful not to
move him in any way and cause any unnecessary discomfort. Jongwoo simply watched with
amused eyes as the man did his best to gently manoeuvre his way onto the bed. As Moonjo
finally found a position that both didn’t hurt Jongwoo and was relatively comfortable enough
for him, Jongwoo found his hand and swiftly interlocked their fingers.

Moonjo immediately reciprocated the handhold, his fingers tightening as he intertwined them
with the younger man’s. But just as Moonjo opened his mouth to say something, it was
Jongwoo who surprisingly cut him off.

“…Thank you.” Jongwoo muttered, his voice still a little coarse from all the screaming and
groaning from before. In response, Moonjo simply smiled softly before eventually replying.

“Jagiya, I’d do anything for you. Anything.” The older man said as he narrowed his gentle
gaze on Jongwoo more intently.

And as Jongwoo comprehended the man’s words, he couldn’t help but let out a little chuckle.
He didn’t know why he was laughing, but it was probably because he was still feeling a little
delirious after the blood loss. The laughter rumbled his stomach, causing it to ache more
prominently once again, but Jongwoo didn’t really care. Nor could he stop himself from
chuckling.

“What’s the matter? Why are you laughing?” Moonjo asked genuinely, his tone of voice
lacking his usual sense of smugness and overbearing nature.

“Mm, ‘s nothin’.” Jongwoo slurred his words as he tried to compose himself, eventually
taking a deep but slightly painful breath to calm himself down.

Moonjo let out another amused chuckle at the man’s strange antics, but it seemed that he was
more focused on the fact that Jongwoo was alive and well - for the most part. Sure they had
their fair share of near death experiences a few times during the games, but this felt different.
And it was good that Jongwoo was a stubborn son of a bitch, because if he had been wired
even any remotely bit different, he probably would’ve succumbed to his injuries. Surviving a
fatal stab to the abdomen was possible, obviously seeing as Jongwoo was laying there alive,
but there was a far higher chance of not making it through. Thankfully, it seemed that luck
was on Jongwoo’s side this time around.

Shortly after his weird giggling session, Jongwoo let his eyes fall shut as both his mental and
physical exhaustion caught up to him, but he didn’t fall asleep. The pain was far too strong
for him to fully go to sleep, but Jongwoo was fine with just resting his eyes for the time
being.
And so that’s what he did. Whether it had been an hour or two, or perhaps even only ten
minutes, Jongwoo simply laid there gently hand in hand with Moonjo. He distantly wondered
what Moonjo was doing but he quickly brushed the thought off, wanting to clear his mind
and start from fresh after experiencing such a scary and close encounter with death.

Jongwoo had been in his fair share of fights throughout the years, sure, but he had never felt
so close to the brink of death before. And Hyunju had been right, Moonjo was the reason he
was still alive right now. For once, Jongwoo was so unbelievably grateful for Moonjo’s
history as a dentist - even if he wasn’t a proper doctor, it was better than nothing.

But after some time, Jongwoo finally opened his eyes, ready to rejoin the world around him.
Then, after his eyes quickly adjusted to the brightness, Jongwoo turned to face Moonjo who
had already been staring at him. Jongwoo cleared his throat before he spoke up, feeling much
better after having rested his eyes for a little while.

“We’re going home, right…?” He whispered softly.

“Indeed we are, jagiya.” Moonjo countered, using his thumb to caress Jongwoo’s knuckles
tenderly. But even with Moonjo’s assuring words, Jongwoo couldn’t help but be skeptical.

“How can you be so sure?” Jongwoo asked, the doubt evident on his face.

“When you were in the bathroom, the others went around and counted up the remaining X
and O players. There were 13 of us, 7 of which were X voters. But—” Moonjo affirmed.

“But?” Jongwoo interrupted quickly, but it didn’t deter Moonjo whatsoever. Instead, he
continued as if Jongwoo hadn’t spoken up in the first place.

“But after everything happened, there’s only 11 players remaining. Thankfully, we’re still
winning though.” Moonjo added as he squeezed Jongwoo’s hand a little tighter to try and
convey his gratitude.

And as Jongwoo took the man’s words in, he couldn’t help but smile. After all this time, the
games were finally going to end. They’d be able to get out here once and for all, taking the
money with them so that they can all start their new lives.

“…We’re finally going home.” Jongwoo muttered through a smile, feeling genuinely happy
for the first time in what felt like years.

However, rather than outright responding to him, Moonjo just flashed Jongwoo an equally
joyous smile instead. Now that Jongwoo had promised to leave with Moonjo, it seemed that
the older man was increasingly more eager to end the games too.

Then, after a few more silent but comfortable minutes passed by, Moonjo narrowed his eyes
on the younger man a little more intensely, as if he was studying him, before he broke the
silence.

“You should get some fluids in you, jagiya.” Moonjo plainly announced as he looked over
Jongwoo’s strapped body assessingly. In response, Jongwoo hummed in agreement at the
man’s request. Then, seeing as Jongwoo had no intention of further outwardly replying to
him, Moonjo continued.

“I’m going to get you to sit up, tell me if it hurts too much.”

And so, Jongwoo let Moonjo slither an arm underneath him once again, pulling him in closer
before he began to tilt up Jongwoo as gently as possible. Upon the sudden movement,
Jongwoo immediately winced, which caused the older man to immediately stop dead in your
tracks as he eyed the smaller man with utmost concern.

“Are you okay? Does it hurt too badly? I can put you down if—” Moonjo tried before
Jongwoo effectively cut him off with an amused chuckle. The older man cocked an eyebrow
up at Jongwoo’s reaction, encouraging the man to explain what he could have possibly found
so hilarious.

So, after recomposing himself yet again, Jongwoo eventually answered him.

“Sorry, sorry. I’m okay, it’s just that this,” He gestured weakly at the older man before
continuing, “is kind of funny to me.”

And Moonjo’s expression became impossibly even more confused as the words left the
younger man’s mouth. Then, after seemingly contemplating his response for a few long
seconds, Moonjo replied to him.

“What’s so amusing about it?” Moonjo placidly answered, his hand around Jongwoo’s waist
still present and holding him in place, now only a few inches apart from each other.

“You’re acting like my mother, that’s all.” Jongwoo quipped, seemingly entertained by
Moonjo’s motherly tenacity. And the older man never failed to surprise Jongwoo with all the
hidden emotions beneath that carefully curated person mask he’s mastered over the years, if
not decades.

Moonjo immediately frowned, not even slightly humoured by Jongwoo’s comment.

“Is it really a crime to look after someone you care about?” Moonjo deadpanned as his gaze
on the younger man instantly intensified.

Suddenly feeling a little self conscious under the man’s overwhelming stare, Jongwoo
awkwardly cleared his throat before changing the topic fairly quickly.

“Whatever. What did you want me to do now anyway?” Jongwoo inquired, purposefully
avoiding Moonjo’s eye contact as much as he could without making it too obvious that the
man’s words had clearly affected him. He hoped that the heat rising up to his cheeks was
because of his previous position with his head on a bit of a downward incline, rather than
from a certain other man coaxing him with his words.

Moonjo immediately opened his mouth as if to say “Ah, yes.” before he swivelled in his
current seated position as his eyes looked for something nearby. And apparently, it wasn’t
long until Moonjo found whatever he was looking for, as he leaned over a little bit before his
free hand scooped up the mystery item.

Then, he brought it to his chest as an offering to Jongwoo. Immediately, Jongwoo’s eyes fell
on a fairly disheartening sight.

A milk carton.

However, it seemed that Jongwoo’s disappointment with the specific beverage in which he
had a deep history with was fairly evident on his face - as it wasn’t long until Moonjo opened
his mouth to clarify.

“It’s water.” Moonjo affirmed, and Jongwoo immediately relaxed. Sure he couldn’t be too
picky about what he wanted to drink in a place like this, but Jongwoo still had his
preferences. What that so wrong?

Anyway, Jongwoo didn’t hesitate to take the carton out of Moonjo’s hand before he screwed
off the lid and began to drink the tap water inside. On any other day, Jongwoo would’ve
fought about drinking water straight out of a bathroom sink tap - especially in a place like
this - but he couldn’t care less at this point. As the water travelled down smoothly into his
stomach, Jongwoo simply couldn’t deny that it made him feel a little better. His
lightheadedness seemed to vanish with every swig he took and he began to feel much more in
control, even if the aching pain in his abdomen had yet to cease by any significant degree.

After about the third or fourth large swig, Jongwoo eventually pulled away before he screwed
the milk carton’s lid back on. Then, as he looked down at the half empty carton, Jongwoo
suddenly peered back up to the older man before he outstretched his arm with the makeshift
water bottle.

Moonjo’s eyes darted between Jongwoo’s oddly serious expression and the milk carton in his
hand in confusion. However, Moonjo eventually yielded, taking the carton off of Jongwoo to
instead take a few swigs of his own.

After everything the man had done for him, it was the least Jongwoo could do for him.
Moonjo deserved to replenish his own fluids after a rough and arduous day too.

And as Moonjo threw his head back and began to drink out of the carton, Jongwoo found his
eyes glued to the man. He watched as a single drop of sweat - probably from the stress from
the situation he had recently endured - trickled down from his forehead, glistening under the
light as it then travelled down his refined cheekbones and to his jawline. Jongwoo’s eyes then
drifted toward Moonjo’s prominent Adam’s apple, watching it intently as it bobbed with
every gulp of water he took.

And, as he studied the man’s neck in far too much detail, Jongwoo suddenly understood
Moonjo’s infatuation with his Adam’s apple. For whatever reason, Jongwoo couldn’t take his
eyes off of it. After all, it was such a simple movement - mundane, even - but something
about it had Jongwoo utterly captivated. The slow, deliberate way he drank, the unconscious
flex of his throat, the way his slender, nimble fingers curled around the cartoon sent Jongwoo
into a deeper spiral. Suddenly, he felt a strange feeling pool in the depths of his stomach as he
continued to watch the man drink.

Then, Moonjo suddenly pulled the carton away from his mouth, tongue flicking out to brush
over his lips to capture the last remnants of water. And unfortunately for Jongwoo, as if
sensing his relentless stare, Moonjo’s gaze dropped back down to him - dark eyes locking
onto his, a knowing smirk tugging at the older man’s lips. Caught.

Almost immediately, Jongwoo felt an overwhelming amount of blood rush up to his face,
leaving his cheeks with a flush, rosy finish.

Shit.

“Uh…” Was all Jongwoo managed, as he darted his eyes around, now looking anywhere but
at the man only a foot or two in front of him.

“Jagiya.” Moonjo softly replied as he screwed the lid back on with his free and then placed
the carton at his side.

And when Jongwoo failed to return his eye contact, Moonjo tried again, but this time, his
voice conveyed a far different tone.

“Jagiya…” Moonjo practically purred, his voice laced with an abundance of desire that only
added onto the ever growing odd feeling in Jongwoo’s stomach.

Suddenly, Jongwoo felt a cold hand cup his cheek, effectively turning his head back until he
was completely facing Moonjo.

“You’re burning up.” Moonjo uttered quietly as he caressed slender fingers over Jongwoo’s
increasingly flushed and heated cheeks.

This bastard knew exactly what he was doing.

And unfortunately for Jongwoo, he felt his defences slowly shutting down at the man’s soft
touches. Letting his eyes refocus on the older man who was only a mere few inches in front
of him now, Jongwoo found the world around him going quiet. It felt as if it was only
Moonjo and him left in the world now.

His surroundings blurred into one still image as Moonjo quickly became the only thing he
could distinguish clearly. Even the gash in his abdomen became a distant, dull pain as
Jongwoo continued to fall onto the void of the older man’s dark eyes.

Then Jongwoo’s eyes drifted down toward Moonjo’s lips - his pretty, pale pink lips. His eyes
flickered between the man’s flushed lips before refocusing on the elegant and delicate arch of
Moonjo’s cupid bow. Moonjo followed Jongwoo’s eyes curiously, letting the corners of his
lips upturn in amusement as he watched how the younger man had failed to move away from
his hold yet.

Jongwoo immediately caught himself, shuffling his eyes back up to Moonjo and stopping
himself from lingering his gaze on the older man’s lips for any longer. But as Jongwoo
returned Moonjo’s intense eye contact, he felt the remaining walls that he had built around
his heart finally giving way.

Fuck it.

Finally closing the distance between them, Jongwoo leaned forward, and before he knew it,
he met Moonjo’s lips in a gentle kiss.

His eyes immediately fell shut as he melted into the kiss, taking in just how soft Moonjo’s
lips felt against his. He felt Moonjo’s breathing stop as if he was a little taken aback at
Jongwoo’s sudden affection, but it wasn’t long until he too melted into the tender kiss.

The arm resting around Jongwoo’s back pulled him ever so closer, but it was still relatively
cautious. Moonjo probably didn’t want to hurt Jongwoo.

Then, the hand cupping Jongwoo’s cheek slid down to his neck, and upon the sudden
sensation of Moonjo’s cold, slim fingers curling gently around his neck, Jongwoo
instinctively parted his lips. Not hesitating in the slightest, Moonjo used the opportunity to
slide his tongue into the younger man’s mouth, causing a soft whimper to slip from Jongwoo
upon the foreign presence in his mouth.

And as Moonjo deepened the kiss, Jongwoo couldn’t help when he began to reach his hands
up to clutch the fabric of Moonjo’s splotchy red jumpsuit.

Leaning into the cold touch of Moonjo’s hand against his neck, Jongwoo tilted his head up
ever so slightly, allowing the older man to further deepen their kiss. Moonjo didn’t waste a
single second to oblige, their tongues meeting in a shared exploration that sent a wave of
warmth flooding through Jongwoo. He distantly wondered if Moonjo could taste the
remnants of blood on his tongue - an after effect of Jongwoo having to bite down so hard into
the insides of his lips just so he wouldn’t scream when his gash was being treated.

And it was as if Moonjo had read Jongwoo’s mind and stumbled upon exactly what he had
been thinking, as the older man let out a low groan against Jongwoo’s lips.

Holy shit.

Jongwoo hadn’t expected that kissing Moonjo would feel this…intoxicating. And Jongwoo
knew that he should be ashamed of himself for kissing the man who had practically brought
his life crashing down only months prior, but he couldn’t find it in himself to break away
from him.

Time seemed to slow down, and for as far as Jongwoo was concerned, he could’ve stayed
there - in Moonjo’s arms - for an eternity. He couldn’t think of anything he wanted more than
to stay with him - as fucked up as that sounded. But it was the sudden and scarily nearby
sound of someone clearing their throat that caused Jongwoo to pull back from the older man.

Moonjo let out a quiet whine that couldn't have been more than barely above a whisper at
Jongwoo’s sudden retraction. But quickly noticing that Jongwoo’s attention had been directed
elsewhere, he followed the gaze of the younger man until they landed on a player standing
awkwardly off to the side of the bed they were sitting on.

“I, uhm, I don’t mean to intrude, but…” Young-il trailed off as he reached an awkward hand
up to cup the back of his neck.

Jongwoo’s cheeks reddened impossibly more as he absentmindedly wandered how long the
older man had been standing there.

Fuck…

And when neither man made an effort to respond to him, Young-il assumed that they were
waiting for him to continue. So, he did.

“The vote is going to start soon. So…I just came over here to let you guys know.” Young-il
muttered, bringing his hand down from his neck to unseated rest idly at his side. But before
Jongwoo could open his mouth to respond, Moonjo was already talking.

“Alright, thank you. We’ll be over in a minute.” He flatly replied, and Jongwoo unfortunately
immediately noticed the slight tinge of disappointment that laced Moonjo’s words - as if he
was irritated by Young-il’s sudden presence.

Young-il shot the tightly intertwined duo an affirming smile before he was quickly swivelling
on his feet and heading back in the direction of the rest group. Maybe he had also noticed
Moonjo’s slightly annoyed tone of voice too. When the man was further enough away,
Jongwoo reluctantly turned back to Moonjo, who was simply looking at him with
overwhelmingly adoring eyes. And when Moonjo opened his mouth to say something,
Jongwoo found his mind wandering.

If Moonjo were to ask him about the kiss - and to be fair, it wasn’t a matter of if he did but
rather a matter of when - Jongwoo was ready to blame it on the blood loss. Even though he
had been fully sober in his thoughts and knew exactly what he had chosen to do, Jongwoo
had a perfectly valid get-out-of-jail-free card. And he’d be damned if he didn’t use it to his
advantage.

But the words that left Moonjo’s mouth were far from what Jongwoo had been expecting,
effectively throwing him a little off guard.

“We can talk about this later, jagiya,” Moonjo promised before concluding, “But for now, we
should really head over to the others. It will take us a bit longer than usual with your injury.”

Half a little relieved that Moonjo was willing to save this conversation for later but also half a
little put on edge now that it was just a waiting game for when Moonjo would bring it up
again, Jongwoo simply nodded in response.

When the hand resting gently on his neck slipped, Jongwoo managed to hold back his
displeasure from surfacing on his face upon the sudden retraction. Then, it wasn’t long until
Moonjo was gently manoeuvring himself so he could get a better grip on Jongwoo without
hurting him too much.
And as he zoned out and let Moonjo gently manhandle him into an easier position to lift up,
Jongwoo couldn’t help but feel how his lips felt red and swollen from their kiss. Come to
think of it, Jongwoo could practically taste Moonjo on his tongue still. It was convenient that
Jongwoo’s cheeks were still stained a flushed red because as the thought crossed his mind,
Jongwoo felt even more blood rush up to his face.

However, he was suddenly brought out of his trance when Moonjo spoke up.

“If it starts to hurt too much, please tell me.” Moonjo asked sincerely as he scanned over the
younger man carefully.

And before he even knew it, Jongwoo was getting slowly lifted off of the bed and then
brought onto his feet. Sure he could feel his stomach muscles tense and spasm upon the
sudden movement, but thanks to Moonjo’s secure bandages, the pain was significantly dulled
down to something much more bearable.

But as Jongwoo stood on wobbly feet, he felt the man next to him twitching around strangely.

“What are you doing?” Jongwoo questioned as he turned to face Moonjo who looked to be
strippi—

What the fuck was this guy doing?

“Jagiya, take my jacket.” Moonjo managed as he slipped out of his final sleeve before he
offered it over to the younger man.

Jongwoo went to decline, but as he peered down and realised that he was still quite exposed
from the waist up, he quickly changed his mind. Taking the jacket off of Moonjo, he wasn’t
even surprised when the older man then began to help him thread his arms into the jacket’s
sleeves for him. And once both arms were safely inside, Moonjo leaned over and zipped up
the jacket, adding onto Jongwoo’s comforting security.

Moonjo’s jacket was unbelievably warm and to Jongwoo, it felt like a weighted blanket that
could very well put him to sleep if it hadn’t been for him standing. So, as Jongwoo
instinctively snuggled up to Moonjo’s side, looking for him for support, he let the older man
slowly guide him over to where the rest of the group were standing.

Once they arrived, the remaining players voiced their simple gratitudes upon seeing Jongwoo
doing much better. But Jongwoo did his best to ignore the knowing smirk practically
radiating off of Young-il as he and Moonjo continued to stay glued to each other’s sides.

And, as if almost on cue, the sound of the doors opening followed by the synchronised
marching of the guards quickly caused the team’s attention to be diverted. Jongwoo watched
as the square masked guard stepped forward as usual before he began his announcement.

“Congratulations on making it through the fifth game. Now, here are the results of the fifth
game.”
Much like every other time, Jongwoo let his eyes drift up to the ceiling where the now almost
completely full golden piggy bank began to descend from the sky. The guard continued to
speak as it kept on moving down.

“In total, after the fifth game and other outside circumstances, 18 players have been
eliminated. The prize money accumulated up to this point is 44.5 billion won. Since there are
11 players remaining, each person’s share is approximately 4.045 billion won.”

…Wow.

Jongwoo felt his heart race as he watched the dollar bills drop from out of the tube connected
to the glass bank. At least for Jongwoo, it was an increasingly unbelievable amount of money
to fathom. And to think he was going to walk away with 4.045 billion won, Jongwoo felt like
cheering and jumping up and down. But he didn’t, because that would be both embarrassing
and painful.

But when the podium was shortly brought out and placed in its usual position in the middle
of the two opposing sides, Jongwoo was a little surprised by the silence of the other players.
He found himself turning around to face Gi-hun who looked as if he had seen a ghost. What
could he have possibly seen that would justify that expression? Jongwoo sifted through his
brain hastily before his eyes lit up in a silent revelation.

Oh.

He had gone into the bathroom, hadn’t he? As his memories quickly came back to him,
Jongwoo distantly remembered how Moonjo had ordered Gi-hun to go to the bathroom to get
some water and paper towels.

Shit, he had probably seen Daeho then.

But Jongwoo was unable to dwell on the thought for long, as the guard suddenly spoke up,
effectively breaking the silence that had engulfed the minuscule crowd.

“We will begin the vote now. Player 001, please cast your vote.”

Almost immediately, Young-il stepped forward and began to make his way down the aisle
and up to the podium. Jongwoo looked around at the other players, scanning over the O
players who were standing off to the side intently.

Yeah, they probably weren’t going to change their minds. To them, they probably thought
that it would be stupid to give up this close to the finish. Jongwoo held back from outwardly
scoffing at the annoying thought. Honestly, Jongwoo had never seen so many money hungry
people than he had in here.

However, just as Jongwoo continued to ramble on in his head about the twisted priorities of
his fellow players, the sound of Young-il pressing a button echoed throughout the room. It
was then shortly followed by the click of the counter flipping over to one.

Jongwoo lifted his head up to the TV screen and froze.

 0 vs 1.

X vs O.

Dropping his head down to the older man in horror, Jongwoo faintly made out how his face
was lit up in a tantalising deep, radiant blue colour. And if it hadn’t been for Moonjo holding
him up, Jongwoo would’ve collapsed out of pure shock.

What the fuck…?

Chapter End Notes

WAR IS OVER 💋💋💋 THEY DID IT!

YEAHHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA omg that was SO unbelievably
satisfying to write y’all don’t even know. I hope it doesnt seem too rushed either ☺

but where do i begin LORD ☠

💔
ummm…please don’t kill me for well, killing off daeho 😥 IM SORRY IM SO SORRY

🙏
HE TRIED HIS BEST BUT IM SORRY…daeho u were actually like one of my favs
i feel so bad 😭 Why are they dropping like flies ;(( (p.s. if ur worried, not everyone
dies. so yeah, i’m not just slowly killing them all off until it’s just mjjw remaining. trust
me, there’s a method to my madness ‼) but even with that emotional scene, i still
enjoyed finally killing namgyu off like YES good fucking riddance oml!! and if anyone

🤪
clocked it, that whole act that jongwoo put was taken directly from the show. extra
brownie points to anyone who knows which scene im referring to

and then we have Jongwoo literally almost dying ☠ yikes LMFAOO he really pulled a

Moonjo’s sketchy handiwork that helped him stay alive unlike sae-byeok 🥲
sae-byeok there. but i’d like to think that it was Jongwoo’s stubbornness mixed in with
Anywho…
i’m in no way shape or form a medical student nor do i know anything about how to
treat someone who just had a glass shard plunged into their stomach so i just guessed 😀
if it’s inaccurate, i apologise!! i tried my best haha.

hmm and what next…oh YEAH 😈😈 MY BOYS FINALLY DID IT!! All it took for
jongwoo to finally give in was having his life severely threatened and BOOM, there u

🙄🙄 🙄🙄
have it. Jongwoo finally appreciating the baddie he’s bagged. but young-il interrupting
them typical bitchy behaviour god

speaking of bitches…FUCK YOU YOUNG-IL 🖕🖕🖕 WHAT THE HELL DO U

THINK UR DOING OH MY GOD!! Let these poor people go home man stop being
such a drama queen holy shit. Idgaf that ur the frontman just LEAVE THEM BE 😭😭
p.s. If ur wondering why Young-il suddenly changed up, all will be revealed in the next
chapter! Sorry to keep y’all on a cliffhanger, hehe!!

i think that’s it now…thanks for waiting for his chapter, it was such a pleasure to write
and i hope y’all were feeling all the conflicting emotions like i was throughout this
chapter ALONE coz holy shit, stuff really went down in it LOLLL. But anyway, as i
was writing, an amazing idea hit me and i immediately had to stop and write it down.
Now whether this nice idea will take us beyond the max of 5 chapters i said, idk. I have
yet to get that far HAHA but in all honesty, the ending for this fic is still kinda not set in
stone so i can’t really say for certain when it will be completed. But other than that,
thanks again for ur support guys!! It’s literally been a dream come true being able to
make so many ppl’s days with my writing ❤❤ Y’all are the best
 Mafia
Chapter Summary

A detective, a doctor, & the civilians vs the Mafia. Who will win?

Chapter Notes

WOHOOO!! 15k words later (shit, that’s our longest chapter to date ☠) and here we
are! I wrote the majority of this at 3 am so i hope it is coherent, LOL. Sorry for the wait,
i hope it doesn’t disappoint!

p.s. this is the last game! 🥳

edit: To ‘study’ for this game, I turned to my favs & quite frankly, the BEST group of k-
pop idols to play mafia - AKA seventeen. They’re so entertaining and their mafia games
make me laugh so much. Wish i had a big friend group like theirs so i could play mafia
like them haha

See the end of the chapter for more notes

As the rest of the group gawked at the older man in both a swirling mix of horror and
disbelief, it was Gi-hun who spoke up first, seemingly conveying what everyone had been
thinking at that very moment.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” He yelled as he crossed the room rapidly and began to
approach Young-il. As he did so, the rest of the group followed shortly after him. Jongwoo
nudged Moonjo ever so slightly and it seemed that he got the hint, as they too were making
their way over to the traitor.

And when they approached Young-il, they formed a rather pressuring semicircle around him.
But when Young-il still failed to reply despite the newfound peer pressure, Gi-hun kept
going.

“Change your vote, you can probably do that if—”

“I don’t want to.” Young-il suddenly interrupted, effectively cutting off Gi-hun and leaving
him with an even more bewildered look.
“Young-il, why are you doing this? We can finally go home! We had more players than they
did!” Gi-hun begged, before quickly adding, “Why did you change your mind?”

Young-il went quiet for a beat, looking as if he was contemplating his answer to Gi-hun’s
question. Then, he let out - in Jongwoo’s eyes at least - an overly dramatic sigh before he
responded.

“I need the money for my wife’s surgery.”

And if the room wasn’t already quiet enough, it dropped to an even more chilling octave.
Almost immediately, it looked as if the breathing of Jongwoo’s other teammates had all just
hitched at the man’s words. They went to open their mouths to say something in return, but
they fell short - not wanting to say something offensive about Young-il’s incapacitated wife.

But unlike them, Jongwoo wasn’t nearly as convinced nor was he even in the slightest bit
worried that what he was about to say could come off as insensitive.

“Bullshit.” Jongwoo deadpanned suddenly, breaking the silence that had engulfed them
temporarily.

Young-il whipped his head to face Jongwoo who was still using Moonjo’s tall figure as
support before giving him a perplexed look.

“In what world is 4 billion won not enough to cover hospital bills?” Jongwoo spat, not caring
if his comments were earning him horrified looks from his teammates.

“Jongwoo, stay out of this. You don’t understand.” Young-il sternly replied as he held his
hand out as if to tell Jongwoo to stop.

“Clearly I don’t! You’re putting all of us in danger because you’re going off on a whim that
you’re somehow going to survive the next game too!” Jongwoo snapped back just as
aggressively, completely ignoring Young-il’s requests. Then, before the older man could
reply, Jongwoo continued.

“You’re not thinking straight! If you die in the next game, your wife gets nothing. You hear
me? Nothing!” He paused, letting his statement sink in, “Just be happy with the 4 billion and
let’s get out of here!”

Jongwoo knew that with his arm wrapped around Moonjo to keep him upright and balanced
that he didn’t look particularly intimidating. He just hoped that his tone of voice was enough
to smack some sense into the delusional old man. Young-il narrowed his eyes on the younger
man, as if waiting for Jongwoo to go that one step too far - waiting for a reason to go off at
him. And as Jongwoo studied the man just as intently and came to this realisation, he
delivered the final blow.

“Go take care of your wife while you’re still alive!” Jongwoo hissed through his teeth before
quickly adding, “And she is!”
Jongwoo didn’t even care that he was being rude. Young-il wasn’t listening and he was
putting everyone in danger because apparently 4 billion won wasn’t enough to cover hospital
bills. Seriously, what surgery could possibly cost that much? Jongwoo had rarely been to the
hospital before but he wasn’t an idiot. There was something else behind Young-il’s reasoning
but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it…

However, Jongwoo was quickly ripped out of his fantasy as Young-il’s deep voice suddenly
broke the silence.

“What did you just say?” Young-il muttered, his tone filled to the brim with anger and
frustration. Unfortunately, Jongwoo immediately recognised the look on the older man’s face.
He looked exactly the same when Thanos had made fun of his wife and kids too.

…And then Thanos was absolutely whipped by him seconds later.

And now Jongwoo did just that. Oops.

In a flash, Young-il suddenly began closing the distance between them, each step heavy and
angry.

Oh fu—

But before Young-il could kick a man when he was already down, Moonjo suddenly stepped
in front of Jongwoo, using his body to shield the wounded younger man.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Moonjo flatly announced as he cocked his head to the side
in mild irritation, effectively causing Young-il to stop dead in his tracks.

“Moonjo, please move. This is between Jongwoo and I.” Young-il continued with his
formalities, but the fists curling up at his side counteracted his polite tone.

“When it involves him, it involves me.” Moonjo countered, his tone scarily placid.

In response, Young-il simply shot the duo an exasperated scowl. And much to Jongwoo’s
dismay, it seemed that Young-il didn’t care whether Moonjo was there or not. So, when
Young-il took another step forward, Jongwoo braced himself against Moonjo’s back,
preparing for whatever was about to come.

And while Jongwoo was glad that Moonjo had stepped in, he felt like a little kid as he
cowered behind Moonjo. Honestly, Jongwoo would’ve loved to take his chances with Young-
il, sure, but certainly not in this state. Jongwoo could barely walk on his own without
stumbling, so what was he going to do to Young-il who had proved to be rather strong and
capable?

The answer to that was nothing. Absolutely jack shit.

However, it was the sound of Young-il’s footsteps suddenly stopping and someone’s voice
hastily yelling out that made Jongwoo shy away from Moonjo’s back to see what was going
on.
“Young-il, stop! It’s not worth it!” Gi-hun screeched as he shot out an arm to Young-il’s
chest, holding him back. The older man put his scowl on hold as he peered down to the hand
resting on his chest before he turned to face Gi-hun in confusion.

“Don’t do something you’ll regret! Trust me, as much as you want to punch his stupid little
face, it doesn’t make you feel any better.” Gi-hun continued as he searched Young-il’s eyes
hopefully.

Jongwoo immediately furrowed his brows at the man’s comment. What the fuck? Why was
he suddenly catching strays from Gi-hun? But as Jongwoo hobbled to the side of Moonjo
completely to lift a finger up in retaliation, Young-il quickly butted in, leaving Jongwoo
unable to defend himself.

“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“I know that, but let’s act like adults here, shall we? You were the one that told us to act more
like a team, so please, help us understand.” Gi-hun replied, his once accusatory and angry
tone now dropping to a rather soft one.

Young-il turned his head to give the duo one final look before he sighed and tilted his head
back up to Gi-hun.

“It’s not…just the hospital bills.” Young-il dejectedly uttered, “I’m in big debt.”

An uneasy silence fell over the once rowdy and angry group. And while the rest of his
teammates - apart from Moonjo - stilled because of the unfortunate news, Jongwoo remained
unconvinced. If Young-il loved his wife that much, then surely he would take the money he
has now and go back to her and pay for the treatment. Then he can worry about his other
lingering debts later.

That’s what Jongwoo would do anyway.

“We were at home one day and then she suddenly collapsed. And when we went to the
doctors, they said she had a Grade 3 anaplastic astrocytoma in her brain,” he paused,
seemingly choking on his words as they came out, “A tumor.”

No one dared to speak up, so Young-il took it as his opportunity to keep going.

“She got sick so suddenly and then she just began to deteriorate. And so, so quickly.” He
muttered as his eyes darted around frantically, as if they were trying to avoid painful
memories.

“Do you know how hard it is to watch the person you love slowly fade away? While you
stand there helpless?” Young-il let his comment linger, and even Jongwoo found himself
reeling in a little bit of his previous irritation.

And while some of the words sounded a tad bit rehearsed, even Jongwoo couldn’t deny that
the man’s emotion was genuine. Jongwoo couldn’t relate per se, but he imagined how he’d
feel if it were his mother.
He’d be absolutely gutted. Jongwoo would never accumulate enough to pay off basic hospital
bills let alone the specialised treatments, so imagining his mother in Young-il’s wife’s shoes
caused even more of Jongwoo’s anger to slip away. But not entirely, however. After all, if it
was down to his life or Young-il’s wife, Jongwoo wouldn’t even think twice. His wife’s
situation was beyond unfortunate of course, but Jongwoo’s life was on the line here. He
didn’t want to die - not yet at least.

Young-il suddenly cleared his throat, bringing Jongwoo out of his internal dilemma rather
quickly. Then, the older man continued.

“The treatments were too expensive and so I found myself selling anything and everything I
could. Our house? Gone. Our cars? Sold. It didn’t matter at that point, because she was
practically living in the hospital anyway.” Young-il paused once again, before he continued,
“But even after I sold everything we owned, it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough.”

The group was deathly quiet, and with every new piece of information Young-il dropped, it
seemed that everyone’s heads dropped too. Even if Jongwoo was still annoyed with the man
for changing his vote last second, the man’s story was still heartbreaking without a doubt.

“And when her condition worsened, I got desperate. I turned to gambling, investing in
random stocks and coins, getting loans I knew I couldn’t pay off…anything. And after a
particularly hard day by her side, that man in the suit came up to me.” Young-il spoke, his
voice barely above a whisper.

“Then, I ended up here.” He concluded, letting a pained silence fall over the group once
again. But it didn’t last very long, as Gi-hun, who had an empathetic expression on his face,
spoke up.

“Young-il, I- I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.” Gi-hun choked out as he scanned the fairly
deflated man standing in front of him.

Jongwoo let his eyes drift between the rest of the group - if he could even call it that - as Gi-
hun and Young-il continued to silently communicate with their eyes. Jun-hee had, at one
point, clung to Hyunju’s side and was squeezing tightly onto her arm. It was kind of funny, as
Jongwoo was doing the exact same thing with Moonjo. Except, unlike Hyunju, Moonjo
didn’t look all that moved by Young-il’s disheartening monologue.

“No, it’s okay. How were you supposed to know that? I never told you guys about her in full
detail.” Young-il replied dejectedly.

But just as Young-il spoke up, Gi-hun perked up ever so slightly as if an idea had just come
to him. And so, only a few seconds later, he voiced his sudden revelation.

“But you know that we can still figure this out,” Gi-hun paused, letting his statement sink in
before he quickly added, “Together.”

“Gi-hun—” Young-il tried, but Gi-hun didn’t let him continue for even a second longer.
“I’ll give you my share. And fuck it— More. So, so much more. You don’t need to worry
about the money. So Young-il, let’s just go home. Please.” Gi-hun begged as he stepped even
closer to Young-il, his eyes a swirling mix of hope yet betrayal from the other man’s abrupt
decision to continue the games.

Young-il simply sighed in response, letting his head drop to face down at his feet. Then, after
a few long seconds, he eventually lifted it back up to respond to Gi-hun’s plea.

“I don’t want to be indebted to you.” Young-il flatly countered. And Gi-hun immediately
scrunched his face up as if the man’s words were outrageous.

“Young-il, you wouldn’t need to pay me back. I don’t want the money. I just want to lea—”

“I’m sorry, Gi-hun. I’ve already made my decision.” Young-il quickly intercepted, leaving
Gi-hun to stand there in defeat.

Out of the corner of Jongwoo’s eye, he watched as Junhee clutched her arm around Hyunju’s
even tighter before swiftly she hid her face in the taller woman’s jumpsuit. And Jongwoo
couldn’t even blame her for doing so. He would’ve done the same, but he wasn’t going to
because Moonjo would surely find it amusing and— well, there was too much on Jongwoo’s
mind to deal with him right now. He was fine with just standing next to Moonjo in silence for
the time being.

Gi-hun sighed as he realised it was too late to change Young-il’s mind, letting the already
small sliver of hope to simmer down to nothing in a matter of seconds. He didn’t even watch
as Young-il turned away from the group to instead walk over to the O side where some of the
last remaining O players thanked him upon arrival.

But before they would have any time to process any of what happened, the square-masked
guard suddenly spoke up for the first time in what seemed like ages.

“We will now resume the voting process. Player 50, please cast your vote.” They announced
sternly. And almost immediately, Jongwoo found his eyes falling onto an older woman with
an O patch who was beginning to make her way down the aisle. Jongwoo felt his chest rise,
then fall with a heavy breath, as if letting go of the last remnants of hope he hadn’t realised
he had been harbouring.

He wasn’t even surprised when the woman’s face lit up in that annoying radiant blue colour,
with the counter on the TV screen simultaneously increasing by one.

0 vs 2.

Jongwoo knew that he shouldn’t lose hope so quickly seeing as there was every chance that
someone from the O side would finally right their wrongs, but he didn’t have a good feeling
about it. Plus, if these people had kept their vote up until now, why would they suddenly
change it? Especially when they were this close to the end?

And it seemed that Jongwoo was too caught up in his thoughts that he had failed to notice
how another player had been called up to the voting podium. However, as the man’s face lit
up in that same infuriating blue, Jongwoo let yet another sigh of defeat escape his lips. He
watched as the man joined the duo, which included Young-il, before the player found a spot
beside the woman and began a conversation that Jongwoo couldn’t hear.

But it didn’t matter, and Jongwoo didn’t really care that much because the guard was already
announcing for the next person to make their decision.

“Player 120, please cast your vote.” The guard declared.

Upon hearing her number, Hyunju reluctantly pulled away from a defeated Junhee before she
began making her way down the aisle just like her predecessors. And without hesitation, once
she approached the voting podium, she sent a forceful hand slamming down onto the X
button, causing the X counter on the screen above to finally rise by one. Then, she wasted no
time as she quickly found a spot on the depressingly empty X side.

And then the next two votes went by in a blur.

“Player 166.”

The player, who was a scrawny middle aged man, pressed O, of course. After all, he was
wearing that stupid O patch to begin with. It would have to be a miracle if any of those
money hungry lunatics were going to suddenly change their mind like Young-il had.

“Player 222.”

Much like Hyunju, Junhee didn’t hesitate as she slammed her hand down onto the X button
with unshakeable resolve. And as she found her place cuddled around Hyunju’s arm yet
again, Jongwoo was suddenly brought back to reality when a familiar number was announced
shortly after Junhee’s.

“Player 303, please cast your vote.”

Sighing once more before realising that there was no point prolonging it, Jongwoo lifted his
head to face Moonjo, hoping that the older man would catch onto the fact that Jongwoo
needed his help to wobble over to the podium. And fortunately, it seemed that Moonjo had
read Jongwoo’s mind, as he slithered a stable hand around his waist before he began to guide
him over. With every step he took, Jongwoo could feel his abdomen aching even more. He
had really fucked up with Namgyu, hadn’t he? For fucks sake…

When he eventually approached the voting podium, Jongwoo curled up a fist before he
practically punched the X button with such force that he was surprised that he didn’t break it.
And as Jongwoo stood there, his fit lit up in a deep red, he couldn’t help when that hatred for
Young-il began to resurface.

Honestly, fuck him. Fuck Young-il for making them do this again. He was being so
unbelievably selfish. And for a serial killer, even Jongwoo thought that the man’s sense of
value was horribly lopsided.
Was Young-il’s wife’s life worth more than everyone’s in this room? And unfortunately,
apparently it was. Young-il was willing to put everyone here - who, for as far as he was
concerned, may very well have some remnants of their lives to return to after this just like
him - at risk for one person. One. Ten people for one single person.

Wait, no.

Eleven people. After all, Junhee was due soon.

Did grief make a person so unbelievably blind that they’d mistake selfishness for love?

…But was this even grief? Or was it just sheer, desperate delusion? Perhaps Young-il was
just clinging onto a fantasy that his actions were justifiable, simply because they were in the
name of ‘love’.

Who knew what Young-il was thinking though. He was shady, and an irking voice in the back
of Jongwoo’s mind told him that there was more to the story than what was being shown.
However, it was when the guard began to speak up again that Jongwoo snapped out of it and
came back to reality.

They were still standing at the podium, and it seemed that Moonjo was just waiting for his
number to be called. There was no point in making two trips.

“Player 30–”

Moonjo didn’t even let the guard finish, as the sound of the X buzzer rang out loudly
throughout the room, before the duo’s face lit up in red yet again. And when the vote ticked
over on the screen, Jongwoo let the arms holding him up by the waist guide him over to
where Junhee and Hyunju were standing.

4 vs 4 now.

When they regrouped with the similarly positioned duo, Junhee searched Jongwoo’s eyes.
And when Jongwoo returned her eye contact, he immediately knew that she was fighting
back tears. While Jongwoo wasn’t quite on the verge of tears like she was, he knew exactly
how she was feeling. So, with as much strength as he had remaining, Jongwoo shot her a
pained smile and silently mouthed, “It’s going to be okay.”

Even with his reassurance, nothing in Junhee’s body language suggested that she believed his
words. She wanted to, of course. But it was getting increasingly harder to stay positive in
such a depressing situation.

As Jongwoo instinctively snuggled closer into Moonjo’s side, seeking out his warmth as a
last resort of comfort to soothe his thinking, Jongwoo ignored the other two voters.

What was the point? They were both wearing O patches.

People don’t change. Young-il was merely an exception.

And when the next two voters unsurprisingly pressed the O button, Jongwoo squeezed
Moonjo tighter in response. The older man reciprocated, his grip on the wounded man
tightening as much as he could without causing him pain.

4 vs 6.

Fuck…

“And finally, Player 456, please cast your vote.” The square-masked guard announced.

And…it was tantalising to say the least. Having to watch Gi-hun place his pointless vote that
wasn’t going to change the outcome of the vote whatsoever that is. The older man forced
himself to the podium, feet dragging loudly with every step he took. And as he approached
the two buttons, he dejectedly lifted his hand up before letting it drop onto the X button - his
eyes glued on Young-il the entire time he did so who was also staring right back at him with a
voided expression.

Gi-hun finally pulled his eyes away from Young-il before he turned on his heels and began to
slump his way over to where the majority of the group stood. And when he approached,
Hyunju patted a reassuring hand on his shoulder, but even she knew that it wouldn’t make
him feel any better. Nor would it help her settle the heaviness in her chest either.

With that, the guard spoke up one final time.

“The results are 4 for X and 6 for O. Based on the majority vote, we’ll proceed with the sixth
game tomorrow. We thank you for your cooperation.” They concluded, and within a matter of
seconds, the group of guards were already retreating back behind the doors they had come
through.

Then, just like always, some of the players from the other side began to head back to their
beds. However, alongside Jongwoo and Moonjo, players from the X side had yet to move.
But, it was Gi-hun who spoke up that made them all eventually snap out of it.

“I know it will be hard, but we should try to get some sleep. And if it makes any of you feel
better, we can sleep near each other to feel safer.” He softly suggested, before he continued.

“I doubt anyone will make a move tonight since they’ve already won the vote, but it doesn’t
hurt to be cautious.” And with that, both Hyunju and Junhee nodded in approval. However,
for whatever reason, Jongwoo didn’t seem too keen on the idea.

“Thank you, Gi-hun. We’ll be okay, but you guys go ahead. See you in the morning.”
Jongwoo politely replied as he simultaneously flashed Gi-hun a half-hearted smile. And the
older man seemed to understand enough, as he nodded his head slightly before bidding the
duo farewell.

“Goodnight.” Was all he said, and Jongwoo immediately turned to face Moonjo, who
seemingly picked up on his eagerness to go to sleep, before the duo began making their way
over to their bed as usual.
Even if something did happen during the night, Jongwoo believed in Moonjo’s capability to
protect him if it ever came down to it. After all, Jongwoo had experienced the man’s
abnormal strength despite having a slender figure first hand. Jongwoo knew better than
anyone not to mess with Moonjo. So, he felt perfectly safe in Moonjo’s presence.

But rather than climbing the ladder up to their actual bed, the duo settled on the bottom bunk
in defeat. Jongwoo was still too weak to walk on his own, let alone climb a ladder, so this
random person’s bed was going to have to do for the night.

Jongwoo let Moonjo manhandle him until they were both in a relatively comfortable position.
Then, when the older man beneath him finally stilled, Jongwoo let his eyes close.

This was going to be a long night.

When Jongwoo awoke the next morning to the bright lights shining down upon him, the
memories from the night before suddenly flooded into his mind.

The night had, in fact, been very long.

He distantly remembered Moonjo having to basically force feed him with the bento-styled
dinner they received after he had brushed him off saying he wasn’t in the mood to eat. Letting
a small smile grace his face as he remembered the pout that Moonjo countered with after his
refusal, Jongwoo felt a much needed extra sliver of warmth hug his body like a cozy blanket
at the fond memory. He then remembered how the older man then went on a tangent about
how food would help in the healing process and he’d feel better after he got some food in his
system, and blah, blah, blah.

Jongwoo’s mind then drifted to how Moonjo had helped him get to the bathroom safely. He
remembered how Moonjo had insisted that he was happy to help him but Jongwoo had
quickly shut him down. He would rather die than get Moonjo to help him wipe his arse. So
even when he had stumbled around in the stall and fell into the walls a few times, Jongwoo
stayed determined, completely ignoring Moonjo’s offers to help him from outside the stall.

And then after that, Jongwoo absentmindedly remembered sitting against Moonjo for a few
hours before he eventually fell asleep in his arms when the lights went out after some time. It
was a long night for sure, and Jongwoo could feel the heaviness of the events from the day
before, still weighing down on him.

Coming to his senses as he stretched as much as he could before it began to hurt, he let out a
groan before he flickered his eyes open.

“Good morning, jagiya.” A deep voice coming from above him suddenly announced.
Jongwoo lifted his head up, which at one point during the night had found its place back on
Moonjo’s chest, to look at the man groggily.

Then, Moonjo leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on Jongwoo’s forehead. He lingered
there for a beat too long before he eventually pulled back, and Jongwoo immediately felt the
phantom of the man’s soft lips on him once again. Involuntarily, the corners of Jongwoo’s
lips upturned into a fond smile at Moonjo’s seemingly sweet gesture before he eventually
responded to him.

“Mm...‘morning.” He mumbled against the older man’s chest. Jongwoo’s abdomen, while it
still hurt, it was feeling a little better. Of course he wasn’t feeling 100% yet, but improvement
was better than nothing.

Unlike the night before, the morning hours seemed to vanish into thin air.

Breakfast was disappointing as always - that stupid egg and soda from one of the days before
- and Jongwoo had eaten it reluctantly. And because Moonjo was practically forcing him too,
but that was different. Jongwoo liked to think that it was his decision, and not the fact that
Moonjo would edge closer every couple seconds and would only pull back when Jongwoo
would take a bite from his egg. Whatever…

Now, the duo were simply waiting on their bed until the guards would inevitably pop out
from—

Oh, never mind.

The sound of the doors suddenly opening didn’t cause Jongwoo to jump one bit, and his eyes
quickly fell on the posse of guards emerging from within.

“Players, please follow the guards to the next game.”

Jongwoo was feeling a little stronger, but he continued to use Moonjo as a walking stick
regardless. Then, his mind began to wander.

There was absolutely no way that he was going to survive whatever this game was, right? He
was basically rendered useless after Namgyu’s little outburst. Sure he had Moonjo to lean on,
but Moonjo had to keep himself alive too. Jongwoo couldn’t help but feel like a deadweight.
And so, as they continued to slowly ascend those infamous colourful stairs in that oddly
designed room, Jongwoo voiced his concerns.

“Moonjo?” He whispered quietly, but due to their close proximity, Moonjo had no issues in
hearing him.

“Yes?” Moonjo replied, still somewhat focused on getting Jongwoo up the stairs as easily and
painlessly as possible.

“I won’t be offended if you leave me behind.” Jongwoo flatly remarked. And almost
immediately, Moonjo halted in his movements, causing Jongwoo to jolt forward at the sudden
stoppage. Moonjo had caught him, sure, but after hearing his words, the older man had let go
of Jongwoo - leaving him to stumble to try and regain his balance. Thankfully, they had
chosen to go at the back of the line, so no players had to wait for them to slowly climb the
stairs or now for them to finish this conversation.

“What?” Was all the older man replied with as an unreadable expression washed over him.

“Moonjo, I’m only slowing you down. If you want to survive, you have to let me go.”
Jongwoo’s voice wavered as he spoke, as if he didn’t want to believe the words himself.

And then Moonjo’s expression turned deadly serious in a matter of milliseconds.

“Jagiya, do you not remember my promise? No matter where you go, I’ll be there with you.”
Moonjo recited before he swiftly added, “I’m with you until the very end.”

“Moonj—” Jongwoo tried, but Moonjo cut him off just as quickly.

“I’m not leaving you. Not now, not ever.” The older man countered, completely ignoring
Jongwoo’s protests.

But when Jongwoo opened his mouth to retort, he was rather disappointed in himself when
he failed to form any coherent words. And it seemed that Moonjo capitalised on Jongwoo’s
brief moment of incoherence however, as he grabbed the younger man’s hand before bringing
it up until it was mere inches away from his mouth.

And then, Jongwoo watched as Moonjo placed a soft kiss to the back of his hand, fingers
stroking his knuckles tenderly as he did so. And when he pulled away, he locked his eyes on
Jongwoo before he spoke up once again.

“Even death won’t do us part.”

While Jongwoo fell silent, his eyes darted around the other man’s face, as if he was looking
for any sign that he was just bluffing. He didn’t know why he was doing it - he knew that
Moonjo had a habit of pledging his undying loyalty to Jongwoo under multiple circumstances
but still. Now that they had kissed, everything suddenly began to feel much more…real.

And as he continued to scan over Moonjo’s face, Jongwoo also began to sift through his
memories.

Jongwoo had never felt this desired before. Sure Jieun had made him feel loved, but not to
this degree. Moonjo’s ‘love’ - or whatever the fuck it was - was all encompassing,
overwhelming, and it made Jongwoo feel like he was drowning. But at the same time,
Jongwoo felt alive when he was around Moonjo. He felt invigorated, and more importantly,
he felt like himself.

Moonjo never dismissed his passion for writing novels as a “mere hobby that wouldn’t get
him anywhere in life,” like Jieun had. Moonjo never told him to “bite back his tongue to keep
his nasty temper in check,” like Jaeho had. In the end, Moonjo didn’t expect anything from
Jongwoo. He just wanted Jongwoo to be himself. That was it.
Jongwoo’s once intense stare on the older man softened as he then came to a startling
conclusion.

He loved Moonjo, didn’t he?

Fuck.

He did.

Jongwoo felt the blood rush up to his cheeks at the sudden revelation, and if Moonjo had
noticed Jongwoo’s flustered state, he didn’t show it. Instinctively, Jongwoo dropped his head,
letting his gaze fall to his feet - not wanting to accept that he had somehow fallen for the
crazed serial killer opposite him.

Love was a crazy thing. It was as if he had no control, no choice. Jongwoo knew he shouldn’t
love Moonjo - especially after everything that happened between them - but his heart
betrayed him every time. Like a moth to a flame - knowing that it would destroy him if he
stayed by Moonjo’s side, he was still unable to pull away.

It was inevitable though, wasn’t it?

Finally tilting his head back up to face Moonjo, hoping his reddened cheeks had died down a
little, Jongwoo locked eyes with the man and sighed, before he eventually spoke up.

“Okay…” Was all he said, and Moonjo seemed to be satisfied.

A small part of Jongwoo gnawed at him to tell Moonjo how he truly felt, but in the end, he
wasn’t quite ready. He had come to realise he was in love with Moonjo, sure, but that didn’t
mean he had to let him know right then and there. Oddly enough, Jongwoo wanted the
moment to be memorable, and it certainly wasn’t going to feel that way with a guard
breathing down their necks to hurry the fuck up.

He’ll just confess his feelings at a different time.

…Hopefully there will be a next time.

Anyway, as Jongwoo quickly brushed off that last thought, he nudged Moonjo slightly,
silently encouraging him to take the lead yet again to resume their ascent up the stairs. And
Moonjo immediately obliged, curling his arm back around Jongwoo’s waist to hold him up
before they began to climb up the last remaining stairs.
With every step they took, Jongwoo couldn’t help but pray that the next game wasn’t going to
be too physical. Because if so, they were fucked.

Soon enough, they approached the rest of the player base who were standing in front of a
large, black door. And as if it was waiting for the duo to finally join them, the doors suddenly
opened, and the guards swiftly began motioning for them to enter.

…And what the hell?

As they entered the rather small room in comparison to the other game halls, Jongwoo’s eyes
drifted over the brightly painted walls. It was…a classroom?

The walls were covered in soft hues of green and yellow that echoed the cheerful, studious
atmosphere of a school. The outlines of fake desks and windows, though merely painted,
gave the room an odd, almost eerie feeling of suddenly being taken back to one’s middle
school days. Even the room was about the same size of what a classroom would typically be.
But before Jongwoo could take in any more of the unsettling wall art, his eyes then fell on the
eleven chairs set up in a circle in the middle of the room.

At first glance, Jongwoo would have most definitely assumed that they were going to be
playing Musical Chairs. But upon closer inspection, he realised that the chairs were facing in.
It was as if it was set up to be like those discussion circles he had to do when he was
younger.

Jongwoo began to sift through his mind, trying to gather any information that could help him
determine what the hell the game could be. But he didn’t have to think too hard about it, as
the familiar voice of the woman over the PA system suddenly rang out.

“Players, welcome to your sixth game. Today you will be playing Mafia.”

“You’ve got to be shitting me...” Jongwoo mumbled under his breath as he narrowed his eyes
back on the chairs, now realising why they were facing in and not out.

“The rules will be explained in more detail after players have taken a seat.”

Despite feeling a little uneasy about the whole ordeal, Jongwoo was at least glad that it
wasn’t going to be a physical game. Rather, it was a mental game to see who could
successfully manipulate people well enough to stay alive.

The poor excuse of a player base all took their seats - with Jongwoo sitting next to Moonjo as
always - with the X side subconsciously choosing to sit on one half of the circle while the O
side on the other.

And then, once everyone was seated, the woman continued the rules.

“In this game, one player will each be assigned the role of a doctor, a detective, or the Mafia
while the remaining players will be the civilians. The game will alternate between day and
night phases. During the day phase, players discuss and vote on who they think is the Mafia,
and then that person is eliminated.” She paused, letting it all sink in before she eventually
continued.

“During the night phase however, the Mafia silently chooses to eliminate a player. If the
doctor believes they know who the target of the Mafia will be for that night, they may choose
to ‘save’ that individual from being eliminated. On the other hand, per night phase, the
detective has the ability to reveal one player’s identity and learn if they are the Mafia or not.”
The woman added.

A few quiet conversations began from the other side of the circle, but they were quickly shut
down when the woman’s voice played out over the speakers only seconds later.

“The game will continue until either the Mafia wins by gaining a majority or the civilians
have eliminated the Mafia.” She concluded with.

Jongwoo’s eyes drifted across the rest of the players. It didn't matter what side they were on
now. It was every man for himself now.

“An envelope containing your role is attached to the bottom of your chair. Please, open it and
figure out what role you will be playing. However, please do not begin any discussions about
roles until the game has begun or you will be eliminated.”

Almost immediately, each player reached under the chair before they pulled out a bright pink
coloured - the same shade as the guards’ uniforms - envelope. Jongwoo took the pouch in his
hands, inspecting it with an even mix of worry and fear. Then, after taking a deep breath, he
opened it up and pulled out the card inside.

He brought the card closer to him, using his hands to shield the contents of it, before his eyes
settled on one word.

“Civilian.”

Oh.

Jongwoo didn’t know whether to be happy or disappointed with his role. Being a Mafia
certainly was hard and Jongwoo was happy that he didn’t get that one, because he didn’t feel
like he’d be able to put on a convincing enough bravado. He would’ve liked to be a doctor or
the detective at the very least, because he'd have a helpful ability. If he ever felt in danger as a
doctor, he could just save himself. And as for being the detective, finding out what someone’s
role meant he could have leverage over them.

But as a civilian, he just had to sit back and try and pinpoint who exactly was the Mafia. But
then again, if he was too boisterous and open with his accusations, then he may very well
become a target. So maybe taking a step back from the spotlight was the best strategy? Who
knew, he’d just have to hope that whoever this Mafia person was, didn’t have some
underlying grudge against him.

Jongwoo pushed the card back into the envelope and sealed it up before he slid it under his
chair and out of sight. And when his gaze returned to the other players, they were all reading
their cards just as cautiously, whilst simultaneously studying the reactions of their fellow
players to see if anyone was being a dead give away.

Unfortunately, no one had been obvious about their role. Jongwoo guessed that since it was
their lives on the line, everyone’s poker faces had amplified up about ten levels - which was a
shame. This was going to be quite difficult.

Suddenly, the doors reopened and a large group of armed guards began to file out from
behind them. And then Jongwoo watched as each guard found a spot behind one of the
player’s chairs.

Ah, so that’s how they were going to be eliminated.

Trying to think positively, Jongwoo was glad that it was going to be a quick death at least. In
a place like this, even that sort of shitty thinking was the most comforting thing to Jongwoo
at that very moment. But before he could dwell on the fact any longer, the woman’s voice
echoed in the room once again.

“Players, the time limit for this game is 30 minutes.”

At least they had a decent amount of time for this game.

“Let the game begin.”

And with that, the timer that stood just above the door that they had entered through
immediately began to count down from 30 minutes. Jongwoo quickly snapped his head back
to the group, his eyes darting over the nervous faces of his fellow players before someone
suddenly broke the silence.

“So…who’s the doctor and the detective?” Jongwoo let his eyes fall to the woman’s number,
which read 329, before he lifted them back up and shot the player an unimpressed look. And
when - unsurprisingly - no one replied, Jongwoo spoke up.

“They’re not just going to openly admit that. If they did, they’d just put a target on their
back.” Jongwoo reasoned, and almost immediately, the rest of the players began to nod in
agreement with him.

“I don’t know, I thought it would just feel nicer knowing who they were. You know, so we
can ask them for help if needed.” She countered.

Jongwoo narrowed his eyes on the woman, feeling as though her words had a double
meaning. But when he opened his mouth to respond, he was interrupted by someone else.

“Or, you’re trying to find out who they are so you can eliminate them.” Hyunju retorted, not
at all worried that she could very well be threatening the Mafia. The rest of the group broke
out in unintelligible murmurs of agreement before the woman eventually tried to defend
herself.

“No! I’m not the Mafia. I just— Oh, it doesn’t matter. Forget I said anything at all.” She
responded, but it seemed that her reply just made things worse as the players surrounding her
began to turn to each other and whisper.

And Jongwoo found himself turning to Moonjo.

“Don’t you think she’s acting a little suspicious?” Jongwoo muttered under his breath, but
just enough for the older man to hear him.

In response, Moonjo leaned closer as he turned to look at Player 329 fidgeting in her seat
before he brought his attention back to Jongwoo. Then, he answered his question.

“I’d say you’re bound to be suspicious of everyone around you, jagiya. After all, we don’t
know who is who.” Moonjo flatly replied.

Jongwoo wanted to hit him for being so dismissive, but it was a fairly reasonable statement.
For as far as Jongwoo knew, Moonjo could be the Mafia. All Jongwoo knew was that he
wasn’t the Mafia, and if anyone tried to put the blame on him, he’d do everything in his
power to convince them otherwise. Unlike whatever Player 329 was doing.

However, it seemed that their first day phase had come to an abrupt end, as the woman’s
voice played out over the speakers.

“The night has come. Players, please bow your heads and cover your eyes. If you are caught
peeking, you will also be eliminated.”

And with that, Jongwoo took one final look at his fellow players before he dropped his head
into his hands, holding them tightly over his eyes so it was clear he had no intention of
peeking.

Then, the woman continued.

“The Mafia will now lift their head up and pick one of the players to remove from the game.”

It was deathly quiet, and Jongwoo stopped breathing for a brief second, hoping that he’d be
able to catch a quiet sound from someone moving nearby. Unfortunately, he didn’t.

“The Mafia has chosen. Now, will the detective please lift their head up and choose a
contestant to check the identity of.”

Once again, Jongwoo leaned into the silence as he tried to listen in for any sort of movement,
but these people were far more skilled than Jongwoo would have liked.

“The detective has chosen and now knows the identity of their selected player. Finally, the
doctor will now lift their head up and point to their player that they want to save.”

Again, no sound. He could hear a pin drop because it was that quiet in there.

“The doctor has chosen. Players, the morning has come. You may now lift your heads back
up.”
And Jongwoo obliged as he quickly pulled his palms away from his eyes before he looked
around the room at the 10 other players that still remained. Maybe the doctor had saved—?

“The Mafia has killed a contestant.”

Jongwoo felt his breath hitch as the hairs on his arms shot up at the woman’s words in fear.

“Player 329, eliminated.”

An instant wave of relief washed over Jongwoo upon hearing that it wasn’t him. But before
he could bask in the relief that he had managed to survive the first night, it was the sound of
an armed guard cocking his gun back that caused Jongwoo to snap completely out of it in a
matter of milliseconds.

Then, not even a second later, the gun went off and the woman’s body toppled over forward
and onto the floor, landing with a horrifying thud.

Everyone - including Jongwoo although he had been expecting it - flinched upon the sound
of the gunshot, but they were soon too focused on the lifeless corpse of Player 329 on the
ground that began to expel a small, crimson puddle beneath her. As they all stared at her in
horror, the woman over the PA system continued.

“Player 329’s identity was…” She paused, purposefully increasing the tension, before she
finished, “A civilian.”

Oh shit.

And before they even knew it, the guard that had shot her took a large step forward and began
to drag out the body by the ankles. Leaving a disgusting red smear behind, the guard dragged
the body back through the doors until they shut loudly behind them.

All that was left behind of the woman was her empty chair and the blood stain, a visceral
reminder of their misplaced suspicion. Then, despite everyone’s obvious reluctance to keep
playing after seeing first hand what would happen if they got eliminated, it was Hyunju who
spoke up.

“Oh…” Even though it wasn’t much, it was pretty much what everyone was thinking
anyway.

“Players please cast your vote.”

Then, much to Jongwoo’s surprise, Young-il suddenly butted in.

“We don’t have enough information on anyone to vote effectively. I say we don’t vote anyone
out this round and wait until more is revealed.” Young-il suggested, and much to his dismay,
Jongwoo found himself agreeing with the older man. It was a risky move, but at this point,
their only suspect had just died.

Honestly, it was a strange move from the Mafia to kill the person that everyone was
suspecting. But who knew what that person could be thinking. Maybe it was all a part of their
‘plan’.

“I agree. We need all the voting power we can get, so let’s not be too hasty and vote people
out.” Gi-hun affirmed as he turned to Young-il and nodded.

And so it was a unanimous decision.

No one was voted out during the second day phase. But since there wasn’t much to talk
about, it seemed that the second night rolled around much quicker than last time as the
woman over the speakers suddenly spoke up.

“The night has come.”

Now knowing what that command entailed, Jongwoo dropped his head back into his hands
and prayed. He prayed to whoever was out there that he wasn’t going to be the next victim. If
he went out like this, he would never forgive himself.

And when the woman announced for each special role to lift their heads up and carry out
their task, Jongwoo made sure to stay deathly silent to see if he could catch anyone off guard.
However, his efforts continued to prove futile as whoever the Mafia, doctor, and detective
managed to stay even quieter than before.

“The morning has come.”

Fuck.

This was it.

Jongwoo hesitantly lifted his head up and looked around the room at the other equally
terrified and worried players before the woman announced the dreadful news.

“The Mafia has killed a contestant.”

The room went even more deathly silent than it already was, as players instinctively leaned in
to hear the words of the woman as they played out over the speakers.

“Player 108, eliminated.”

Much like before, Jongwoo’s shoulders lifted ever so slightly but it was the horrified
screaming of what he assumed was Player 108 that made him remember what was about to
happen.

His eyes fell on the flailing, desperate mess of Player 108, a young woman. She couldn’t
have been more than a few years older than Junhee. What a fucking shame.

“No! Please! Have mer—” But the second woman didn’t get to finish, as a bullet swiftly
passed through the back of her head and out the front of her forehead. And almost
immediately, her body went limp and she fall forward onto her face.

“Player 108’s identity was…a civilian.”

Shit…

But before Hyunju could speak up much like the first time around, it was a player from the O
side that interrupted her.

“Another one from our side? It has to be one of your guys then! You’re trying to kill off all of
the O players so that you’ll win the next vote!” Jongwoo’s eyes fell down to the number on
the player’s jumpsuit. It read 050.

The four remaining O players - except from Young-il, who sat there in silence as he observed
the scene unfold - shared affirming glances and nodded their heads in agreement.

“We’re not working on teams anymore you idiot! It’s not X vs O in this game! It’s every
person for themselves.” Hyunju retaliated, her voice raised and filled to the brim with anger.

But the delusional O players just ignored Hyunju’s comment and settled on a different
approach to the situation when the woman over the PA system made an announcement.

“Players, please cast your vote.”

“I think you’re the one killing off our teammates! Say, who’s with me? Let’s vote this woman
off already!” Player 050 declared as she tried to rally up her fellow O players.

However, the X side remained fairly unperturbed nor persuaded by her antics.

“Well I think we should vote you out! You’re throwing people under the bus without any
basis to your accusations. What do you think guys?” Hyunju snapped before she turned to
face the X players who were staring at her in mild surprise after watching the scene having
elevated out of nowhere.

Jongwoo didn’t waste any time to make his support for Hyunju’s suggestion clear.

“I agree! Let’s get her out of here.” Jongwoo chimed in. And it seemed that with Jongwoo’s
willingness to agree, everyone else began to as well. Then, surprisingly, it was Junhee who
spoke up next.

“Okay…now what? How do we vote?” She questioned sincerely, her voice a little coarse
after having not talked in a while.

Almost as if on cue, the woman came back and her voice played out over the speakers.

“To vote, players must select someone to be eliminated by holding out their thumb in an
upright position before turning it all the way down until the thumb is pointing at the floor. If
players cannot come to a unanimous agreement, the player with the most votes will be
eliminated.” The woman instructed robotically.

Jongwoo practically lit up in delight upon hearing the woman’s words. They clearly had the
number advantage in this situation. And judging by the horrified look on Player 050’s face, it
seemed that she had quickly come to that conclusion too.
“Alright, let’s do this!” Hyunju commanded as she thrusted out her hand before creating a
thumbs up. The rest of the X players followed closely behind, and as Jongwoo held his arm
out, he couldn’t help but smirk as he watched Player 050 start to reel in her previous anger
and accusatory attitude.

“Please! I’m sorry! We can talk this out, let’s just—”

But it was too late.

The remaining X players flipped their hands over in sync until it resembled the thumbs down
symbol, thus effectively settling the vote.

“The vote has been finalised. Player 050, eliminated.”

“Fuck all of you! I’m going to fucking haunt you! Rot in hell you bastards!” Player 050
shouted as she pointed angry fingers at the opposing team.

The old woman continued to spurt out more nonsensical insults but Jongwoo ignored her
until her rambling was cut short by a certain bullet travelling straight through her head,
leaving a large gaping bullet wound in her forehead. Jongwoo then watched in utmost
satisfaction as her body fell off the chair and collapsed onto the floor like a bag of rice. Good
riddance.

Were they not going to be told what her role was? Strange…

That just made things even harder.

As the guard pulled the woman away, leaving only behind a bloody trail and her empty chair,
Jongwoo looked around at the rest of the group. Now there were only 8 players remaining.
Five of which were X players, while the rest were from the O side.

And as much as Jongwoo hated to admit it, he was getting a creeping suspicion that the Mafia
was, in fact, someone from their side. Player 050’s accusation kind of made sense because-
Who was dumb enough to kill their own teammates in a game like this? Jongwoo was
impulsive and sometimes didn’t think at times sure, but even he wouldn’t do something that
idiotic.

So, he let his eyes scan over each player.

Junhee. And well, she looked visibly shaken. Jongwoo would be surprised if she had the guts
to kill anyone, but then again, their lives were at stake. Humans usually drop their sense of
morality once they realise they’re at risk of dying, so…But still, Jongwoo wasn’t convinced
that it was Junhee.

Then, it was Hyunju. She was a little different. She had been fairly fired up from the
beginning. And seeing as she gathered up the X side to vote out the person who was accusing
her of being the Mafia, it was a possibility. One that Jongwoo didn’t really want to believe,
but had to consider at the very least.
His eyes then fell on Gi-hun. The older man looked a little stumped, to be honest. He looked
like he was trying his best to solve the mystery and find out who the Mafia was. Come to
think of it, if Gi-hun was the Mafia, he would probably try and go out of his way to not
eliminate anyone. He had that hero complex and was trying to end these games after all. So
the chances of Gi-hun being the Mafia was slim, but Jongwoo couldn’t rule him out
completely.

And finally, Moonjo. Jongwoo scanned over the man in utmost detail, trying his best to find
any sign that could indicate that Moonjo was the Mafia. It was strange, Moonjo had barely
talked throughout the whole game. Moonjo certainly wasn’t a talker, but Jongwoo thought he
would’ve said something by now at the very least. But as Jongwoo continued to think about
how Moonjo would go about being the Mafia, he quickly came to a conclusion. It probably
wasn’t Moonjo. As much as it pained him to say it, Jongwoo knew Moonjo well enough to
know that the man wouldn’t go for kills so…boring. Uneventful. Moonjo would stir up the
pot and outright kill anyone who even looked at him dirty. He wouldn’t play it safe. Plus,
Jongwoo was pretty sure that if Moonjo had been the Mafia, then he would’ve killed Young-
il almost immediately. Despite having stood behind him the entire time it went down,
Jongwoo had practically felt the anger radiating off of Moonjo when he had tried to rush the
wounded man.

So that was that. Moonjo was in the clear - or so he hoped - and that just left…Junhee,
Hyunju and Gi-hun. Oh, and perhaps even Young-il.

“The night has come.”

The woman’s sudden command almost caught Jongwoo off guard, but he didn’t hesitate to
obey as he curled back up into the ball and braced for what was about to come.

After the Mafia, doctor, and detective chose their respective player to either kill, save, or
investigate, the woman made her next command.

“The morning has come.”

And, as the rest of the players eventually opened their eyes back up, Jongwoo couldn’t help
but notice the two O players slightly cowering in their seats. Unlucky bastards we’re the
targets of whoever this Mafia person was.

“No one was eliminated last night.”

Oh? That was new.

The players perked up at the new information and eagerly waited for the woman to continue.
As he waited, Jongwoo’s eyes drifted back over to the O duo who looked as if a significant
weight had been lifted off of their shoulders. What a miracle for them, honestly. Good on the
doctor for saving one of their asses—

“The doctor saved Player 303 from being eliminated.”

Jongwoo stilled.
Had he heard that correctly?

Swiftly breaking his brief moment of stillness, Jongwoo whipped his head around as if to
check if he had, in fact, heard the woman correctly. And much to his horror, the rest of the
group were already looking at him with a mix of bewildered and terrified expressions on their
faces.

Fuck.

“I- I uhm…” Jongwoo stuttered, not sure as to why he chose to speak up in the first place
seeing as he didn’t know what he wanted to say anyway.

Who the fuck wanted him dead?

Jongwoo let his eyes scan over the remaining players once more before he settled on a rather
calm looking figure sitting just opposite him.

Young-il.

This fucking bitch.

All of a sudden, Jongwoo’s previous incapacity to even form a single coherent sentence was
thrown out the window, as he immediately got to sending a truckload of accusations Young-
il’s way.

“Did you just try to kill me? What the hell is wrong with you! I thought we let bygones be
bygones and moved on like adults!” Jongwoo snapped as he pointed angry, accusatory
fingers at Young-il who also immediately fired up upon the fresh drama from before
resurfacing.

“No, we didn’t! You just started to badmouth my wife without even knowing the full story!
And then your boyfriend stepped in before you could even apologise!” Young-il retaliated,
his once calm demeanour now completely vanished.

“Apologise?” Jongwoo scoffed the word out, before he continued, “Apologise for what?
Getting upset that you were willing to put the lives of everyone here, me included, at stake
for your wife alone? I don’t see why I would need to apologise for that!”

Young-il’s stare intensified and Jongwoo could basically feel the man’s eyes drilling holes
into him. But who fucking cared, Young-il was being a dickhead.

“I did it because I loved her! Oh, and tell me Jongwoo, wouldn’t you do the same for him?”
Young-il yelled as he pointed at seemingly content Moonjo perched on his chair beside
Jongwoo, “Don’t you love him too?”

Jongwoo outwardly choked on his next breath upon hearing the words come out of Young-il’s
mouth. He felt his eyes widen and his heart rate increasing even more than it had been during
the argument.

No.
Snapping out of it just as quickly, Jongwoo was determined to not let Young-il get to him and
say something he’d regret later.

“Stop changing the subject!” Jongwoo managed, his voice a little shaky but still preseverent,
before he continued with his rambling, “You were being a selfish little prick by putting all of
our lives in danger. For fucks sake— Junhee is expecting a child for crying out loud!”

Jongwoo pointed in the direction of a visibly cowering and uncomfortable Junhee who shied
away upon the spotlight being brought upon her so suddenly. Seeing how uncomfortable she
was, Jongwoo quickly brought the attention back between the two of them when he spoke up
again.

“So you’re going to sit here and tell me that one life is worth more than all of ours and
Junhee’s unborn child’s?” Jongwoo spat as he pointed at each of the remaining players
dramatically, hoping it was helping to prove his point.

“Love makes us do some crazy fucking things Jongwoo! I thought you out of all people
would know that. I saw how blissful you looked when you were murdering those people with
him during Lights Out.” Young-il clapped back.

Jongwoo went to open his mouth to defend himself, but Young-il cut him before he even got
the chance to.

“And don’t you dare fucking deny it! I know what I saw, Jongwoo. The way you looked at
him— That was love. Fucked up love, sure, but still love.”

“You don’t know what you’re fucking talking about.” Jongwoo hissed through his teeth as his
fists clenched up by his side.

In response, Young-il gave an amused chuckle at Jongwoo’s remark as he placed the puzzle
pieces together in his mind.

“Ah, it seems you have yet to admit that to yourself. Or to him.” Young-il jested, an annoying
smile creeping up to his lips as if he had just found the jackpot as to how to get under
Jongwoo’s skin.

“Shut. The fuck. Up.” Jongwoo gritted around through tightly clenched teeth. And despite his
injuries, he slowly began rising from his chair out of pure unfiltered rage. But Young-il just
kept going - as if he wanted Jongwoo to snap.

Fucking hell, it was like he was dealing with Moonjo all over again.

“The sooner you accept that you’re in love with him the sooner you’ll be happy, Jongwoo.
Are you really going to deny yourself that pleasure?” Young-il spoke with an infuriatingly
smug tone as he continued to look at the wounded man trembling out of pure anger in
satisfaction.

“I’ll fucking kill you.” Jongwoo spat, rage and anger quickly clouding his judgment before he
could even stop himself.
“I’d love to see you try, jagiya.” Young-il cooed, mimicking Moonjo’s famously civil tone.

And almost immediately, Jongwoo knew that Young-il was mocking him by using Moonjo’s
endearment for him. But unlike Moonjo, the word didn’t sound nearly as pleasant coming
from Young-il’s mouth than it did Moonjo’s. Rather, it made Jongwoo want to rip his ears off
and eat them just so he wouldn’t have to hear it again.

However, just as Jongwoo went to take a step forward to close the distance between them, the
woman’s voice interrupted them, effectively causing Jongwoo to stop dead in his tracks.

“Players, please cast your vote.”

Okay, maybe this wasn’t the best time to start a fight. Jongwoo was certainly not going to let
any of it slide that was for sure, but even he knew that he’d get absolutely smashed by
Young-il if he tried anything. With his stab wound, Jongwoo was practically a walking
punching bag to anyone who needed to relieve some stress or anger. Which was a shame,
because Jongwoo wanted nothing more than to try his luck with Young-il.

However, rather than continuing on over to Young-il, Jongwoo settled on something else.

He shot out his arm and held his hand in a thumbs up - not yet finalising his vote by flipping
his thumb around - before he loudly announced, “I vote Player 001.”

And almost immediately, Young-il did the same as he held up his hand before he too made
his decision.

“Well then I vote for Player 303.” He countered. Jongwoo didn’t even want to acknowledge
the oddly disappointed expression that was on Young-il’s face, so he did his best to ignore
them. Young-il was acting exactly like Moonjo and it was kind of freaking Jongwoo out at
just how similar they were.

But before anyone else could make their vote, Hyunju suddenly rose from her chair and
stepped forward until she was standing right in the middle of the two men. Young-il, who was
still sitting, simply cocked his head at the taller woman’s advance before she suddenly spoke
up.

“You two are fucking unbelievable, do you know that? Just stop it already! Do you even
know what happens when the vote is even?” Hyunju hissed, and Jongwoo felt as if he was
being told off by his mother. Hyunju pressed her hands into her hips to further emphasise her
disappointment with the duo.

“No…?” Jongwoo trailed off as he began to really contemplate the taller woman’s question.

“Yeah, me neither! What if you’re both eliminated, huh? All of this macho shit will be for
nothing.” She paused, letting her angry comments sink in before she continued, “Get it
together already! You’re both fully grown men and you’re acting like school children!”

Jongwoo went to open his mouth to say that due to their current environment in a
‘classroom’, they were technically school kids, but he bit back the unnecessary remark.
Hyunju didn’t look like she wanted to deal with anyone’s shit at the moment.

“Hyunju, it’s not up to—” Young-il tried, but it was useless as Hyunju quickly stepped in
before he could finish.

“We are not voting anyone out this round, and that’s final!” She said as she pointed a stern
finger down at the ground to symbolise that it was going to happen whether Jongwoo or
Young-il liked it or not. Then, she continued before either man could.

“If we want to get out of here, we’re going to have to work together until we find more about
who the Mafia could be. Do you understand?” Hyunju asked as she looked between the two
men.

But when neither Jongwoo or Young-il responded, she cleared her throat and tried again.

“Answer me when I’m fucking talking to you.” Her voice stern, almost reminiscent of the
commanders Jongwoo used to follow back when he was in the army.

And almost immediately, Jongwoo snapped back into it and answered her question - he
wasn’t keen on receiving even more of a lecture from Hyunju, so it was the best play.

A simultaneous “Yes, I understand.” escaped the lips of both men, both now realising that
Hyunju was not playing around nor did she want to deal with any of their stupid little
arguments.

“Good. Now revoke your petty votes and let's get this over and done with.” Hyunju
concluded as she motioned for the duo to put down their arms.

But before she called it a day, Hyunju turned to the rest of the group and clarified her
decision.

“Does anyone object?” She asked, but her tone of voice suggested that she’d be surprised if
someone actually had the balls to go against her. Shit, Jongwoo was glad that she was finally
on his side. Hyunju was certainly not one to mess with.

And when no one from either the X side or the O side made any effort to say otherwise, she
continued.

“Great. We can’t be voting each other out just because they said something we didn’t like.”
She glanced in the direction of the two men yet again before continuing, “We have to be
strategic about who we vote for, not none of this willy-nilly shit. But enough said, let’s move
on.”

And with that she returned to her chair and sat down in an overly exaggerated manner. The
tension had been high from the beginning but it seemed that Hyunju was trying to be rational
despite it all. And so Jongwoo too made his way back over to his chair, sitting down softly
before he lifted his head up to study his surroundings.

Young-il, of course, was shooting him that stupid smug smile from before but Jongwoo
ignored it, forcing his head to face someone else. And that someone else was Moonjo.
Upon focusing his attention on the older man, Jongwoo realised that Moonjo was wearing an
unreadable expression across his face. He studied the man’s face intensely, trying to gather
what exactly Moonjo was thinking. However, unfortunately for Jongwoo, his efforts proved
futile when the sound of the woman’s voice echoing out over the speakers interrupted his
attempts.

“The night has come.”

Jongwoo reluctantly pulled his eyes away from Moonjo, who in response, kept staring at him
until the very last second. He could feel the man’s eyes on him when he shoved his face into
his hands, but he soon brushed it off.

“The Mafia will now lift their head up and pick one of the players to remove from the game.”

This was going to be the real test to see if Young-il was the Mafia. A part of Jongwoo yelled
at him for being so reckless by yelling at a potential suspect, but his anger was far too
difficult to control. Plus, it felt good to get that off his chest. Gi-hun had interrupted him last
time before he got to say what he really thought. Whether these words were going to prove
fatal was beyond Jongwoo. He’d just have to hope that he wasn’t going to be the next victim.

“The Mafia has chosen. Now, will the detective please lift their head up and choose a
contestant to check the identity of.”

Much like previous rounds, Jongwoo went deathly silent as he tried his best to hear any
movement from the players around him. He didn’t find anything, though.

“The detective has chosen and now knows the identity of their selected player. Finally, the
doctor will now lift their head up and point to their player that they want to save.”

The room was eerily silent, a harsh contrast to when Jongwoo and Young-il had been loudly
arguing just moments before.

“The doctor has chosen. Players, the morning has come.”

Jongwoo hesitantly removed his face from out of his hands, bringing his head up to scan over
the other players cautiously.

Well, it was the moment of truth.

“The Mafia has killed a contestant.”

Shit.

Jongwoo could feel his eyes widen and his heart rate quicken upon hearing the woman’s
words. Fuck, he wasn’t so lucky this time arou—

“Player 433, eliminated.”

What?—
Jongwoo froze as he watched the horror creep up Player 433’s face upon hearing his number
getting called. Then, he turned to his last remaining O player friend, stunned and unable to
form any coherent sentences.

The guard behind him loaded his gun, and before Jongwoo even knew it, he unloaded a bullet
into the man’s skull, causing him to ragdoll and fall onto the ground.

“Player 433 was…a civilian.”

Jongwoo stared at the body in a swirling mix of both confusion and gratitude. Well that was
unexpected. He sifted through his brain for any possible explanations that could justify
Young-il’s seemingly abrupt switch up, but he fell short.

Was Young-il even the Mafia…?

This was getting too confusing and it was hurting Jongwoo’s brain.

The guard swiftly began to drag the man’s corpse out by his ankles, leaving yet another
empty chair in his wake. When the doors shut behind them, the last remaining O player didn’t
hesitate to voice his concerns.

“Please don’t kill me! Have mercy, please!” Player 166 said as he collapsed down onto the
floor and began to literally beg the other players to spare him. To be fair, his comrades were
dropping like flies and the X side was completely untouched. It was only natural to assume
that he was going to be next.

Jongwoo looked around at the equally confused and uncomfortable X players before it was
Gi-hun who spoke up for the first time in a while.

“It’s okay, nothing’s going to happen to you.” Gi-hun assured, and Jongwoo couldn’t help but
think that was a promise Gi-hun couldn’t make, but whatever. Then, when the O player began
to break down into a quiet set of sobs, Gi-hun didn’t hesitate to continue as he lifted his
attention up from the man to instead focus on the rest of the group.

“Alright, who’s the detective? We all know you’re alive, so reveal yourself. I think it’s time
we start learning what each other’s roles are, wouldn’t you think?” Gi-hun suggested.

Then, a temporary silence fell over them as it seemed the detective was debating whether or
not to reveal themselves and make them a target. However, the silence was short lived, as an
unexpected voice spoke up.

“It’s me, I’m the detective.”

It was…

Young-il?

Jongwoo let out an unamused scoff in disbelief.

“Yeah right. And why would we trust you?” Jongwoo practically laughed the words out, but
mainly because he was shocked that apparently Young-il wasn’t the Mafia. But if that really
was the case, who had tried to kill him before? He didn’t really have much drama with
anyone else in here. Sure he and Gi-hun had gotten into a little scuffle, but Jongwoo thought
that they had actually settled that. Perhaps Gi-hun still had a grudge against him even though
they ‘resolved’ it?

That had to be it, right? Who else would it—

“Jongwoo, you’re a civilian, yes?” Young-il’s reply came quick, taking Jongwoo off guard as
he comprehended what the man had exactly asked him.

Oh shit. Maybe Young-il was telling the truth.

“Am I right, Jongwoo? That you’re a civilian?” Young-il repeated, and Jongwoo simply
nodded his head in response.

Then, Young-il turned to face Hyunju and Junhee.

“And so are you two, correct? I checked Jongwoo’s role on the first night and then you both
the last two nights.” Young-il reasoned, and even Hyunju and Junhee seemed to be surprised.
And Jongwoo could only assume that the startled look on their faces was because Young-il
had gotten it right.

“Yes, that’s correct.” This time it was Junhee who confirmed the older man’s statement.
Then, after pulling his attention away from the two women, Young-il made another
announcement.

“And then I checked Gi-hun last night and he was a civilian too. So…that leaves only
Moonjo and Player 166.” He concluded, and Jongwoo immediately felt his head turning to
face Moonjo while Young-il continued to theorise.

“And if I’m the detective and the rest of you are civilians, that means between these two,” He
pointed between the older man and the O player, “One of them is the doctor and one of them
is the Mafia.”

Jongwoo watched as Moonjo continued to sit there emotionlessly, not a single ounce of fear
nor worry evident on his face.

“Should we get them to plead their case or something? I don’t want to accidentally vote out
the doctor either, so should we wait until the next night so Young-il can figure out who is
who?” Junhee suggested, and it seemed that the rest of the group quickly came to a
unanimous agreement.

Player 166 was first up.

At some point during Young-il’s whole spiel, the man had risen from his position on the floor
and had taken a seat back on his chair. His eyes were still red and puffy from his brief crying
session only minutes before, and as he spoke, a few sniffles escaped from him.
“Please, you have to believe me. I- I don’t know how to convince you guys that I’m the
doctor but you just have to trust me! They were all my friends…” Player 166 trailed off as he
turned to look at the heartbreakingly empty chairs of his old teammates beside him.

The other players looked between them, feeling a little swayed by the player’s sad attempt at
defending himself. They shrugged their shoulders before they turned back to Player 166,
thanking him for cooperating, before the room’s attention fell on Moonjo.

“So, how do you plead, Moonjo?” Young-il asked, his gaze on the other man intensifying as
he instinctively leaned in closer.

But unlike the man before him, Moonjo didn’t even look remotely worried that he was
practically trying to persuade them all not to vote him off and kill him. Moonjo looked more
composed than ever, lifting a leg to cross over his other one before bringing his hands
together to rest on his lap.

“I don't think there's anything I can say that would prove my innocence.” Moonjo flatly
replied, his tone painstakingly civil.

Jongwoo just gawked at the older man, a little irritated that Moonjo was taking the piss out of
a serious situation. Now was not the time to be all cryptic and moody, his life was on life for
fucks sake! Jongwoo leaned in closer to the man so he could whisper and not be heard by
anyone else.

“Moonjo, what the hell are you doing? Why aren’t you trying to defend yourself here? You’re
making it very easy for us to choose who we think the Mafia is!” Jongwoo seethed through
his teeth, his voice barely above a whisper but loud enough for the older man to hear him.

Moonjo turned to face him and, much to his annoyance, shot Jongwoo an amused smile.
Then, he opened his mouth to respond.

“Jagiya, there’s no finite answer that would prove my innocence. Nor his. So why would I
even bother trying?” Moonjo smugly replied as his eye contact with the younger man
intensified.

“So you’re going to give up just like that? Moonjo, I don’t care that it’s a 50/50 chance! I
know that you’re not the Mafia so just make up some random sob story as to why they
shouldn’t kill you or something, I don’t know! Anything is better than nothing, Moonjo.”
Jongwoo spat back just as aggressively. Moonjo was acting far too confident for someone
who was at the risk of being voted out and eliminated.

“And what makes you think that I’m not the Mafia?”

“I don’t know why, but I just know. You wouldn’t try to kill me off after everything we’ve
been through anyway.”

But in response, Moonjo brought his lips into a flat, unamused line before he clicked his
teeth.
“I’d have to disagree with you there, jagiya.”

Jongwoo furrowed his brow at the man’s comment. Seriously?

“So you're saying you were the one who tried to kill me on the third night? You? The guy
who's been glued to my side since the beginning and who promised that he’d be with me until
the very end? Really?” Jongwoo scoffed.

“What if this was the end?” Moonjo countered almost immediately.

“So you’d kill me off first then kill yourself?” Jongwoo shot right back, as he studied the man
in front of him in disbelief. Moonjo surely had to be fucking with him, there was no way he’d
go out like that.

“I could.” Was all Moonjo replied with, as he let yet another satisfied smirk creep up to his
lips as he simultaneously shrugged his shoulders.

“How boring.” Jongwoo spat, and Moonjo simply cocked his head in response.

But when Moonjo went to open his mouth to respond, he was quickly cut off by the voice of
an outsider butting in.

“Hello? Earth to Jongwoo and Moonjo? It’s all good and well that you two are having a nice
little chat over there, but we were trying to listen to Moonjo’s case before you jumped in.”
Young-il declared, the irritation clear in his voice.

Jongwoo rolled his eyes upon Young-il’s unnecessary passive aggression, but he quickly gave
up on trying to deal with Moonjo and turned his head away from the older man completely.
He could hear Moonjo sigh in disappointment when their conversation was cut short, but he
cleared his throat and tried again.

“I have nothing else to say.” Moonjo deadpanned, much to the dismay of the rest of the group
who were waiting on hearing Moonjo’s defence. Young-il let out a sigh before he too made a
final announcement.

“Alright, sure, whatever. Anyway, now that I’ve revealed my role, it wouldn’t surprise me if I
become the next target. So, if I die during the night before I can reveal who the Mafia is, just
vote them both out until the game ends.” Young-il reasoned and the remaining players
nodded their heads in agreement.

Then, before the woman could make her announcement over the speakers, Jongwoo took one
final look at the two suspects. Player 166 looked visibly nervous while Moonjo looked quite
the opposite - relaxed and almost as if he was in paradise. But that didn’t really surprise
Jongwoo that much. He knew that Moonjo thrived in places that generated lots of bad energy.
And with all the tension and blame getting thrown around, this was practically Moonjo’s
haven.

“The night has come.”

Ah, shit.
But before Jongwoo dropped his head into his hands like every other night before, he turned
to Moonjo and made one final promise as they locked eyes.

“If you do kill me, I’ll fucking slit your throat. But this time, it will go all the way through.”
Jongwoo gritted through his teeth. He didn’t care that his argument was flawed in logic, he
knew that Moonjo knew what he was trying to say.

And speaking of Moonjo, the older man’s already large smile grew impossibly larger. But the
man didn’t say anything else and instead shoved his face into his hands. Jongwoo let out a
final sigh before he too joined Moonjo in covering his face with his hands.

“The Mafia will now lift their head up and pick one of the players to remove from the game.”

So at least now Jongwoo had a better idea of who exactly was lifting up their head at the
moment.

Moonjo or Player 166.

“The Mafia has chosen. Now, will the detective please lift their head up and choose a
contestant to check the identity of.”

And with his newfound knowledge, Jongwoo now knew who the detective was. It seemed
that Young-il’s previous attempts to conceal any noise from his movement stopped, as
Jongwoo instantly heard the nearby rustling from Young-il’s jumpsuit across from him. It
didn’t matter now anyway.

“The detective has chosen and now knows the identity of their selected player. Finally, the
doctor will now lift their head up and point to their player that they want to save.”

So now Young-il knew the identity of the Mafia. Jongwoo just hoped that he’d be able to
make it through the night without being killed.

“The doctor has chosen. Players, the morning has come.”

Unlike previous times, Jongwoo’s head immediately shot up as he waited for the woman’s
voice in desperate anticipation. And then, as if it was music to his ears, she made her
announcement.

“No one was eliminated last night.”

Oh…?

“The doctor saved Player 001 from being eliminated.”

Jongwoo felt a weight lift off of his shoulders upon hearing the news and he immediately
darted his eyes around the rest of the players who seemed to also be sharing his excitement.
However, both Moonjo and Player 166 sat deathly still, waiting for Young-il to reveal what
he found.
“I know who the Mafia is now.” Young-il declared, and everyone edge in closer waiting for
him to finally spill the beans.

“It’s him.” The older man announced as he shot a finger out to one of the two suspects.

Jongwoo followed his finger and it was…

Player 166?

The man immediately lit up in confusion before he began to desperately defend himself.

“W- What? Why would I kill my own teammates? What kind of idiot would come up with a
plan like that?” He objected, but his wavering voice didn’t exactly help in his case.

“You would.”

Jongwoo immediately shot his head around until his eyes landed on the owner of the voice.

Gi-hun.

“It makes sense. You killed your teammates so it would take the suspicion off of you. No one
in their right mind would kill off all their allies unless they were trying to make their enemies
turn on each other.” Gi-hun added as he studied the increasingly more shaking man opposite
him.

Then, Hyunju chimed in and added onto Gi-hun’s statement.

“But it failed, and now we know you’re the Mafia.” She affirmed with a smug look on her
face.

Player 166 scrunched his face up in disbelief as if the words coming out of their mouths were
utter gibberish.

“And you’re going to believe what he said? The one that was on your team but came over to
us?” Player 166 yelled as he pointed an accusatory finger over to Young-il, before he added,
“You guys are even more delusional than what you’re making me out to be!”

But before the crazed man could say another word, Young-il stepped in.

“As much as it pains me to say it, he has a point. I think—” But Young-il didn’t get very far,
as Gi-hun immediately interrupted him before he could continue.

“No he doesn’t. Young-il, you proved to us that you were the detective. He’s just trying to get
us to turn on each other again.” Gi-hun retorted, not at all swayed by Player 166’s shitty
attempt to misdirect the blame away from him.

Young-il gave Gi-hun a pained look as if to ask “Why do you continue to have faith in me?”
before he let himself sigh in defeat. Then, he took a deep breath in before puffing his chest
forward to try and make himself appear more confident.
“Alright then, shall we vote?” Young-il eventually suggested, and the rest of the group
immediately obliged as they all shot out the hands to form a thumbs up.

God, Jongwoo hoped that Young-il was telling the truth. He didn’t think that Young-il would
lie about something like that but his track record wasn’t exactly a clean state from the get
go. And as Jongwoo - followed by the rest of the group - flipped his thumb over until it was
pointing down, he found himself turning to face Moonjo.

So Moonjo had been fucking with him after all. That was a bit of a relief. He had been the
doctor the entire time and was the one that saved Jongwoo that one night. Jongwoo didn’t
understand why Moonjo had tried so hard to make himself out to sound like Mafia, but who
really knew what was going on in Moonjo’s head. The man was far too strange and Jongwoo
barely knew what he was thinking most of the time.

Then, the vote was finalised by the woman’s voice on the PA system.

“Player 166, eliminated.”

And almost immediately, the player burst out into meaningless apologies and attempts to try
and get them to change their mind before it was too late.

“Wait, no! Please, please! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

But it was no use.

The guard standing behind him raised the gun’s barrel until it was sitting just behind the
player’s head. Then, the guard pulled down the trigger and emptied a shell into Player 166.
Jongwoo watched as the life immediately drained from his eyes and the man’s body went
limp, falling onto the ground with a satisfying thud.

The man’s executioner wasted no time in grabbing him by the ankles and dragging him back
out the door, with them shutting closely behind him. And once it was all clear, Jongwoo
looked around at his fellow teammates in bubbling glee.

Suddenly, the woman made one final announcement over the speakers.

“The Mafia has been eliminated. Therefore, the civilians win.”

And if it hadn’t been for the still very sensitive and painful wound in his lower stomach,
Jongwoo would’ve started jumping up and down right then. But he held back and instead
settled on a rather excited fist bump with the air.

Junhee immediately turned to Hyunju with flailing arms as she squealed out of pure joy that
they had somehow managed to make it through another game without anyone else dying.
Well, anyone important that was.

Hyunju swung her arms around the pregnant woman, bringing her into a close embrace.
Jongwoo’s eyes then fell on Gi-hun and Young-il in the distance. Gi-hun simply flashed the
other man a grateful smile before he stood up and walked over to him and patted an arm on
the man’s shoulder to say thank you.
And as Jongwoo continued to watch the two duos embrace each other, it was a voice from
beside him that caused Jongwoo to snap out of his brief people-watching session.

“Jagiya?”

“Hm?” Was all Jongwoo replied with as he turned to face the older man.

However, to Jongwoo’s surprise, Moonjo got up from his seat and walked over to Jongwoo,
stopping only a foot away from him. Moonjo then outstretched his arms wide, as if he was
inviting Jongwoo in for a hug much like the other duos were doing. Then, of course,
Jongwoo scoffed at his advances.

“Wow. You’re honestly so brave to ask for a hug after you were just acting like a little shit
only minutes before.” Jongwoo countered mockingly as he looked the man up and down.

Moonjo let out a chuckle at Jongwoo’s comment, but he didn’t bring his arms down.

“I can’t deny that it is fun to get you riled up.” Moonjo jested as he shrugged his shoulders.

Jongwoo simply rolled his eyes in response. He shouldn’t be surprised by Moonjo’s

statement. After all, that was basically Moonjo’s bread and butter. He liked to push people to
the edge until they snapped, and then he’d bask in the glory of having ‘successfully’ caused
them to simmer down until only their raw, primal feelings remained. Or their ‘true’ self.

Staring back up at the man’s open arms, Jongwoo’s eyes then fell on his face as he continued
to study his placid expression.

Ah, fuck it.

Jongwoo sighed in defeat as he rose to his feet before he wrapped his own arms around
Moonjo. And almost immediately, Jongwoo felt Moonjo hum in satisfaction above him
before his long arms slithered around his waist too.

Then they stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity. In reality, it was probably only a
minute or two, but in Moonjo’s arms, time seemed to slow right down. And, much to his
disappointment, the sound of the doors opening followed by the synchronised marching of
the guards effectively brought Jongwoo out of his temporary fantasy. He pulled his head
away from Moonjo’s chest just enough so he could see what was going on. Then, the woman
on the intercom spoke up once more.

“Players, please follow the guards back to the sleeping quarters.”

And even though Jongwoo didn’t want to leave Moonjo’s arms quite just yet - they were so
unbelievably warm - a sudden thought dawned upon him that made him much more eager to
return to the beds.

They were actually going to go home.

Thanks to the stunt that Player 166 pulled, all of their competition had been killed off.
 Holy shit.

It was actually happening. They were going home at last.

Chapter End Notes

🎉🎉
YAYYY!! THEY’RE GOING HOME WHOOP WHOOP!! EVERYONE LET’S
PARTY

JONGWOO LOVES MOONJO HELL YEAHHHH 🤩🎉

AND OMGGG Jongwoo said it. well, he THOUGHT it. IT’S CONFIRMED THO!!
There will be more about

🙏
what Moonjo thought of that scene in the next chapter, so don’t worry! He’s just saving
it for later so that he can harass Jongwoo about it 😈 Gl jongwoo!!

Lots of sweet mjjw moments in this chapter tho (PEEP THE MARRIAGE VOW
LINE??) but also lots of crashing out from Jongwoo LMAOOO Bro lives life on the
edge and he doesn’t hesitate to pounce on a bitch that does so much as STARE at him
the wrong way haha!! Wowww moonjo and jongwoo are so perfect for each other!!
those psychos lolll

P.s. To anyone wondering, Young-il was telling the truth about his wife. However, that
was how Youmg-il got into his FIRST ROUND OF GAMES (before he was the
frontman) ‼ He just used his old experience and brushed it off as how he ended up in
there this time. And plus, everyone would be none the wiser anyway!!
And i hate to be a debbie downer, but here’s my thinking: My brain’s a little fried from
all the editing but i think that Young-il’s wife succumbed to the tumor (RIP) and that is
what made Young-il become the frontman (in some way, idk how but something like
that). I think that could be some interesting lore behind mr frontman!!

As for the next upcoming chapters, i may have told a little white lie when i said that the
fic would only go up to chapter 14/15 or whatever i said. Now with that being said, i
don’t plan on writing 10+ more chapters by any means. but I just have a few more
scenarios that i want to write about before i end this fic. It’s been a long journey, but i
want to give this fic the proper send off! So please, stay tuned!

I think that’s everything i have to say for this chapter. Sorry for the wait time - whenever
i post a new chapter, i always somehow end up forgetting about it for like 3 days and
then i come back and im like OH SHIT and then i scramble to write a new one haha!!
But anyway, thanks to everyone who has been patient with me, your support means the

🥰🥰
world! I hope you’re enjoying where this fic is going, it’s been such a pleasure to write.
THANK YOU ALL SM
 Home Sweet Home
Chapter Summary

Jongwoo and Moonjo embrace their domesticity.

Chapter Notes

Forgive me for the wait everyone 🙏 🤭

Had planned to get this out earlier but t’was my
birthday yesterday and i also happened to attend a billie eillish concert But we’re
here now!

🧍
I have to say, this chapter isn’t so action/drama packed as the other ones. Mostly just
about mjjw domestic life LMFAOO. And 18k words of it ♀ Oops…well i hope u
enjoy! This chap is kinda just setting up for the next one, so stay tuned please :)

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Unlike other occasions, the walk back was in far higher spirits than usual.

Well, for some.

Jongwoo - with the help of Moonjo by his side - trudged on behind a giggly and excited
Hyunju and Junhee, with Gi-hun and Young-il following closely after. As Jongwoo looked at
the back of Young-il up and down, he just couldn’t believe it. First of all, Young-il was acting
as if he hadn’t been the one who had put them in this situation in the first place. Acting all
giddy and friendly with Gi-hun as if he hadn’t been willing to end his life for his wife’s only
a few minutes ago. Secondly, the older man looked as if he and Jongwoo’s argument had
never happened. Jongwoo certainly hadn’t forgotten any of it.

It was strange. Jongwoo had only just accepted his feelings for Moonjo, and yet, Young-il
had said he observed that Jongwoo had been feeling it all along but just hadn’t admitted it.
Was it that obvious? Had Jongwoo seriously been in denial all this time?

A part of Jongwoo wanted to suppress those feelings and never let them see the light of day
because they felt wrong . He shouldn’t feel this way about a man that seemingly brought his
life crumbling down into pieces. But was it even fair to say that? Jongwoo’s life was already
a trainwreck before Moonjo came along.
His relationship with Jieun was tearing at the seams, just waiting for that final push that
would send it all unraveling. Her constant belittling of his hobbies led Jongwoo to believe
that all she wanted to do was mould him until he fit her liking. And at first, Jongwoo obliged
happily. He knew that his short temper and violent nature wasn’t attractive, but when weeks
turned into months and then months into years, it became too much. In the end, having to
suppress a massive part of himself for years on end was unbearably exhausting. Jongwoo
played the part for Jieun because he loved her and he thought it was what was best for him,
but it wasn’t. And after years of swallowing back his temper and putting on a facade that
would hide just that, it was strange just how quickly Moonjo seemed to catch onto his fake
persona.

And slowly but surely, Jongwoo’s walls came crashing down. The same walls he had spent
years building up for Jieun, hoping she’d finally be happy. But it was never just Jieun,
though. There was Jaeho too. From the beginning of their friendship, Jongwoo was simply a
slave to him - a rampant reminder that he would always be less. Not good enough. Inferior.
And no matter how many times she denied it, Jongwoo knew Jieun admired Jaeho’s stability.
A stability that Jongwoo could never provide. It was humiliating watching his girlfriend slip
away from him so easily, like taking candy from a baby. And for someone who had been his
friend since college, Jongwoo never once felt he was treated like one when he began working
for the older man. Jaeho walked all over Jongwoo like he was a doormat, only sparing him
attention when he needed to be reprimanded or if it involved Jieun. It was…dehumanizing.

But when Moonjo came along, that all changed. Moonjo immediately saw him for who he
truly was - what he was hiding beneath that mask - and began to push him to his limits. Sure
Moonjo played a part in Jongwoo’s descent into madness, but he didn’t create his anger or
insecurities. Those feelings were a culmination of the people Jongwoo surrounded himself
with, and Moonjo simply exploited them.

And if his time at Eden had taught Jongwoo one thing, it was that hell was other people.

For the better part of 5 years or so, Jongwoo had lived his life clinging onto that fantasy,
hoping one day he’d be enough for Jieun. Enough for Jaeho. Enough for anyone . And when
the older man appeared in his life, it seemed that Moonjo’s love - while all-encompassing and
sometimes suffocating - was the greatest liberation of all. He gave Jongwoo the chance to be
his true self - unfiltered and unjudged - and wholeheartedly encouraged his violence. And as
fucked up as that may be, it didn’t sound all that crazy to Jongwoo. After having spent what
felt like an eternity with a hollow heart hidden behind his mask, Moonjo quickly became the
warmth in an endless winter for him.

And even though Jongwoo had come to terms with his love for Moonjo earlier, it still felt a
little unbelievable even to him.

Jongwoo loved Moonjo.

Moonjo .

It was against logic. Against reason. Against himself. He loved him not because he should,
but because he couldn’t bear to let the older man slip away. Because even the wrong love
could feel like salvation when all he’d ever known was loss.
…

As Jongwoo continued to tackle his internal battles, he simply went limp and let Moonjo
guide him back to the sleeping quarters. He absentmindedly listened to the gleeful murmurs
of the two women up the front while they held each other close as they descended the
colourful steps once more. And for the time being, if Young-il was going to ignore Jongwoo,
so was he.

When they eventually stepped through the doors into the room with the beds, Jongwoo
quickly came back to reality. Moonjo had been eerily quiet on the way down, but Jongwoo
knew for a fact that he was simply waiting for a chance to ambush him with an abundance of
questions about what Young-il had said. While Jongwoo hadn’t been able to catch a glimpse
of the older man due to his blinding hatred for Young-il at the time, he wouldn’t be surprised
if Moonjo had been lapping it up with that annoying smirk on his face. And Jongwoo knew
he should be dreading the conversation that was about to come, but he just couldn’t bring
himself to do so. It was a conversation that had to be had, and Jongwoo felt that revealing his
feelings would take a heavy load off of his shoulders. Now it was simply a matter of when it
would happen.

As the door was swiftly shut behind them, echoing in the vast room with a resounding clang,
Jongwoo’s gaze quickly shifted toward a rather hopeful looking Gi-hun. He motioned for
everyone to form a small circle, encouraging them to come closer so they could finally
discuss what the plans were now. The two conjoined duos - Hyunju and Junhee and Jongwoo
and Moonjo - took a step forward before they leaned in closer, ready to hear what the man
had to say.

“We did it. We actually fucking did it.” He exclaimed, his voice breathy as if he was still in
disbelief himself. Gi-hun then looked around his teammates before his eyes lingered on
Young-il beside him for a second too long. And when he finally pulled his gaze away, he
spoke up again with a warm smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“We’re going home now.” Gi-hun smiled, before he swiftly added, “And if anyone needs it,
I’ll give you my winnings and then some more. I don’t need the money, I just want to get out
of here.”

Jongwoo knew exactly who that last comment was directed at, but he brushed it off because
there was no need to start a pointless argument again. But that was until the ‘specific’
someone decided to pose a question of his own, causing Jongwoo to whip his head to face
him.

“How are you so sure that we’re going to go home, Gi-hun? Aren’t they just going to keep
proposing games until there is one winner left?” Young-il inquired as he stared at the man
with a blank expression.

“I mean probably, yeah. But the vote is rather pointless now, seeing as all of our opposition
has been eliminated. We don’t need the complete 45.6 billion, what we have now is enough.
It’s time to go home.” Gi-hun countered sternly as he looked at Young-il with a furrowed
brow.
In response, Young-il simply took a deep breath. It looked as if he was contemplating what to
say next, and surely enough, a few seconds later, he continued.

“I understand where you’re coming from, but it seems a little unfair to me. How is this any
different to when I changed my vote so that we could play another game? If you all vote to
leave the games, that means you’re also subjecting someone else to something that they don’t
want to do.” Young-il flatly denoted, his eyes darting between the group that had once been
shaking with anticipation but was now deathly still.

Jongwoo’s eyes widened in disbelief almost immediately. There was no way Young-il was
trying to turn this onto them. But just as Jongwoo went to open his mouth, someone else
interrupted him.

“You still don’t want to end the games?” Gi-hun chimed in.

And if Jongwoo wasn’t already annoyed, he definitely was now. Seriously, was he sharing a
room with a bunch of morons? Could these people not see what this man was trying to do?
And so, before Young-il could answer Gi-hun’s question, Jongwoo stepped in and answered
instead.

“That’s all you got out of that ? This asshole is trying to make us feel bad for wanting to save
ourselves from dying in this fucking shithole!” Jongwoo yelled, staring at Gi-hun with an
undeniable amount of irritation in his eyes. Then, he turned to Young-il with a fierce gaze.

“And you .” Jongwoo spat, bringing the hand that wasn’t clinging onto Moonjo to point at the
older man accusingly, “You're not seriously trying to turn this on us, right?”

Young-il dropped his once calm and composed demeanor as soon as Jongwoo started talking.
It was clear that the tension from the game before had only been put on hold, not resolved.

“You accused me of being selfish by forcing the change of the vote outcome, but what is it
that you’re doing now? You didn’t want another game to happen, and now I don’t want to go
home. Aren’t you being a little too hypocritical?” Young-il snapped as he narrowed his
intense gaze on the younger man.

Jongwoo thought about his argument for a split second before he resigned to initial stance on
the situation.

Young-il was merely trying to stir the pot yet again. One could argue that both sides were
being selfish and self-serving in their decisions, but Jongwoo didn’t want to believe that.
Even if they were imposing their will on Young-il in a way that mirrored what he did to them,
was it so wrong to prioritize the survival of the larger collective? Honestly, why should they
risk more lives to save one person when they’re already fighting for their own survival? To
Jongwoo, Young-il’s argument seemed entirely flawed. He was just being selfish.

“We’re not putting our lives on the line for your wife! Why is that so hard for you to
understand? We have lives of our own! We shouldn't have to give that up for someone we
don’t even know.” Jongwoo retorted as he unraveled his hand from around Moonjo’s arm to
instead stand up by himself. Before Young-il could reply, it was someone else who jumped in
before he could.

“Young-il, whose side are you on? Why are you so obsessed with keeping the games going?”
Hyunju seethed through her teeth as she took a step forward, taking an equally annoyed
Junhee with her.

“Yeah! It almost sounds as if you’re on their side.” This time it was Junhee who chimed in as
she pointed a finger up at the ceiling to symbolise it was the guards who she was referring to.

Young-il went quiet for a second, studying the two women carefully before he curated his
response. Then, he spoke up.

“You just don’t understand. These games gave me an opportunity. A chance . They promised
me money for my participation and I won’t leave until I have enough to save my wife! I
refuse to return home until my life gets better.”

“But life doesn’t get any better.” Jongwoo’s eyes darted over to the owner of the dejected
voice. It was Gi-hun. In a span of a few milliseconds, Jongwoo watched as the confusion and
mild anger drained from Gi-hun’s face only to leave behind an overwhelming sense of
despair.

“That money you’re fighting so hard for is just a reminder of all the blood on our hands.” Gi-
hun exclaimed defiantly as he pointed up at where the golden piggy bank would usually sit.
But before Gi-hun could continue, Young-il stepped in and interrupted him.

“You didn’t need to come back, Gi-hun.” Young-il deadpanned bluntly. In response, Gi-hun
furrowed his brow at the older man’s comment before he shook his head as if to swat away
the idea.

“I wasn’t just going to sit around and do nothing though! I couldn’t live with myself if I sat at
home while I knew there were people still dying because of these games and I did nothing to
stop it.” Gi-hun objected solemnly.

“But you put your own life at risk by returning. What if you had died before you could
accomplish anything?” Young-il questioned as he cocked his head to the side inquisitively.

And Jongwoo couldn’t help but to scrunch his face up in confusion. What the fuck was going
on now? Jongwoo felt as if he was intruding in a private conversation all of a sudden, as if he
hadn’t also been a part of it only minutes ago. This was no longer a debate about Young-il’s
selfishness, but rather why Gi-hun had decided to come back. Perhaps Young-il was just
trying to direct the attention away from him so they wouldn’t focus on his clearly flawed
argument. Yeah, that had to be the reason why he had suddenly started to hone in on the point
of Gi-hun’s return.

“I’d rather die than not try at all.” Gi-hun declared firmly as his gaze on the other man
intensified, before he quickly added, “But just because it hasn’t been completely successful,
that doesn’t mean I will give up.”
Young-il raised an eyebrow at this, following up with a question of his own.

“Does that mean you’ll stay until you end the games?” Young-il perked up as he studied the
man opposite him inquisitively. But rather than outright responding, Gi-hun simply let out a
chuckle. It sounded like a chuckle that typically followed right after someone said something
so unbelievably outrageous that it would be impossible not to laugh.

“Stay? No, of course not. Surviving two rounds of these games was a miracle in itself.” He
scoffed, pausing to let his attempt in before he continued, “I need to recoup with a few old
friends so we can then reconfigure our plan to take down the Frontman.”

Jongwoo watched as Young-il went quiet for a second, the older man’s eyes scanning over
Gi-hun carefully to affirm that he was in fact telling the truth. Then, Young-il brought his lips
together into a half-hearted smile and replied.

“Ah, I see.” Was all Young-il said, as he then dropped his focus on the other man to instead
absentmindedly stare off into the distance. But after a few silent moments passed, it was
Junhee who eventually broke the silence and spoke up.

“Are you going to keep your vote then?” She questioned as she nodded at the vibrant blue O
patch secured on the older man’s jacket.

“Well, it wouldn’t matter what I choose anyway. I’m outvoted.” Young-il humoured,
accompanying his statement with a dry chuckle. However, his shitty attempt at breaking the
tension was only met with more silence. The betrayal was still clearly a little fresh on
everyone’s minds.

“…Right.” Junhee reluctantly replied, as she gave the older man an unimpressed look. And
as Jongwoo let his eyes drift between his other team members, it seemed that they were all
just as deeply rooted in their decision to end the games than he was. There was nothing
Young-il could do - no nonsense he could spout - that would change any of their minds.

They were going home and that was fucking final.

And almost as if right on cue, the sound of the doors opening on the stage quickly directed
everyone’s attention to the group of guards entering. Then, the square-masked guard stepped
forward and made their announcement like normal.

“Congratulations on making it through the sixth game. Now, here are the results of the sixth
game.” The guard announced as he lifted a remote to point it up at the ceiling before that
familiar golden piggy bank began to descend out of the sky. It was looking fuller than ever,
but rightfully so considering 450 players had been eliminated.

“In total, after the sixth game, 5 players have been eliminated. The prize money accumulated
up to this point is 45.1 billion won. Since there are 6 players remaining, each person’s share
is approximately 7.516 billion won.”

Jongwoo let his eyes drift up to the last few money stacks being emptied into the glass bank,
his face lighting up in a mesmerizing golden hue. Once the final stack of money landed on
the obscenely large pile, Jongwoo brought his attention back down to the guard. And of
course, as if it had become a routine for them, Jongwoo waited until the guard would
announce that the players were to start voting.

Shit, this was really it. Jongwoo had wanted to go home for awhile now, but even so, he
hadn’t thought about what he’d do when he’d get out. Other than pay off his debts, what else
was he supposed to do? Go back to his shitty studio apartment and back to his even more
mediocre job?

He had figured out how to get that feeling back and now he was going to come into quite a
lot of money, but surely there was more to life than just that. Even if it had been only a month
or two of that mind-numbingly boring life after Eden, Jongwoo was tired of it. He needed
something new. Something…fun.

Would Moonjo be able to provide that?

Jongwoo thought so.

Then, after a few minutes, the guard finally spoke up once again and initiated the vote.

“We will begin the vote now. Player 456, please cast your vote.” The square-masked guard
announced.

And almost immediately, Jongwoo watched as Gi-hun flashed the group a happy smile before
he turned around and began to walk up to the podium. And once he approached the two
buttons, there wasn’t even a sliver of hesitation when Gi-hun slammed his hand down on the
X button. The counter on the TV screen simultaneously increased by one as he did so, and
then Gi-hun made his way over to the X side as usual.

“Player 304.”

But before Moonjo walked away, he turned to Jongwoo and quickly asked him a question.

“Do you need me to help you over there?” Moonjo questioned as he looked the younger man
up and down to try and assess the state of his injuries again.

Jongwoo raised a hand up and waved it around as if to swat away the idea. Then, he spoke up
himself.

“No, I’ll manage. But I’ll come with you, my number is next anyway.” Jongwoo replied. If
Jongwoo started to walk on his own - even if it wasn’t for long distances at first - he was sure
that he’d eventually build up some strength again. He couldn’t always lean on Moonjo for
help, so sometimes, he just had to push through the pain.

Moonjo simply nodded his head in response, and soon enough, the duo was walking in the
direction of the voting podium. Jongwoo was still a little slow with his injury, but he was
grateful that Moonjo had slowed down ever so slightly to stay at his pace and not leave him
behind.

When they eventually approached the podium, Moonjo went first and immediately pressed
the X button, and Jongwoo watched as the counter clocked over to the next number. Then,
rather than joining Gi-hun, Moonjo waited until Jongwoo’s number was called so they’d be
able to go back together. And it wasn’t until a few seconds later that Jongwoo’s number was
called.

“Player 303.”

Without needing much more thought, Jongwoo smashed his fist onto the X button, causing
the counter to once again increase by one.

It was 3 vs 0 now.

Jongwoo and Moonjo then started making their way over to where Gi-hun stood. And slowly
but surely, they arrived and found a spot next to the man. Then, it was merely a matter of
waiting until everyone had casted their votes.

“Player 222.”

Much like Jongwoo and Moonjo had done, both Junhee and Hyunju walked up to the
podium. There was no point in prolonging the voting system if they knew who was going
next. And so, Junhee pressed the X button eagerly, her facing lighting up in that satisfying
vibrant red colour.

There was no turning back now, it was 4 vs 0 . The games were finally going to end, whether
Young-il liked it or not.

“Player 120.”

Hyunju didn’t waste a second as she smashed her hand down onto the X button, with the
counter on the TV screen increasing by one simultaneously. And it wasn’t long until the duo
was approaching where everyone else stood on the X side. Once they found a position among
the men, Jongwoo let his eyes drift over to the final player.

Young-il.

“And finally, Player 001, please cast your vote.”

The entire group watched as the older man began to trudge toward the podium, his head held
low as he did so. Jongwoo wanted to scoff at the whole situation. All of that talk in trying to
convince them to change their votes hadn’t worked, and now there was no chance that the
games were going to continue. Young-il had failed, and it felt glorious to know that.

The older man approached the podium, but unlike everyone else, he hesitated. He brought his
hand to hover it over the two buttons while he contemplated his decision. Jongwoo watched
as Young-il lifted his head up to observe the vote count on the TV screen before he dropped it
back down.
And then, he made his decision.

Young-il’s face lit up in—

Red? …What?

The counter flipped over to 6 vs 0 , and Jongwoo narrowed his eyes on the older man
intensely. He watched as Young-il swiftly ripped off his O patch before he handed it over to
the guard and got an X patch in return. Then, he secured it on his jacket before he swivelled
around and started to head toward the rest of the group.

Was this guy bipolar or something? What the fuck was that?

It seemed that everyone else was just as confused by Young-il’s sudden change in mind, as
when the older man eventually approached, everyone was too stunned to speak. So, rather
than waiting for someone to speak up, Young-il did.

“There’s no point in fighting anymore.” Was all he said as he found a spot next to Gi-hun’s
side. As hard as he tried, Jongwoo simply couldn’t hide the confusion on his face.

So Young-il had spent all of that time trying to make everyone feel bad for wanting to save
themselves but now he was doing just that? Sometimes it felt that Young-il was even more
unpredictable than Moonjo, which was saying something. But before anyone else could
respond to Young-il’s comment, the guard interrupted them and began to make his final
announcement.

“The majority of the players have voted to terminate the game. Therefore, this game is now
terminated.” The guard declared. And almost immediately, as if forgetting the obscurity of
what had just happened with Young-il, the rest of the group began to squirm in excitement.

Jongwoo watched as Junhee jumped into Hyunju’s arms, hugging out of pure happiness. And
while he wasn’t going to do that, Jongwoo did instead turn to face Moonjo with a earnest
smile plastered across his face. And not surprisingly enough, Moonjo shot back a smile of his
own before he circled his arm around Jongwoo’s waist and pulled him in close. Jongwoo let
him of course, even snuggling in closer to the man’s side instinctively. Because in the end,
Jongwoo craved Moonjo’s touch and affection more than anything.

Then, the guard continued their announcement.

“It truly is a pity that we must say goodbye to you like this. However, we will not completely
seal the door of opportunity for all of you. If the majority of you wish to participate again,
then we will resume the game.”

The excitement of the group halted for a second, as if taking in what the guard was implying
that they could do.

Come back? Yeah right. No one in their right mind would come back to these fucked up
games.
“So, goodbye for now.” The guard finalised. And soon enough, the doors behind them
opened once again and it wasn’t long until the entire group of guards disappeared beyond
them.

Once they were alone, Gi-hun quickly took a step forward and stood in front of the group. He
looked a little on edge all of a sudden, as if he was trying to get in his statement before it was
too late.

“Okay, quickly gather around.” Gi-hun said as he motioned for the rest of the group to step
forward. They did, but they were still a little confused as to what made Gi-hun so twitchy out
of nowhere.

“We don’t have long, but I need you all to listen. We’re all going to get dropped off
somewhere in Seoul soon, but we should meet up again and chat over some dinner. To
celebrate, you know? How does that sound?” He offered quickly. But before anyone could
accept or reject his suggestion, Jongwoo quickly asked what everyone else was probably
thinking.

“What do you mean ‘ we don’t have long ’?” Jongwoo questioned as he furrowed his brows
in confusion.

Just as Gi-hun went to open his mouth to respond, he was suddenly cut off by something else.
It was…hissing?

Oh shit.

Jongwoo - along with everyone else - snapped their heads up to the ceiling where gas began
to leak out of the vents scarily fast.

“Fuck, everyone listen! Call me when you wake up and we’ll arrange something, okay?” Gi-
hun desperately yelled out as his loud voice brought everyone's attention back to him.

Then, Gi-hun began to shout out his phone number over and over again, hoping that everyone
would somehow remember it. From the looks of it, everyone was trying their best to pay
attention and recite Gi-hun’s number in their head, but with the gas quickly filling up the
room, it was hard to stay attentive.

It was a large room for sure, but it seemed that whoever ran these games had come prepared
for that. They had placed vents almost everywhere across the room, so it wasn’t long until
Jongwoo started to feel the effects of the gas.

Junhee was the first to go down, but Hyunju - even in her own delirious state - caught the
pregnant woman before she could slam onto the ground. The taller woman sat down with
Junhee in her lap, and it wasn’t long until she too succumbed to the gas.

Jongwoo’s vision began to go blurry and he was feeling unsteady on his feet. He leaned into
Moonjo’s side to try and find some support, but Jongwoo could feel that Moonjo was about
to go dark too. But before he passed out, he distantly felt how Moonjo brought him into a
complete hug as he entangled his other arm around Jongwoo. And not long later, Jongwoo
went limp and he gave into the effects of the gas.

Since Moonjo was holding him, Jongwoo didn’t collapse onto the floor. However, Moonjo
didn’t last much longer either. The older man soon passed out too, toppling backwards as he
went unconscious. But thanks to Moonjo bringing him into a hug before they both went dark,
Jongwoo landed on the older man rather than the hard ground.

Gi-hun and Young-il were next. The duo stumbled on unsteady legs before they too passed
out and fell onto the floor with two defeating thuds.

Jongwoo groaned as he slowly started to wake up, his eyes flickering open only to see that he
was in a van with a guard standing opposite him. But before he could gather what the hell
was happening, the sound of the van’s door opening behind him brought him out of his
trance. And just as quickly as the door had opened, the guard lunged forward and placed his
hands onto Jongwoo’s chest before he was sent reeling back onto the road behind him.

He landed on the gravelly road quite harshly, feeling a sharp pain rippling up his spine upon
the sudden contact. But as he groaned out in pain, the sound of another man landing beside
himself just as forcibly caused Jongwoo’s eyes to shoot open.

And…it was Moonjo.

Without the majority of his clothes on— What the hell? Jongwoo scanned over the almost
naked man - who was only wearing his boxers to cover up - before his eyes settled on how
Moonjo’s hands and ankles were tied.

What the…?

However, it was the sudden feeling of a cool breeze brushing over Jongwoo that made him
realise he was in a similar predicament. He let his eyes drift down to his own body and…he
was lacking a concerning amount of clothing too. And while his abdomen still had that ratty
t-shirt wrapped around it, Jongwoo still felt utterly exposed. But when he went to bring his
arms up to cover himself a little more, he quickly realised that his hands were bound behind
his back just like Moonjo.

Suddenly, it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds later, two black rubbish bags were
thrown at the two men splayed out on the road. Then, Jongwoo watched as the van sped off
into the distance before going completely out of sight in a matter of seconds.

“Motherfuckers…” Jongwoo gritted through his teeth as he forced himself upright despite his
stomach aching as he did so.
But as Jongwoo’s attempts at trying to wriggle himself free of the rope quickly proved futile,
Moonjo shuffled around behind him until he spoke up.

“Come here, I’ll untie you.” Moonjo offered, and Jongwoo didn’t need to be told twice. He
swivelled his head around to see Moonjo - who was still bound himself - edging closer until
he was right behind Jongwoo’s back. Then, Jongwoo bent his arms as far as he could so that
Moonjo could lean down and start unraveling the knot with his teeth.

Suddenly, the ropes went loose and eventually fell straight off of his wrists. And almost
immediately, Jongwoo brought his hands back round the front of him to instead begin untying
the rope that was keeping his ankles together. When he freed himself, he chucked the rope to
the side before he swivelled around and faced Moonjo.

And if he had to be honest, it was a bit of a funny sight seeing Moonjo tied up and practically
defenseless. But Jongwoo didn’t dwell on the peculiar sight for long, as he crawled over
behind Moonjo and returned the man’s kindness by untying his hands instead. And when
Jongwoo unraveled the final knot and Moonjo broke free, the older man didn’t waste a
second to bring his hands around the front to free his feet too.

Whilst Moonjo did that, Jongwoo looked around before his eyes settled on the two black bags
nearby. Despite it hurting like a bitch to do so, Jongwoo stood up and slowly stumbled over
to where the bags laid. As he picked one up and inspected the contents, he realised that it was
the clothes they had been wearing before they came into the games.

Jongwoo emptied the bag out and searched for his pants - desperate to cover himself up both
out of embarrassment but also the fact that it was a Korean winter night where the
temperatures reached scarily freezing figures. Once he found his pants among the pile of
clothes he had dumped on the floor, he tried to put them on as quickly as possible. Distantly,
he heard Moonjo shuffling behind him - probably having untied himself already and making
his way over to retrieve his clothing too.

And even though Jongwoo struggled at first to put his pants on due to the still very painful
wound in his abdomen, he managed to get them on eventually. By now, Moonjo had found is
black bag of clothes and was dressing himself too.

However, Jongwoo’s luck of being able to dress himself on his own soon ran out. As he tried
to contort his body to put his shirt on, the pain soon became too much. He probably would’ve
been fine if the guard hadn’t thrown him onto the ground so harshly, causing him to land on
his injured stomach with unnecessary force.

But after the third attempt of trying to push through the pain of getting into his shirt, he gave
up. For fucks sake, he was going to have to ask Moonjo for help.

Jongwoo sighed in defeat as he turned to face the almost completely dressed Moonjo, before
he quietly asked for his assistance.

“Moonjo? Could you…um, could you help?” Jongwoo asked, already feeling his last sliver
of dignity leaving him, before he quickly added, “Please?”
And of course, Moonjo shot him a smug smile as he looked the exposed younger man up and
down in amusement.

“Of course, jagiya.” He cooed, as he stepped forward to take the shirt out of Jongwoo’s
hands. Then, once it was in his grasp, he continued.

“Arms up.” Moonjo commanded, and Jongwoo obliged. He lifted his arms right up - feeling a
little stupid that he hadn’t thought of taking that approach to putting his shirt on - and Moonjo
began to help put the shirt on him. He effortlessly filed both Jongwoo’s heads and arms
through their designated holes before he pulled the shirt down entirely. Almost immediately,
Jongwoo felt a hundred times better now that he was covered.

Jongwoo then slipped his feet into his shoes, not bothering with trying to put his socks on,
before his eyes fell on his rather inviting jacket laying on the floor. But just as Jongwoo went
to bend down to pick up his jacket, Moonjo quickly swooped in and snatched it. Jongwoo
shot the man an unamused look before shaking his head in disbelief. Whatever. If Moonjo
wanted to do it for him, then so be it. After all, it was one less thing Jongwoo had to worry
about.

Moonjo gladly slid the heavy jacket onto Jongwoo before he brought the two halves together
and swiftly zipped it up. The undeniable warmth of the jumper in comparison to the freezing
temperatures of the night was as clear as day. Jongwoo immediately felt better now that he
was finally dressed and no longer freezing his ass off in the cold.

Moonjo lingered in front of Jongwoo for a few moments, but he eventually took a step back
to instead inspect the high rise buildings in the distance. As Moonjo did that, Jongwoo let his
hands drift into his pockets before his fingers brushed over something cold and metallic. He
furrowed his brows before he fished out the mysterious item and held it up to his eyes.

Oh.

It was a credit card.

“Moonjo, look.” Jongwoo distantly said as he continued to inspect the card in his hands. The
older man spun back around before his eyes settled on the item in Jongwoo’s hand. And
almost instantly, Moonjo slid a hand into his jacket pocket before he too pulled out a card of
his own.

Jongwoo scoffed as he scanned over the card in disbelief. Shit, maybe they weren’t kidding
about the money. But before Jongwoo could dwell on the card for too long, a different
thought crossed his mind.

Oh yeah, weren’t they going to meet up with Gi-hun?

Suddenly remembering how Gi-hun had asked for everyone to call him so that they could
arrange a meeting place, Jongwoo looked around at his surroundings. And somehow, despite
the chaos of trying to fight the gas, Jongwoo had remembered Gi-hun’s number. Now all they
had to do was call him and tell them where they were. Speaking of where they were…
“Where are we exactly…?” Jongwoo questioned as he continued to study the tall buildings in
the distance. In response, Moonjo took another brief look around before he turned to face
Jongwoo.

“Yeouido.” Moonjo confidently stated.

“Yeouido? You mean we’re—” But before Jongwoo could continue, Moonjo finished his
sentence.

“In the center of Seoul, yes.”

Jongwoo glanced around his surroundings once again as he comprehended Moonjo’s

statement. It made sense, there was an abundance of high rise buildings in the distance, lights
illuminating the city brightly. They were literally right bang smack in the middle of Seoul.

But rather than responding to Moonjo, Jongwoo fished out the phone that happened to be
sitting in his other jacket pocket. As he pulled it out, he quickly realised it had been shut off
completely. However, Jongwoo brushed it off and began to restart it, with the Apple symbol
appearing on the screen not longer after he began to hold down the off button.

However, rather than seeing his phone turning on, he instead saw that his phone was dead and
needed charging. And upon seeing the annoying symbol on his screen, Jongwoo groaned in
disappointment. He lifted his head back up from his phone and looked around at the several
residential buildings in the distance before coming to a conclusion.

“I’m sure there will be a hotel with some vacancy around here where I can charge my
phone…” Jongwoo trailed off as his attention continued to be focused on scanning the nearby
buildings.

“No need, jagiya.” Moonjo suddenly announced, causing Jongwoo to swivel his head around
to face the man, before he added, “I have an apartment in this district.”

Almost immediately, Jongwoo scrunched his face up in disbelief as he simultaneously

scoffed at the man’s comment.

“Are you fucking with me or something?” Jongwoo scrutinized as he cocked his head to the
side, trying to understand what Moonjo would get out of being a douchebag and lying about
this sort of thing.

“Eden wasn’t my only home. I just happened to buy an apartment out here in case things
went…south.” Moonjo confessed, and Jongwoo immediately knew what he meant.

“It’s your safe house, isn’t it?” Jongwoo deadpanned as he raised an eyebrow up at the older
man.

“Something like that.” Moonjo’s response came instantly, but Jongwoo brushed it off as he
quite frankly didn’t give a shit what Moonjo used it for.

“Whatever. As long as there’s hot water and a bed, call me satisfied.” Jongwoo resigned as he
waited until Moonjo would start to lead the way. And as if immediately understanding what
Jongwoo was waiting for, Moonjo spoke up.

“Of course, jagiya. Follow me.”

And with that, the duo set off in the direction of one of the high rise residential buildings. For
the first half, Jongwoo managed to walk on his own. Walk was a bit of a stretch - he was
hobbling slowly behind Moonjo - but he still made it quite far. However, when it started to
become too tiring to hold himself up with all of the pain, Jongwoo resorted to using Moonjo’s
beanstalk figure as a support beam yet again. Moonjo didn’t seem to mind though, as he
didn’t hesitate to slither his arm back around the younger man, letting it settle in the curve of
his lower back.

From there, though it was a long, slow walk, Moonjo eventually stopped them both just
outside of an entrance to one of the apartment buildings. But just as Jongwoo was about to
pull away from him to head inside - hoping that he had garnered enough strength to try
walking again - Moonjo stopped him. He then spun him around until they were facing each
other, leaving only a foot or two of space between them.

Jongwoo eyed the man in confusion as Moonjo began to scan over him intensely. Then,
before he could even register it, Moonjo brought his hand up to Jongwoo’s face before he
swiped over his jawline gently. And when Moonjo pulled away, Jongwoo was left a little
dumbfounded.

“Um…what was that for?” He asked as looked up at the older man in confusion.

“I was cleaning off the blood on your face.” Moonjo replied casually, before he quickly
added, “We’d stick out otherwise.”

Ah. That made sense.

Sure their clothes concealed the layer of grime and blood on their body underneath, but their
faces were still exposed. And throughout their time in the games, they had gathered quite the
amount of stray specks of blood on their faces.

“Oh…thanks.” Jongwoo hesitantly answered. But now that Moonjo had pointed it out,
Jongwoo couldn’t help but notice the few stray blood drops on the older man’s face too.

So, as if returning the favour, Jongwoo reached a hand of his own up to Moonjo’s face, using
his thumb to carefully wipe the blood off of the man’s cheek. And of course, Moonjo
instinctively leaned into Jongwoo’s touch, letting the younger man wipe him clean. Jongwoo
felt his eyes linger on the older man in his hold for a second too long, before he eventually
pulled away. When he did, he cleared his throat awkwardly before speaking up.

“We can go now.” Jongwoo hurriedly declared, hoping that Moonjo would take the hint. And
thankfully, he did. Because in the end, even with the warmth that radiated off of Moonjo,
standing in the cold was not pleasant to say the least.

Moonjo simply nodded in response before he reached down and took Jongwoo’s hand in his.
Jongwoo, a little startled at first by the sudden contact, soon relaxed as he let the other man
guide him into the lobby.

And what a lobby it was. It looked as if it came straight out of a movie - the walls decorated
with various pieces of art and gold finishes. Honestly, Jongwoo felt so out of place. It was far
more modern than anything he had ever experienced, and he felt that if he were to
accidentally break something, it would cost an arm and a leg. So, Jongwoo stayed strapped to
Moonjo’s side closely, aiming to not wreck the place before he even made it up to Moonjo’s
apartment.

As the duo made their way over to the elevator, Moonjo didn’t hesitate to press the button to
call it down before they stood in a comfortable silence until it arrived. When the sound of the
elevator reaching their level buzzed and the doors opened, Moonjo guided them inside the
mirror-lined elevator before pressing one of buttons for a floor. Jongwoo was far too
captivated by the sheer fanciness of the small room to notice which level Moonjo had chosen.
Seriously, what was even the point of having such a bejeweled elevator? It was just an
elevator after all, surely this had to be overkill.

When the elevator suddenly came to a stop a few seconds later, Jongwoo was quickly brought
out of his internal conflicts. Stepping out into the corridor - which carried the same modern,
sleek vibe of the lobby - Jongwoo swiftly noticed that there was only one door on the level.
Jongwoo knew dentistry paid well, but shit, this well? Moonjo had a whole level to himself?

It seemed that Moonjo had noticed Jongwoo’s curiosity, as he let out an amused chuckle
beside him. When Jongwoo turned to face the older man, he simply flashed a satisfied smile
at him, before he gestured for them to continue on toward the door to his apartment. Then,
much like before, Jongwoo let Moonjo guide him until they were only a foot or two away
from his apartment door.

Moonjo raised a hand up to the keypad, his attention on Jongwoo never once wavering,
before he inputted the numbers 1437 into the machine. And while Jongwoo shot the man an
unamused look at his cheesy antics, he distantly wondered when Moonjo had bought this
apartment in the first place. Was it before Jongwoo came along? Or was it because of him?

…Had Moonjo taken anyone else here?

Suddenly, Jongwoo felt a gnawing feeling in his stomach - and not because of his wound - at
the mere thought. Was he…jealous? Shit, he really was too far gone. But the sound of the
door unlocking shortly after Moonjo putting in the code quickly sent Jongwoo back to reality.
And while that sudden, jarring feeling remained, it dissipated until it was just a dull ache in
the depths of his stomach.

It was at this point that Moonjo finally let go of Jongwoo’s hand, opening the door wide
before motioning for the younger man to enter first. Jongwoo caught a glimpse of the proud
expression plastered across Moonjo’s face, before choosing to ignore it altogether to instead
head inside.

And…woah.
Jongwoo stepped into the apartment, immediately struck by its sleek, modern aesthetic. The
space was bathed in neutral tones — soft grays, crisp whites, and deep charcoals — all
working in quiet harmony. Floor-to-ceiling windows framed the glittering Seoul skyline,
neon signs flickering against the night like distant stars. The city pulsed below, an endless
stream of headlights and shadowy figures moving through the streets.

Long story short, it was fucking beautiful view. Who knew Seoul could look so enchanting
from this high up? Jongwoo then let his eyes drift over to the open-concept living room. And
while it was minimalist, it was far from cold. A low-profile, charcoal-gray sofa stretched
along one wall, its cushions interrupted by the occasional bold pop of red — scattered throw
pillows that added just the right amount of contrast. The polished concrete floors gleamed
under the soft glow of recessed lighting, and a sleek, matte-black coffee table sat in the
center, unadorned except for a single book resting on its surface.

And as Jongwoo narrowed his eyes on the oddly familiar book, he quickly realised what it
was. It was the copy of ‘The Metamorphosis’ that Jongwoo had ‘lended’ to Moonjo back at
Eden. He said the term ‘lended’ loosely however, as Jongwoo was pretty sure that Moonjo
had just outright stolen it.

Quickly moving on from the book, Jongwoo then let his eyes fall on the kitchen on the other
side of the room. The kitchen blended seamlessly into the space, a monochromatic
masterpiece of smooth white cabinetry and black marble countertops. Stainless steel
appliances reflected the ambient city lights, but it was the subtle details that stood out — the
deep red espresso machine tucked into the corner, a matching set of utensils hanging neatly
against the backsplash. Jongwoo hadn’t expected Moonjo to know so much about interior
design, but apparently he knew how to compliment a space well.

And despite its minimalism, the apartment didn’t feel empty. It felt intentional. Every piece
of furniture, every object had a place, carefully curated to maintain a balance between
simplicity and warmth. It was almost as if the space was a reflection of Moonjo himself. He
didn’t keep what was useless. Everything in his life, just like everything in his home, served a
purpose. There were no meaningless attachments, no excess weighing him down. He
surrounded himself only with what he deemed essential — what added value, what fit into
the structure he had meticulously built. And just like his apartment, there was an unsettling
precision to it, as if even the smallest detail had been considered long before it ever became a
part of his world. The only real decoration was the view — Seoul’s electric heartbeat
stretching far beyond the glass, a reminder that even in the quietest spaces, the city was alive.

Jongwoo continued to take in the sleek design of Moonjo’s apartment quietly before the older
man spoke up beside him, breaking the silence that had temporarily engulfed them.

“Make yourself at home, jagiya.” Moonjo cooed, his voice laced with an undeniable amount
of satisfaction as he spoke.

Quickly brought out of his brief fantasy, Jongwoo turned to face the older man, opening his
mouth to say something in return, before shutting it just as quickly when he realised there
wasn’t anything to say. Jongwoo was happy to explore his apartment, and so he didn’t waste
a single second as he removed his shoes and took a confident step toward the living room.
And up close, the living room looked even nicer. However, it was the book on the coffee
table that caught Jongwoo’s eye the most. He told himself that he should just leave it and
ignore it, but he found his arm reaching out to grab it before he could even register it. Upon
seizing the book in his hand, Jongwoo studied over it intently. It didn’t seem to be any more
damaged than when Jongwoo had ever so kindly let Moonjo steal it from him. Sure the pages
were worn after years of using it and constantly rereading it, but Jongwoo was sure that was
just from him, not Moonjo. It was almost as if Moonjo had treated the book like it was a
delicate piece of fine china.

But just as Jongwoo began to flip through the pages, he had to do a double take when he saw
a familiar bookmark. Turning to the page it was holding, Jongwoo’s eyes widened. Shit, he
didn’t know he had left this bookmark in there. As Jongwoo pulled out the photo completely,
he quickly realised that it was significantly smaller than before and lacking a certain woman.

Moonjo had ripped Jieun out of the picture, leaving only Jongwoo’s face to be the bookmark.
And as he studied it a bit closer, Jongwoo didn’t know how to feel. Probably weirded out, but
then again, this was Moonjo he was talking about.

But just as Jongwoo continued to absentmindedly stare at the ripped up photo in his hold, he
suddenly felt a presence beside him.

“I was going to give it back to you one day.” Moonjo muttered quietly as he watched
Jongwoo stare at the teared picture.

In response, Jongwoo rolled his eyes before he shoved the photo back into the book and
clamped it shut, not wanting to dwell on it any longer. Then, he turned to the older man and
responded.

“Yeah, sure you were.” Jongwoo retorted, before he held out the book to Moonjo and
continued, “And it doesn’t matter anymore, you can keep it. I don’t want it back.”

Moonjo cocked an eyebrow up at his reply, but ultimately gave in and took the book out of
his hands.

“Thank you, jagiya.” Was all Moonjo said as he rested the book by his side. Jongwoo gave
the man one final look over, before he took it as his cue to continue in his little exploration.
As he turned to resume his expedition, Jongwoo’s mind began to wander.

Sometimes, Jongwoo forgot just how deeply Moonjo was obsessed with him. He wanted the
entirety of Jongwoo alone, and if anyone stood in his way, Moonjo would make sure they’d
quickly get out of the picture. And in Jieun’s case, she had gotten lucky. Jongwoo knew that
Moonjo had only used her as a ploy to get him to come back to the studio, but he was totally
convinced that he would’ve killed her. Jieun had hit the luck jackpot - getting away from
Moonjo was certainly a difficult feat, but she had done it. Jongwoo however…well, that was
a little different. In the end, Jongwoo still couldn’t decide whether Moonjo’s obsession with
him worked in his favour or not. He had lost so much but also at the same time, gained more
than he could ever have imagined. Perhaps it didn’t really matter though. As long as Jongwoo
was still alive and breathing, surely that was a good thing, right?
As Jongwoo continued to roam the apartment absentmindedly, he snapped out of it when he
came across a dimly lit hallway. Turning on the light to reveal a hallway lined with even
more portraits of various expensive-looking art pieces, Jongwoo trudged down the corridor,
taking note of all the rooms as he went.

When he arrived at the first room, he popped a head inside and scoped the place out. It was a
bathroom, and was practically a seamless extension of the apartment’s sleek, minimalist
design. Cool-toned marble covered the floors and walls, its subtle veining adding just enough
texture to keep the space from feeling too stark. Matte black fixtures provided a striking
contrast, from the streamlined faucet to the rainfall showerhead enclosed in frameless glass.
A floating vanity with a rectangular vessel sink sat beneath a large, backlit mirror, casting a
soft glow that enhanced the room’s clean lines. The only touch of color came from a neatly
folded deep red hand towel by the sink, a deliberate accent in an otherwise neutral space.

Damn, how could a bathroom be so nice? If Jongwoo had felt out of place in the lobby, he
felt like an alien in here. It was just so…fancy. Nothing like Jongwoo had ever seen, and
while it was undeniably beautiful, it was a little intimidating. Especially to someone who had
only lived modestly with his mother and brother in a small, humble house in Busan. This just
felt like another world.

Jongwoo reeled his back in, before he decided to move onto the next room. Moonjo was
trailing behind Jongwoo quietly, almost as if he was watching the younger man take in the
luxuries of his apartment too. And as he approached it, he was convinced that he was about to
see a bedroom. However, his expectations were quickly subverted when his eyes fell on a
rather differently decorated room in front of him.

The second bedroom had been transformed into something between an office and a crafts
studio — if one could even call it that. Sleek charcoal cabinets lined the walls, stocked with
neatly arranged dental tools, rows of sterile gloves, and syringes filled with god-knows-what.
Everything was meticulously organized, just like the rest of Moonjo’s apartment, but there
was something far more unsettling about this space.

Among the polished instruments and clinical supplies, Jongwoo’s attention caught on a glass-
topped drawer, the kind meant for displaying fine jewelry. The top layer held an array of
necklaces, rings, and pendants, each one crafted with an unsettling precision. At first glance,
they almost looked elegant — delicate chains with small, pale charms. But the longer
Jongwoo stared at the collection, the more the truth became undeniable. Teeth. Smoothed,
polished, and set into their places like they belonged there.

His eyes trailed over the display, taking in every grotesque yet meticulous detail, until they
landed on something that made his stomach twist. An empty space. A gap in the arrangement
where a bracelet should have been. Where it had been.

Jongwoo didn’t have to guess where it had gone though. He already knew.

His breath hitched, and for a split second, he swore he could feel it — the cool press of bone
against his skin, the unsettling weight of it around his wrist. But it wasn’t there. It was at
home, tucked away where no one would be able to see it. And yet, standing here, staring at its
absence, he felt it just the same.
A phantom weight. A reminder.

Jongwoo hated that he craved the feeling of the bracket around his wrist. Ever since he took it
off for the games, he felt…empty. Like something was missing. He hated that the teeth-lined
bracelet brought him comfort, in a twisted, inexplicable way. He hated how, when he wore it,
he could almost feel Moonjo’s presence beside him, the quiet reassurance of something dark
and familiar. It was a guilty pleasure, one he couldn’t seem to shake, no matter how much he
tried to deny it.

But it was after what felt like an eternity of Jongwoo battling his internal struggles that
Moonjo decided to speak up once again.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Moonjo said, admiring his shrine of teeth with great pride.

In response, Jongwoo simply scoffed at the man’s question before he eventually responded.

“Beautiful is a bit of a stretch.” Jongwoo humoured, as he pulled his eyes away from the loud
absence of the bracelet in the display drawer.

“One day you’ll see it differently.” Moonjo claimed, letting the corners of his lips curl up into
an eerie smile as he spoke.

“Whatever…” Was all Jongwoo managed, quickly deciding he didn’t want to dwell in this
room for any longer than needed. As he pulled away from the door, he swiftly resumed his
journey down the hallway to the last door - in which he assumed was the main bedroom.
And…he was correct.

Jongwoo took a large step inside the room before he began to study it in closer detail.

The master bedroom was serene and understated, with the large bed positioned perfectly to
face the expansive view of Seoul’s night skyline. The soft glow of city lights filtered through
the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting a gentle hue across the room. Above the bed, a sleek
TV was mounted on the wall, adding a touch of modern convenience without disrupting the
calm atmosphere. The red accent pillows and blankets gave the space a subtle warmth,
contrasting with the cool, dark tones of the room and the view outside. It felt like the perfect
balance of comfort and quiet luxury.

Jongwoo had to admit, Moonjo had good taste in interior design. The apartment was cohesive
and unbelievably visually appealing. Quite frankly, it looked like something straight out of a
home decor magazine.

As Jongwoo walked further into the room, his attention then fell on what he assumed was the
en-suite tucked away behind a door. Jongwoo didn’t hesitate to head toward it, approaching it
with an open palm before he twisted the door knob and headed inside.

And if he had been astonished by the other bathroom, this one surpassed it entirely.
Somehow.
The bathroom exuded an air of sleek sophistication, primarily dressed in deep black tones
that contrasted with the gleaming marble accents. Dual sinks sat neatly side by side, each
framed by minimalist fixtures that enhanced the clean lines of the space. Above them, a large
mirror stretched across the wall, amplifying the room’s sense of depth and light. The shower,
with its dual elegant, high-end rainfall showerheads, stood like a modern retreat in the corner.
But, the focal point of the room was the white freestanding bath. Positioned beneath a large
window, it looked out over the twinkling city below, the view only adding to the opulence of
the space.

Jongwoo studied the room in utter awe as he tried to comprehend just how extraordinary it
was. Then, as Jongwoo continued to try and take in the jaw-droppingly serene sight, a
thought suddenly crossed his mind. Turning to Moonjo who was happily standing beside
Jongwoo in utter silence, he voiced his thoughts.

“Moonjo, why did you decide to live in a fucking shithole when you had this place at your
disposal?” Jongwoo earnestly asked, a little shocked as to how Moonjo could ever pass up
this grandiose apartment for the grimy, disgusting studio at Eden.

“You weren’t here.” Moonjo’s reply came instantly - almost a little too fast - and Jongwoo
immediately furrowed his brows.

“Bullshit. What about Kihyuk? Wouldn’t you have stayed at Eden for him too?” Jongwoo
suddenly confessed. He didn’t know why he was bringing Kihyuk up now of all times, but
the thought was lingering on his mind ever since he entered the apartment and he just
couldn’t hold back from asking.

Moonjo raised an eyebrow up at the younger man’s sudden mention of Kihyuk, a little
amused by Jongwoo’s sudden urge to clarify the complexities of his relationship with Room
302. But, it wasn’t long until he responded anyway.

“Of course, but that was a little different.” Moonjo flatly declared, letting his statement sink
in before he added, “He failed me.”

Jongwoo narrowed his eyes on the older man, staying deathly silent. And it seemed that
Moonjo picked up on Jongwoo’s intentional silence as a cue to continue, so he did.

“Jagiya, you are my greatest masterpiece of all. I haven’t brought anyone here but you.”
Moonjo continued, his voice laced with an unwavering amount of adoration and affection.

And as much as Jongwoo felt he should shy away at the mere thought that Moonjo was
ecstatic that he had stripped Jongwoo down until only his raw anger remained, he felt a little
relieved. So that answered his question. Jongwoo studied the man’s eyes a little more closely,
trying to figure out if the man was lying or not. And it seemed that he wasn’t lying, as
Moonjo looked more honest than ever. So Jongwoo had been the only other person who had
seen this place? A little part of Jongwoo felt childish for being glad that he was special
enough to Moonjo to be able to come here, but it was quickly drowned out by the
overwhelming satisfaction that washed over him. He must be doing something right at the
very least.
Rather than outright responding to the man however, Jongwoo simply grunted in reply. Then,
he reeled his head back in and out of the bathroom before his attention was quickly stolen by
yet another pressing thought on his mind. As Jongwoo inspected the bed once more and
recalled the layout of the apartment, he suddenly realised something. If Moonjo had
converted the second bedroom into an office, then where—

Wait, was Jongwoo even staying over? Or was he just having a shower and letting his phone
charge?

Upon Jongwoo’s sudden switch in focus, Moonjo leaned forward and studied the confused
man intently.

“What’s wrong, jagiya?” Moonjo asked, his deep voice cutting straight through Jongwoo’s
temporary internal dilemmas.

“Oh, um…would I— Uh, would I be able to stay here for the night?” Was what Jongwoo
managed. Smooth, real smooth. But before Moonjo could answer, Jongwoo quickly
interrupted and spoke up again.

“It’s just that my studio is not around here and it’s already quite late and—” Jongwoo was
speaking far too fast, trying to get his attempt at a reasonable explanation as to why he
wanted to spend the night with Moonjo before it was too late. However, Jongwoo’s desperate
rambling was cut short when Moonjo stepped in.

“It’s fine. Stay as long as you want, I don’t mind.” Moonjo calmly said, a noticeable contrast
to Jongwoo’s sudden fast paced talking.

…Maybe one night was okay.

Jongwoo, taking a deep breath in to try and calm himself down, eventually shot the man an
appreciative smile before he turned his attention back onto the sole bed sitting in the middle
of the room.

“So…what’s the bed situation then?” It was a dumb question and Jongwoo knew it, but for
whatever reason, he felt compelled to ask it. Sure they had spent the last couple nights
snuggled up together on Jongwoo's bed at the games, but still. Jongwoo thought he’d better
ask before just assuming they’d continue that routine.

Moonjo let out a hearty chuckle at his question, the sheer volume of it almost startling
Jongwoo. When he eventually calmed down, he looked down at the younger man and
answered.

“If it bothers you that much, I can sleep on the couch and you can have the bed.” Moonjo
offered as he flashed Jongwoo a polite smile. But as soon as the words came out of his
mouth, Jongwoo found himself shaking his head before he could even catch himself.

“There’s no need for that. I think we’re well past the point of having to sleep in separate
beds.” Jongwoo insisted, not caring that he was basically implying that he wanted to sleep in
the bed with Moonjo. And of course, Moonjo seemed to love that idea, letting his already
massive smile grow impossibly larger at Jongwoo’s proposition. A brief silence engulfed
them, with Moonjo staring at Jongwoo with such pride and smugness whilst the younger man
simply pretended he wasn’t there. But after a few agonizingly long seconds, Jongwoo spoke
up and broke the silence.

“Well then, I think I’m going to have a shower now. I definitely fucking reek.” Jongwoo
confessed as he lifted an arm up to check that he did, in fact, smell like shit. But it wasn’t his
fault though. After spending a week in the games without proper access to any hygiene
facilities other than a toilet, Jongwoo was bound to have an odor. Especially after getting
stabbed and being wrapped in a bloody, raggedy t-shirt.

Moonjo simply nodded his head in response, his own unpleasant smell quickly coming to his
attention too. But before Jongwoo could move a muscle, Moonjo held up a finger as if to tell
the younger man to wait, before he quickly shuffled over to what Jongwoo assumed to be a
walk-in-wardrobe. And when the older man emerged a minute or two later holding a pile of
neatly folded clothes, it suddenly dawned upon Jongwoo that he wasn't well equipped at all.
Of course he wasn’t though, all of his belongings were back at his mediocre studio on the
other side of Seoul.

When Moonjo approached him, Jongwoo quickly realised what clothes exactly that the man
was holding. From what he could tell, it was a black, long-sleeved shirt that sat neatly on top
of a pair of grey sweatpants. Jongwoo’s eyes then landed on the pair of boxers that laid
lightly on top of it all. And it seemed that Moonjo seemed to take notice of Jongwoo’s
hesitance - especially with the boxers - because he decided to clarify the condition of the
clothing.

“It’s all clean.” He affirmed, before he pointed at the boxers and added, “And these are brand
new.”

That made Jongwoo feel a little better. He had no problem sharing Moonjo’s clothes - mostly
because of the fact that he had no other choice but still - but sharing underwear was a bit of
an ask. It seemed that Moonjo was prepared enough, and Jongwoo was thankful for his
precautions. But as Jongwoo took the pile off of Moonjo and turned on his feet and began to
head in the direction of the en-suite, the older man called out for him, ultimately causing
Jongwoo to stop dead in his tracks.

“Did you need help showering?” Moonjo offered sincerely. And while Jongwoo quickly
brushed off the subtle sexual innuendo that followed with that question, he began to really
comprehend Moonjo’s words. He looked down at his shirt where some parts had been
splotched in red due to the overly full and bloodied rags sitting underneath. Lifting his head
back up, Jongwoo swivelled around on his feet before he turned to face Moonjo.

“I think I’ll be okay…but I might just need some help with my shirt again.” Jongwoo
reluctantly claimed. He still wanted to hold onto a little bit of his dignity, despite needing
Moonjo to handle his shirt yet again.

The older man simply nodded in response, before the duo both began heading toward the en-
suite. When they arrived, Jongwoo placed the pile of clothes down onto the sink countertop
before he turned back around to Moonjo. Then, without needing much more invitation,
Moonjo immediately got to work.

Much like before, he made quick work of Jongwoo’s jacket - unzipping it before letting it
gently slide off of his shoulders and onto the floor. Jongwoo kicked it to the side and out of
his way before Moonjo took a hold of the bottom of his shirt. And as Moonjo slowly but
surely lifted it up and over his head, Jongwoo felt his cheeks redden ever so slightly. It was
weird - Moonjo had helped him get dressed not that long ago - and now he was undressing
him? The undeniable intimacy of the whole situation certainly made Jongwoo blush a little
involuntarily. He just hoped Moonjo wouldn’t notice.

But he did. Of course he fucking did.

Upon seeing the blood rise up to the younger man’s cheeks almost instantly after taking his
shirt off, Moonjo simply shot the man an agonizingly smug look as he tossed the shirt to the
side. Jongwoo, suddenly feeling a little self conscious under the man’s intense gaze,
purposefully looked away, hoping that Moonjo would take the hint that he wanted his privacy
now. And surprisingly enough, he did. But as Moonjo headed back toward the bedroom, he
stopped in the door frame before he turned back and spoke up.

“If you need anything, just let me know.” And while one could argue that Moonjo was simply
being a good host, Jongwoo knew that he had specifically chosen his words to convey a
rather different meaning. But just as Moonjo turned his head back around to start heading
into the bedroom, Jongwoo quickly called out after him.

“Wait!” He yelled, and Moonjo immediately swivelled around. Jongwoo watched as the older
man cocked his head to the side - the smile on his face growing impossibly bigger - before he
quickly realised he needed to spit out what he wanted to say before Moonjo got the wrong
idea.

“Do you have a spare toothbrush?” And as soon as the words came out of his mouth,
Jongwoo ignored how Moonjo slightly deflated upon hearing them. But with his temporary
disappointment aside, Moonjo pointed at one of the drawers under the left sink.

“Top drawer. There should be some extras.”

Jongwoo shuffled over to the drawer, pulling it open to reveal an unnecessary large pile of
packaged toothbrushes inside. Really? Jongwoo knew Moonjo was a dentist but this surely
had to be overkill. Who needed this many toothbrushes?

“Jeez, a little much don’t ya’ think?” Jongwoo jested as he grabbed two fistfuls of
toothbrushes before swiveling around to show Moonjo with mock incredulity. Moonjo didn’t
seem to be bothered by it though, as he simply let out a low chuckle in response before he
eventually replied.

“Dental hygiene is important, jagiya. You can never be too careful.” Moonjo shrugged,
entirely unfazed.
Jongwoo rolled his eyes before stashing away the other toothbrushes back onto the drawer
until he held a sole toothbrush in his hand. Then, when he realised Moonjo had yet to move -
as if he was waiting for Jongwoo to ask him for something else - he gestured for the man to
get a wriggle on. Moonjo obliged - a little reluctantly, but still - and headed into the bedroom,
shutting the bathroom door behind him as he did so.

And then he was alone for what felt like the first time in an eternity. Privacy never felt so
good.

But before Jongwoo went any further, he knew better than to leave the door unlocked. Who
knew what Moonjo would do, and Jongwoo certainly wasn’t going to find out the hard way.
So, not long later, the sound of the lock’s click echoed throughout the vast bathroom. If he
wanted privacy, he was going to get it, and there was nothing - no Moonjo - that could stand
in his way of doing just that.

Suddenly feeling a thousand times more secure, Jongwoo headed back over to the dual sink
before his eyes fell on his reflection in the mirror. Wow, he really looked like shit. He looked
like he had gone unbathed for about three weeks due to the gross layer of dirt and various
patches of dried blood he had accumulated over the course of the games. Speaking of blood,
Jongwoo let his eyes drift back down to the inherently bloodied makeshift bandage around
his torso.

He would probably have to ask Moonjo to change that after his shower. Jongwoo didn’t want
to risk having his guts falling out if he undid his bandages, so he settled on just having to
shower with them on. Sure they’d get completely soaked and the blood would just trickle
down onto his legs, but by the looks of the red towels Moonjo had hanging up, he’d have no
issues with concealing the blood.

And so, Jongwoo leant into the shower, fondling the shower taps for a few seconds before
finally figuring out how the damn thing worked, and let the water warm up while he began to
fully undress. Slowly, Jongwoo pulled both his pants and boxers down before he chucked
them to the side. Moonjo’s bathroom was a little cold, but with the steam radiating off of the
hot water, Jongwoo realised that feeling would not last much longer.

Soon enough, Jongwoo stepped into the shower and let the hot water rain down onto him.
And it hit him like a baptism, scalding away the grime, the exhaustion, the feeling of being
trapped in those god awful games. He braced a hand against the sleek black tiles on the
shower wall, watching as the week’s worth of filth swirled down the drain, proof of just how
long he’d let himself go. And much like he had expected, as his makeshift bandages began to
get waterlogged, the blood began to run — thin rivulets snaking down his abdomen, trailing
over his hips, his thighs, before swirling into the drain below. It was oddly captivating, the
way it moved, the way the deep red contrasted against his sun-kissed skin. He shouldn't have
been so fixated, shouldn't have felt the strange pull in his chest as he watched it slip away.
But he did.

But when Jongwoo eventually pulled his attention away from the strangely alluring sight, he
focused all of his attention on the feeling of the warm water washing over him. The pressure
was perfect, of course, and the steam curled around him like a second skin, coaxing the
tension from his muscles. For the first time in days, he could breathe. Really breathe.
Jongwoo’s eyes then settled on the neatly folded arrangement of red towels and washcloths
laying idly on a steel rack an arm’s reach outside of the shower. And so, Jongwoo reached for
the clean washcloth before he turned to face the bottled soap that rested on the shallow
shower niche. As he pumped out a few globules of soap into his washcloth before he ran it
under the hot water, waiting until it bubbled up a little, Jongwoo then began to scrub away
the last remnants of dirt and grime off of his skin.

He probably scrubbed a bit too hard - as his skin started to go red and raw, only heightened
by the sheer temperature of the hot water washing over him as he did so. But he didn’t care. It
felt absolutely riveting to be this clean again. And when he eventually washed away the soap
and let it travel down his body before swirling down the drain, Jongwoo really caught a whiff
of it.

The scent of the soap was sharp and invigorating, a clean burst of mint that seemed to invade
Jongwoo’s nostrils immediately. It was crisp, almost medicinal, but not in an unpleasant way
— more like a fresh breath. And seeing as Moonjo was weirdly obsessed with dental
hygiene, it didn’t really surprise Jongwoo that his soap would be minty too. While the scent
was invasive, it was strangely comforting as it seeped into his pores as if branding him.

Jongwoo then moved onto his hair. He used an unnecessarily large amount of both shampoo
and conditioner - that both carried that same minty, almost medicinal scent as the soap -
before he used his fingers to scrub his scalp impossibly hard. Once he finished, he used the
rainfall shower head to his advantage, letting the water completely wash out all of the dirt and
soap as it made its way down his body and into the drain.

He really shouldn’t be enjoying this as much as he was. But standing under the cascading
heat, in a bathroom far too luxurious for someone like him, Jongwoo let himself sink into the
indulgence. Just for a moment.

But perhaps a moment too long however. Jongwoo quickly lost track of time as he continued
to let the comforting heat of the water envelop him. It could have been a few minutes he
stood there or an hour, Jongwoo couldn’t tell. But he didn’t feel bad about it either way. If
Moonjo had a place like this, then he’d have no problem paying the water bills after Jongwoo
was done.

And so, Jongwoo continued to bask in the soothing steam and water for god knows how
much longer. But after what he assumed was only a few more minutes later, Jongwoo
reluctantly admitted that he couldn’t stay there forever. And as much as it pained him to do
so, Jongwoo reached out for the shower tap before flicking it around a few times until the
water finally stopped.

Who knew a shower could feel so good?

Jongwoo tried to shake off as much water as he could, before he eventually outstretched his
arm to grab one of the towels. Stepping out into the significantly less steamy and hot
bathroom, Jongwoo dried himself off using the large, velvety red towel. And just like he had
called it, the stray trickles of blood blended in seamlessly with the redness of the towel. Once
dry enough, Jongwoo then secured the towel around his waist, albeit a little low, careful to
avoid disturbing the wet bandages that clung to his torso. The towel draped snugly,
accentuating the sharp line of his V, a subtle reminder of his taut body beneath the fabric. He
adjusted it one last time, ensuring it was secure, before stepping away from the shower to
instead head off to the mirror.

Jongwoo fished out his toothbrush, ripping it clean out of the package, before he squeezed
some of Moonjo’s toothpaste onto it and began brushing feverishly. And after having not
been able to brush his teeth for a week, the taste of the fresh peppermint on his tongue was
oddly comforting. Jongwoo spent a good couple minutes longer than usual brushing his teeth,
trying to fish out everything and anything that was left behind after the games. And once he
called it day and spat out the toothpaste before he washed his mouth out, Jongwoo then
opened the drawer back up to search for some mouthwash. And when he found it, Jongwoo
didn’t waste a single second to pour himself a cap full of the liquid before he threw it back
and began sloshing it around in his mouth.

Jongwoo was thankful that Moonjo was a dentist at that very moment, as once he had spat
out the mouthwash, his eyes then settled on the roll on dental floss sitting in the drawer. He
fished it out and cut himself a long string before he got to work.

A couple minutes later, feeling more than just clean - almost like a new person entirely -
Jongwoo’s attention was once again brought back to his reflection in the mirror. His hair was
still a little damp from the shower, giving him an unkempt yet alluring look. As Jongwoo
used his fingers to comb over his hair in an attempt to try and style it a little better, the sound
of a knock echoed throughout the room.

“Jagiya? Is everything alright? Do you need any help?” Moonjo’s voice called out just
beyond the bathroom door. And Jongwoo thought about his response for a moment before he
answered.

He glanced down to the velvet towel wrapped snugly around his waist, quickly realising that
it was the only thing covering his lower region up at that moment. Jongwoo tugged on it ever
so slightly, making sure that it was as tight as could be, before accepting that it would have to
do. Jongwoo didn’t want to bleed into his new sweatpants or boxers, so he’d just have to wait
until Moonjo cleaned his wound up to get fully dressed.

But rather than responding to the man, Jongwoo simply swivelled on his feet and made his
way over to the door. And soon enough, when the click of the door unlocking sounded,
Jongwoo pulled open the door only to swiftly come face to face with Moonjo.

And almost immediately, the duo scanned each other over - taking in each other’s
appearance. From Jongwoo’s position, he quickly realised that during the time it took for
Jongwoo to have a shower, Moonjo had gone and had one of his own. He was dressed in his
typical long-sleeved black shirt and also adorning a similar pair of grey sweatpants. Jongwoo
wanted to roll his eyes at the sight - Moonjo had totally chosen matching clothes on purpose.
Who knew he was such a sap?

And while Jongwoo would never quite know what was going on in the other man’s head, he
had a rough idea. He knew his appearance was rather striking, the towel low on his waist, the
short, damp strands of hair falling carelessly over his forehead. He could also feel how the
blood, now diluted by the water, trickled from the edges of the bandages, and coursed down
his body. Jongwoo didn’t have to look to feel how the red toned liquid followed the contours
of his tan skin, slipping and flowing in and out of the curves of his lower body before it
pooled against the towel at his waist and swiftly soaked into it.

Jongwoo could feel the man’s piercing gaze on him, scanning over every little curve of his
freshly cleaned body in excruciating detail. But before it could last any longer, Jongwoo
awkwardly cleared his throat and spoke up.

“Uh…Anyway, um, could you redo my bandages please? They’re drenched.” Jongwoo asked
softly as he reluctantly tried to make eye contact with the older man. But rather than outright
responding to him, Moonjo let his eyes linger on Jongwoo’s exposed body for a second too
long before he eventually pulled them away to instead return his gaze.

“Of course, jagiya.” Moonjo practically purred. And so, Jongwoo quickly turned on his feet
and began making his way over to the sink. When he stopped a foot or two away from the
countertop, he turned back around to face Moonjo.

“So how are we going to do this? Should I stand or lay on the fl— Hey! What the fuck?”
Jongwoo’s blabbering was swiftly cut off when he felt two strong hands grab him by the
lower waist before he was gently lifted onto the space in between the two sinks. Almost
immediately, Jongwoo shot the man an unamused look at the sudden manhandling, but not to
his surprise at all, Moonjo seemed to be unfazed by his annoyed expression.

“I’m not entirely useless, you know.” Jongwoo muttered, crossing his arms in response.
Moonjo didn’t say anything after that, but he simply shuffled over to the other set of drawers
under the countertop before he began searching through its contents. And a few seconds later,
he pulled out some wet wipes and a roll of white bandages. Real bandages this time.

As Moonjo set them down beside him, Jongwoo noticed how the older man looked as if he
was trying to remember if he needed anything else. Not long after, Jongwoo assumed that he
had remembered what it was, as he suddenly spoke up.

“Stay right here.” And with that, Moonjo darted out of the room and out of sight. Jongwoo let
out a sigh at his words - it’s not like Jongwoo was going anywhere. When the man
reappeared less than a minute later with a few dentist-looking-gadgets, mini bottles, and
gloves, Jongwoo quickly realised what he had planned.

Moonjo approached him before setting down the remainder of his tools on the countertop
beside the younger man. Then, he lifted his gaze up to face Jongwoo before he spoke up.

“Alright, let me know if the pain ever becomes too much.” Moonjo paused, letting his
statement sink in before he added, “Now, arms up.”

And Jongwoo obliged as he lifted his arms up high enough for Moonjo to begin unwrapping
the raggedy t-shirt from around his torso. Thankfully, Moonjo made quick work of the
makeshift bandage, and Jongwoo was out of the bloody, sopping wet shirt in no time. The
warm air of the bathroom hit Jongwoo’s now exposed wound suddenly, but it wasn’t nearly
as jarring as it had once been. Moonjo then tossed the bloody rag to the side before he began
to assess the state of Jongwoo’s wound whilst he simultaneously threw on a pair of blue
gloves.

It probably didn’t help that Jongwoo had showered with his bandage on, as the skin that was
covered up by it was entirely stained red. And so, Moonjo leant to the side before he swiped
the bags of wet wipes and took a few out. Jongwoo watched as the man brought the wipe up
to his torso, gently cleaning off the remaining blood stains from his body. Moonjo’s fingers
were deliberate, almost reverent, as they hovered over Jongwoo's skin, the wet wipe moving
in slow, careful strokes. His touch was light, almost tender, as if each movement was
calculated to cause as little discomfort as possible. And even though Jongwoo had spent the
better half of an hour or so in the hot shower, he felt like he was burning under Moonjo’s
touch.

To say the least, it felt incredibly intimate. Moonjo was only a foot or two away from
Jongwoo, using a hand to clean his body while the other one was rested on his thigh. And of
course, due to the sudden close proximity and the sheer tenderness of Moonjo’s touch,
Jongwoo’s cheeks began to adorn the very same red colour of his towel. But thankfully,
Moonjo was too preoccupied with cleaning his skin to notice this time around.

And after about the fourth or fifth wet wipe joined the pile of the other bloodied wipes,
Moonjo called it a day. Jongwoo looked down at his exposed torso, the parts of his skin
where Moonjo had glossed over glistening under the bathroom’s lights. His eyes then fell on
his still very open and gaping wound. While it didn’t hurt nearly as much as before, Jongwoo
could still feel it ache with every micro movement he made.

His eyes then fell on Moonjo who leaned to the side and picked up a stack of medicinal gauze
pads. Then, he picked up a bottle that read—

Oh, for fucks sake.

“This might hurt, but you’ll feel better afterwards.” Moonjo assured as he held the small
bottle of rubbing alcohol in his hand.

“Whatever, let’s just get it over and done with.” Jongwoo reluctantly agreed, as he braced
himself for the sudden sting that would ripple throughout his body. And so, Moonjo didn’t
waste a single second as he popped off the lid before he placed a gauze pad against the
bottle’s opening and tipped some of the alcohol onto it. When the pad was adequately soaked,
Moonjo put the bottle down and positioned himself for what was about to come.

And when that alcohol soaked pad finally made contact with his wound, Jongwoo bit down
hard on his teeth. A few groans escaped him at the sudden stinging sensation, but he held
back from being any louder than that. Moonjo tried to work fast, wiping over the wound and
trying to disinfect it as much as he could. When he finally pulled away, Jongwoo wanted to
celebrate. Finally able to release his deathly tight clenched teeth, Jongwoo let out a relieved
sigh when Moonjo tossed the bloodied pad to the side.

But apparently, all good things must come to an end, as Jongwoo’s eyes then fell on the
sterile, metal tweezers in Moonjo’s hands that had seemingly materialized out of nowhere.
Fucking hell, this was going to be rough.
When Moonjo began to carefully pick out the leftover glass shards in his wound with the
tweezers, Jongwoo once again clenched his teeth deathly, but this time he closed his eyes too.
Not wanting to watch Moonjo fondle with his bloody wound, Jongwoo tried to disassociate
as much as he could so he wouldn’t have to feel the weird sensation of a long, cold metal
tweezer constantly reaching in and out of him.

Jongwoo stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity, and when Moonjo finally set down
the now bloodied pair of tweezers on the bench, he felt his shoulders relax.

“You’re doing so well, jagiya.” Moonjo cooed as he removed his dirtied gloves to instead
throw on another, much cleaner pair.

“I’m not a kid, Moonjo.” Jongwoo retorted, but his rebuttal lacked the typical venom he
would usually inject into his words. It seemed that Moonjo’s praise had knocked him a little
off of his game.

However, Jongwoo didn’t get to dwell on this newfound knowledge about himself for much
longer, as Moonjo went to pick up another bottle until Jongwoo shouted out and stopped him
in his tracks completely.

“Wait, wait! Surely we don’t need to do that again?” He desperately pleaded as he held a
hand out to try and push the bottle away. Moonjo let out an amused chuckle at the younger
man’s antics before he revealed what was actually in the bottle.

“Don’t worry, this is just a saline solution. It won’t hurt.” Moonjo confirmed as he showed
Jongwoo the bottle’s label that clearly read “ Sterile Saline Solution ” up close. Jongwoo
instinctively let out a relieved sigh at his words, letting his hand fall back down to his side.

Much like with the alcohol, Moonjo grabbed yet another gauze pad off of the countertop
before he pressed it against the open bottle and tipped a bit of the solution out onto it. And
Moonjo was right, thankfully. When he pressed the wet pad up against his wound this time,
Jongwoo didn’t feel any stinging sensation. All he felt was the wet, cold feeling of the pad
tracing over the skin around the wound. When he pulled away, Jongwoo looked down at his
increasingly more cleanly looking wound. It certainly felt a lot less populated with random
glass shards than before, so Moonjo had done a good job.

But his work wasn’t over quite yet, and Moonjo didn’t waste a second as he reached over and
grabbed the roll of bandages.

“Alright, arms up again.” Moonjo commanded, and Jongwoo swiftly lifted his arms up once
more.

And with that, Moonjo’s hands moved with deliberate precision, each motion methodical and
practiced as he carefully wrapped the bandage around Jongwoo’s torso. The fabric slid across
his skin, tight but not restrictive, covering the wound with a tenderness that seemed almost
out of place for someone like Moonjo. His fingers brushed lightly against Jongwoo’s skin as
he smoothed the bandage into place, ensuring it stayed firm without causing discomfort.
Then, as he circled his arm around Jongwoo once more until the roll of bandages was at the
front, Moonjo brought the fabric up to his teeth before he ripped it clean off. Quickly seizing
the bandage in his hand, careful to not let its tightness waver, Moonjo tucked in the end of the
fabric into one of Jongwoo’s previous folds, ultimately securing him down completely.

It was nice having clean bandages that were free of an overwhelming amount of blood and
grime. Jongwoo’s wound actually felt sterile for once.

“Thank you.” Jongwoo softly said, as he flashed Moonjo an appreciative smile. In response,
the older man reciprocated his smile with one of his own, before he began to strip the gloves
off of his hands.

But before Jongwoo could ask Moonjo to kindly leave so he could get dressed, Moonjo took
it upon himself to take the shirt off the pile to instead put it on the younger man himself.
Jongwoo went to object, but he quickly gave up knowing that he probably was going to have
to ask Moonjo for help anyway. And so, much like previous times, Jongwoo raised his arms
up and Moonjo took the opportunity to slide the black, long-sleeved shirt onto him.

And when Moonjo let go and Jongwoo’s upper body was finally covered, Jongwoo couldn’t
help but notice the slight smirk on the older man’s face as he scanned over him intently. He
was probably thrilled to see Jongwoo in his clothes, the bloody weirdo. Whatever, Jongwoo
was just glad he was finally covered up and in clean clothes.

Then, Moonjo broke the brief silence that had temporarily engulfed them and dismissed
himself.

“I’ll just be outside, come out when you’re ready.” He calmly exclaimed. And with that, the
older man quickly gathered up the abundance of both dirty and bloody clothes and wet wipes
before he began to make his way out of the bathroom, shutting the door closely behind him.

Jongwoo lingered on the countertop for a beat longer, trying to take in what had just
happened, before he eventually slid off. He was so grateful Moonjo had some background in
medicine, or otherwise, Jongwoo would have surely been dead by now.

He didn’t bother to lock the door this time around, wholeheartedly believing that Moonjo
wouldn’t actually randomly barge in. And thankfully, he didn’t. Jongwoo managed to get on
his boxers and sweatpants without any interruption. Then, before he left the bathroom,
Jongwoo did his best to tidy the place up as much as he could. With the red velvety towel
around his neck - a reminder that he still had to dry his hair at one point - Jongwoo quickly
tried to restore the bathroom to its original condition. And once he was satisfied enough,
Jongwoo headed out of the door and beyond the bedroom and into the living room where
Moonjo sat comfortably on the couch.

Jongwoo’s eyes didn’t linger long on the sight, as the loud rumbling of his stomach quickly
sent him hurtling back to reality. As he placed a hand over his stomach in response, he slowly
began to make his way over to Moonjo’s kitchen, hoping there’d be some sort of food he
could eat to satiate his hunger.

“Jagiya, let me cook some dinner.” Moonjo called out for him, and Jongwoo immediately
heard the man rising up from the couch before footsteps approached him in a matter of
seconds. However, Jongwoo refused and shook his head.
“No, let me cook. It’s the least I can do if you’re letting me stay over.” Jongwoo insisted as
he brushed the man’s offer off. Moonjo went to open his mouth to argue, but Jongwoo
swivelled around, effectively ending the debate as to who was going to cook their dinner.

Well, dinner was a bit of a stretch. It was… 12:03 AM according to the clock on the
microwave. Whatever, whether it was breakfast, lunch, or dinner, Jongwoo was going to eat
something regardless. He was starving.

As he approached a rather large set of double doors, he opened it to reveal an ungodly stash
of various canned and bagged goods. All non-perishables, unsurprisingly. If this was
Moonjo’s hiding place, he wouldn’t be stupid enough to waste his money on food that would
expire in a few weeks. And the fridge wasn’t much different - practically empty really - as it
only contained the basic necessities one would need. Well, he was just going to have to make
do with what he had.

Jongwoo picked two unopened ramen packets off of one of the shelves in the pantry and a jar
of some pickled veggies and kimchi from out of the fridge. It was like he was going back to
his college days where he used to eat ramen on the regular, but Jongwoo didn’t mind too
much. To be fair, in this cold weather, a delicious bowl of hot ramen would really hit the spot.

And so, after a little bit of help from Moonjo to help locate his pots and utensils, Jongwoo
began to boil some water over the gas fuelled stove. He cranked the heat up high and waited
until the water began to bubble.

However, as he absentmindedly stared at the water and waited for it to boil, he felt the towel
from around his neck get snatched before it settled back on top of his head.

“What the hell—” Was all Jongwoo managed before Moonjo began to dry off Jongwoo’s hair
from behind, using the towel to shake his hair dry. Jongwoo let out a loud gasp at the sudden
contact before he got it together and questioned the older man’s advances.

“What on Earth are you doing? I’m kinda busy here!” Jongwoo tried, but Moonjo only
replied with an amused laugh behind him.

“Just ignore me, I’ll try and dry your hair off while you cook.” Moonjo eventually confessed
as he continued to use the towel to dry out Jongwoo’s hair.

“Ignore yo— How the hell am I supposed to do that? You’re shaking my head around like a
lunatic!” Jongwoo cut himself off, the irritation evident in his voice.

“My apologies, jagiya. I’ll be gentler.” And with that, the shaking stopped. Moonjo began to
softly massage Jongwoo’s hair with the towel, using his slender fingers to reach every inch of
his head effortlessly.

And as much as he hated to say it, Jongwoo couldn’t deny that Moonjo’s touch was nice. So,
Jongwoo didn’t pull away. Instead, he just let out a grunt at the compromise before his
attention refocused back onto the pot of water that was now boiling. Jongwoo swiftly ripped
open the two packets of ramen before placing the dried noodles into the water before using a
pair of cooking chopsticks to stir them around as they cooked and began to separate.
Jongwoo and Moonjo remained like that for the next minute or so. On one hand, Jongwoo
would swirl around the noodles to try and make them cook quicker while Moonjo continued
to gently massage his hair dry. However, their brief moment of comfortable bliss was shortly
ruined by the obnoxiously loud knocking of the door to Moonjo’s apartment.

The duo immediately halted in whatever they were doing to instead turn in the direction of
the knocking that continued to echo loudly throughout the otherwise quiet apartment. After
about the third round of knocking, Moonjo dropped his hold on Jongwoo’s head, the towel
falling limp around his shoulders, before he began to head toward the door. Instinctively,
Jongwoo turned the gas off, not wanting the place to burn down in case he got preoccupied
with something else. Or someone else really.

Moonjo approached the deathly quietly, but his silence was unnecessary. Then, Jongwoo
heard the faint sound of something being slid under the door before Moonjo tilted his head
down to inspect the mystery item. As he bent down and took whatever it was in his hand, he
inspected it closely before he decided to head back over to an eagerly awaiting Jongwoo. And
when Moonjo approached him and held out what he was holding, Jongwoo froze.

It was a card. But no ordinary card, it was a card that had that same three shape symbol on it
from when they first were invited to the games.

Fuck.

Jongwoo snatched it out of Moonjo’s hands before he began to scan over it intensely. He
flipped it around to reveal an address followed by a time and place writing in that same black,
font as before. So the guard really hadn’t been kidding about offering them a chance to come
back to the games.

And all of sudden, Jongwoo felt enraged by the card in his hand. There was no fucking way
they were going back. As he stomped back over to the stove, he quickly switched the gas
back on - moving the pot over to a different burner in the process - and watched as the flame
began to burn. He could feel Moonjo’s eyes on the back of his head as he then began to rip
the card into jagged pieces until the words were no longer intelligible. Then, without any
hesitation at all, Jongwoo emptied the shredded up card into the fire, watching as the edges of
each piece curled up before eventually crisping up and turning to ash. When Moonjo took a
step forward until he was side by side with Jongwoo and also looking down at where the
remnants of the card rested, Jongwoo suddenly spoke up.

“We’re not going back.” Was all he said as he stared at the flame a little absentmindedly. And
Moonjo didn’t seem to be too disputed by Jongwoo’s sudden act of defiance, as he simply
hummed in agreement.

Jongwoo took a deep breath in to try and calm himself down, and quickly regained his
composure. He moved the pot back onto the heat and picked up the cooking chopsticks once
again to stir the noodles until they were fully cooked. It seemed that Jongwoo’s hair had been
adequately dried, as Moonjo didn’t resume his nice massages. But that didn’t stop him from
lingering by the younger man’s side along every step of the way as he finished up with the
ramen.
When Jongwoo finally placed the pot onto the four seater glass dinner table that was lined
with black and white placemats that complimented the space nicely, he couldn’t wait to dig
in. Sure it wasn’t anything spectacular, but he was desperate, and something was better than
nothing.

And so, for the next ten minutes or so, sitting quietly opposite each other, Moonjo and
Jongwoo dug into the ramen, chipping away at it until there was nothing left except some of
the soup. The warmth of the soup in Jongwoo’s stomach helped soothe his chills, and when
he finished, he let his eyes linger on Seoul’s beautiful skyline outside the window next to the
table. Jongwoo could look at it for days because it was that stunning. But he didn’t, and he
quickly refocused his attention on cleaning up the dishes.

Jongwoo had insisted that he was happy to do the dishes, but Moonjo was even more
stubborn than he was and refused to let Jongwoo do it alone. So, it was an unspoken
agreement, and the pair worked in a surprisingly efficient fashion. Jongwoo would wash all
the utensils and plates while Moonjo would dry them and put everything away in their
designated spots. And even though it was just washing the dishes, it was much like that one
time during Lights Out, because they worked together unbelievably well.

But just as Jongwoo was drying his hands off and was about to call it a night, a sudden
thought crossed his mind.

Oh fuck. He forgot to call Gi-hun.

Jongwoo dropped the towel in his hand onto the countertop before he began to scramble
around the apartment in search of his phone.

“Shit— Where’s my phone?” Jongwoo desperately muttered as he searched through the dirty
laundry where he had assumed he had left his phone. But Moonjo quickly called out to him,
effectively stopping in his search through the disgustingly gross clothes.

“Your phone is over here, I plugged it in while you were in the shower. It should be charged
now.” Moonjo reassured, and Jongwoo immediately relaxed his shoulders in relief. He
walked over to where Moonjo was pointing before he swiped the phone and opened it.

83% , perfect.

Jongwoo unlocked his phone and hastily opened the number pad, and in a matter of seconds,
he had already inputted Gi-hun’s number and was letting it ring. Frankly, he was surprised
that he had remembered his number in the first place. However, it was the sound of the line
connecting that made Jongwoo come back to the present.

“Hello? Gi-hun, is that you?” Jongwoo asked eagerly.

“Jongwoo! So glad you remembered to call. How is everything? Have you found somewhere
to stay for the night?” Gi-hun gleefully replied. And although Jongwoo and Gi-hun weren’t
exactly close friends, hearing the man’s voice was oddly comforting. But as he quickly
realised he had yet to respond to him, Jongwoo hastily answered him.
“Oh, um, yeah. I’m at Moonjo’s apartment right now.” Jongwoo confessed as his eyes then
fell on Moonjo who had retreated back to the couch and was now sitting with one leg hooked
over the other. He was reading a book too, more specifically Jongwoo’s copy of The
Metamorphosis.

Gi-hun made a surprised noise on the other end of the line, before he followed up with
another question.

“Oh! You were dropped off with Moonjo?” He asked, and Jongwoo hummed in agreement.
Then, Gi-hun took the opportunity to continue.

“It’s a little strange. Junhee and Hyunju were dropped off together too, but I was alone when
I woke up.” Gi-hun claimed, his tone of voice laced with mild concern.

Almost immediately, Jongwoo dropped his attention off of Moonjo’s calm figure to instead
comprehend what the older man had just said. As he thought about it more, he shriveled his
face up in confusion. Why would Gi-hun and Young-il be taken in separate vans if everyone
else had been dropped off in duos?

“Has he contacted you yet?” Was what Jongwoo replied with, still a little bewildered by the
strangeness of the situation.

“No, not yet. But maybe he’s still trying to find somewhere to stay. I’ll give him a few more
hours. He has to call.” Gi-hun declared, sounding more hopeful than ever.

“Yeah, sure…” Jongwoo tried to sympathize but he couldn’t help but think Gi-hun was being
a little too optimistic. Young-il had probably just run off somewhere and ditched everyone. It
was clear that the man had no qualms with openly betraying them just a few hours prior, so
what made Gi-hun think that he’d come back to them? Weird.

“Okay well, um, we’re in Yeouido now. Where is everyone else?” Jongwoo asked, breaking
the silence that had fallen over them for a few seconds.

“Ah, it seems I’ll be coming to you guys. Junhee and Hyunju are in the district just one over
from you. I’m a little further out, so I’ll just catch a taxi into the center of the city.” Gi-hun
confessed.

“Alright then, so what’s the plan? Are we still meeting up, or?” Jongwoo inquired sincerely,
and Gi-hun immediately responded with a resounding “ Mhm! ” before he continued.

“Yes, we are. There’s a chicken place near the hotel Junhee and Hyunju are staying at, so
we’re all going to meet up there tomorrow night. Or well seeing as it’s already the next day,
tonight technically.” Gi-hun humored, but Jongwoo couldn’t help but think the man’s
statement was still a little vague. But before he could ask any follow up questions, Gi-hun
added onto his comment.

“Don’t worry, I’ll text you the address and time a little closer to when we have to leave.” And
almost immediately, Gi-hun’s words caused Jongwoo to relax his shoulders ever so slightly.
“Alright then, goodbye Gi-hun. We’ll see you later.” Jongwoo politely exclaimed.

“Goodnight, Jongwoo.” Gi-hun concluded.

And with that, Jongwoo hung up on him before he put his phone back on charge. Suddenly
feeling a wave of exhaustion and tiredness out of nowhere, Jongwoo found himself yawning
before he could catch himself. He distantly heard the sound of Moonjo closing his book and
placing it on the coffee table bed he stood up and made his way over to Jongwoo.

“Ready for bed?” Moonjo asked softly, as he watched how Jongwoo’s blinks became longer
and slower, almost as if it was hard to stay awake.

In response, Jongwoo simply grunted in agreement. And it wasn’t long that Moonjo circled
an arm around his waist and began to guide them into the bedroom, flicking off the lights to
the rest of the apartment as he went. When they arrived, Jongwoo flopped down onto the bed
out of pure exhaustion. It had been a long day to say the least.

Jongwoo let himself sink into the mattress as Moonjo switched the lights off in both the
bathroom and bedroom, leaving only the bedside lamp and city lights to illuminate the room.
The sheets, cool at first, quickly warmed against his skin, the weight of the duvet settling
over him like a comforting embrace. He could feel the exhaustion in every muscle, the strain
from the day melting away with each slow breath. The pillows, plush and inviting, seemed to
mold perfectly to his head, offering a moment of rare peace. His mind, usually racing, quieted
for once, and he found himself lulled by the gentle pull of sleep. Everything, for the first time
in what felt like forever, felt still.

Quickly snuggling under the thick duvet, Jongwoo curled up as far as he could in the lavish
bed. It certainly was better than any bed he’s ever been in. And after spending a week
sleeping in that rickety old bed with Moonjo with the mattress that was as thick as a book,
Moonjo’s bed felt that much more amazing. Jongwoo, who had his back to Moonjo, distantly
felt the other man lift up the sheets on his side before he slotted in and covered himself up
too. Then, he turned to the side and switched the lamp off, now only leaving the faint hue of
Seoul’s nightlife below casting a dim light over them.

“Goodnight, jagiya.” Moonjo quietly whispered. And despite his low volume, Jongwoo
couldn’t help but notice a slight hint of disappointment in the man’s voice. It was probably
because Jongwoo was facing away from him rather than snuggling up to him like every other
night.

Jongwoo mumbled out his goodnight, but his attention was quickly turned to the shirt he was
wearing. As he brought the fabric up to his nose, Jongwoo immediately got a whiff of
Moonjo’s scent. That minty yet almost rustic smell that was undeniably familiar. After all,
Moonjo’s scent had become oddly comforting in the last few days he had spent with him -
almost like a cheat code to getting a good sleep. But as Jongwoo continued to quietly sniff
the man’s shirt to try and seek out comfort, Moonjo propped himself up beside Jongwoo
before he spoke up.

“Jagiya, how much longer are you going to continue to smell my shirt and ignore me?”
Moonjo softly muttered, and Jongwoo immediately froze as his eyes jolted open upon getting
 caught being a weirdo.

Jongwoo contemplated trying to act as if he had already fallen asleep, but there was no point.
Moonjo clearly knew he was still awake. And plus, having Moonjo strapped to his side
would mean he wouldn’t have to sniff his own shirt anymore. He had the real deal after all.

So, in the end, Jongwoo gave in. He rolled over gently - careful not to disturb his wound
anymore than needed - before he shuffled in closer to Moonjo. And almost immediately, the
older man pulled him into a warm embrace, their bodies fitting together like puzzle pieces.

“Goodnight, Moonjo.” Jongwoo mumbled into the older man’s chest, feeling his body
succumbing to sleep at a rapid speed. But before Jongwoo could doze off, Moonjo muttered
something softly into his ears.

“Sweet dreams, jagiya. Dream about me.”

Then, Jongwoo fell fast asleep. But rather than being on edge and sleeping on the small,
uncomfortable bed at the games, Jongwoo was in Moonjo’s arms. In his bed. In his
apartment.

And it felt fucking amazing.

Chapter End Notes

Wowies, that was a lot longer than i had anticipated. BUT WHO LIKED SEEING
DOMESTIC MJJW?? Because i sure as hell did!! ❤ They’re so cute together.

And ofc, Moonjo being the absolute sugar daddy that he is, pulling through with the
BEAUTIFUL apartment. Jongwoo really hit the jackpot. Tall, handsome, and rich! (and
insane, but shhh!) What a lucky man he is. P.S did you guys like my descriptions?? Took
my so much brain power honestly 😭 Maybe that’s why it took my so long LMFAO

This chapter was kinda a set up for the next, so please stay tuned!! Sorry it took so long,
i got a little distracted. But i told myself today that i’d be damned if i didn’t get this
chapter out. So, here i am, sitting on my bed at 11:42 PM just barely scraping in the time
limit i made for myself. But i did it and that’s all that matters!!

Not long now people! I’d have to say that there may only be 2-3 chapters left (leaning
more toward 2) so WE’RE ALMOST THERE!! Shit, this fic went on way longer than i
had expected but im so here for it. Mjjw really helping me recover from my writer’s
block. Anyway, that’s all i have to say for this chapter. Hope u liked the domestic fluff
of these two and thanks for all your support!!

quick shoutout to my tiktok: @loustatclub coz i made an edit that featured both 457 &
mjjw (and hannigram too)!! Love them all sm
 The Burden of Liberation
Chapter Summary

“To those we left behind.”

Chapter Notes

IM BACKKKKK!! Sorry for the wait everyone, but here is your next chapter! I
struggled a bit of how I wanted to end this fic without it feeling too abrupt, but fear not,
as now I definitely know how I want to end it. :))

P.S. the last chapter might not be as long as my typical 10k/12k+ chapters, but i think
that’s fair considering we’re in the home run now. :)

Thanks for waiting everyone! Enjoy some more sweet mjjw moments! And then a little
bit of drama, but i love drama soooo

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Jongwoo awoke to the stray rays of sunshine filtering through the velvet grey curtains casting
a light over his face. Groaning as he began to fully come to his senses, Jongwoo dropped an
arm from where it was resting under the pillow to instead pat the…empty space next to him?

Where had Moonjo gone?

Immediately flickering his eyes open and fighting through the instant strain that followed,
Jongwoo quickly realised he was resting alone in Moonjo’s bed. Where on Earth could this
man possibly have gone?

However, his moment of confusion and potentially a bit of disappointment was short lived.
Now having come to his senses fully, Jongwoo suddenly got a whiff of something sizzling in
the kitchen just beyond the bedroom door. The rich, savoury fragrance filled the air, making
Jongwoo’s stomach tighten in anticipation. When his stomach grumbled only moments later,
he quickly realised that he was far hungrier than he had once thought.

So, with a few final stretches before psyching himself up to finally get out of bed, Jongwoo
sat up before he swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Anticipating the coldness of
Moonjo’s concrete floors, Jongwoo was thrown a little off guard when his feet grazed over
something soft. Jongwoo snapped his head down - hoping that it wasn’t a bug or rodent that
he was touching - before his eyes settled on the deep, wine red slippers placed neatly at his
feet.

Oh.

Jongwoo wanted to scrunch his face up in disbelief, but he quickly brushed it off as he
slipped his feet into the silk slippers. Honestly, who knew Moonjo had been living so poshly?
It was just slippers, but Jongwoo couldn’t help the small sliver of him that felt like royalty.

Whilst his feet dragged all the way out of the bedroom, Jongwoo used his palm to rub his eye
in an attempt to scrub away the grogginess from the morning. But as he exited the bedroom
and stepped foot into the living room, Jongwoo brought his hand down when he was
suddenly drawn to Moonjo’s figure standing over the stove with waves of smoke wafting up
into his face. However, it seemed that due to the loud sizzling of the pan, Moonjo didn’t hear
Jongwoo’s arrival. So, quickly realising this, Jongwoo merely grunted to make his presence
known.

Moonjo’s reaction was almost instant, swivelling around to face the still very sleepy Jongwoo
who was now approaching him. Jongwoo did his best to ignore how Moonjo’s eyes lingered
on him for a beat too long - probably taking in the sight of him wearing his clothes yet again -
before the man spoke up. By the time he did so, Jongwoo had found a spot on a barstool at
the black marbled island.

“Good morning, jagiya. How did you sleep?” Moonjo asked genuinely, trying to juggle
returning Jongwoo’s eye contact and also not letting whatever he was cooking burn to a crisp.
In response, Jongwoo simply nodded before he eventually replied.

“Yeah, not bad. You have a nice bed.” Jongwoo confessed without an ounce of
embarrassment.

It was true, Moonjo’s bed was unbelievably comfortable. Perhaps the fact that he had spent
the past week on a sad excuse of a bed made Moonjo’s bed a million times comfier, but either
way, it was fabulous. It felt like a massive marshmallow in a way, and at one point, Jongwoo
felt like he was going to drown in the sheer softness of it. But if he were to be honest, he had
also been sleeping better this past week than any other time in his life. And Jongwoo only
had Moonjo to thank for that. Whether he slept on the shitty mattress - if he could even call it
that - in the games or in the cloud that was Moonjo’s bed, there was always a common factor
between them.

Moonjo.

He had that effect on Jongwoo for some reason. How could the person who set him on edge
be the only one who could put him at ease?

But as Moonjo let out an amused chuckle at his straightforwardness, Jongwoo let his eyes
drift over to the clock on the microwave. And it was…2:43 PM. Shit, he had slept for a
truckload of time.
“That’s good to hear. How is your stomach feeling?” Moonjo followed up as he continued to
stir around the contents of the pan. Jongwoo quickly snapped out of it and returned his
attention back to Moonjo before he responded.

“It feels empty. What’re you cooking?” Jongwoo quipped, tilting his head to the side to try
and scope out exactly what Moonjo was cooking. He knew Moonjo was asking about his
wound, but Jongwoo’s mind was elsewhere.

“Gyeran-mari and rice.” The older man immediately replied as he simultaneously took the
pan off of the heat to slide the rolled up egg omelette onto the chopping board.

Jongwoo hummed in response, seemingly content with the meal before a thought suddenly
crossed his mind.

“When did you get eggs? I didn’t see any in the fridge last night.” Jongwoo asked as he
watched Moonjo skillfully slice the omelette into even pieces.

“I went out when you were asleep.” Moonjo calmly offered, before he quickly added, “Did
you miss me, jagiya?”

“Yeah, you wish.” Jongwoo retorted, but even he knew that it hadn’t come off the way he had
intended - even Moonjo had shot him a knowing smile. But there was no way in hell that
Jongwoo was going to tell Moonjo that a little part of his heart dropped when he patted that
empty space in the bed earlier that morning. That would be…embarrassing. Plus, Moonjo
would have a field day with it and Jongwoo just couldn’t be bothered to deal with Moonjo’s
shit after having just woken up.

Anyway, while Jongwoo continued to mull in silence, Moonjo began to bring the various side
dishes over to the dining table. Quickly realising that he was far too hungry to care anymore,
Jongwoo made his way over to the table and swiftly sat down. Then, Jongwoo watched as
Moonjo placed down the plate of gyeran-mari, a share size bowl of rice, and finally a few odd
plates of vegetables and kimchi. And after quietly thanking Moonjo for the meal, Jongwoo
didn’t hesitate to dig in.

Much to his surprise, Moonjo was actually a good cook. Sure it was just an omelette, but
paired with the side dishes and ketchup, Jongwoo felt like he was in heaven. A small part of
Jongwoo suddenly felt a jolt of jealousy as to how Moonjo could be so capable - rich, having
a great job, being a decent cook, and being annoyingly handsome - but he quickly shut it
down. Times must really be rough if he was getting jealous of a serial killer.

As he placed his chopsticks down to signify that he was done with his meal, he reached over
to his cup of water before lifting it up to his mouth and throwing it back. Once he finished, he
cleared his throat and began to speak up.

“Alright, I’ll just have a shower and then head off.”

And almost immediately, Moonjo, who hadn’t finished eating quite yet, brought his metal
chopsticks slamming down onto the table - the loud echo of metal against glass ricocheting
off of the apartment’s walls. Jongwoo was surprised that the table didn’t smash with the
amount of force Moonjo had put in.

“No you won’t.” Moonjo’s voice was low and coarse, and it almost sent shivers down
Jongwoo’s spine. Sure Moonjo had an unnervingly civil tone usually, but this was different.
He sounded utterly and deathly serious.

“No—?” But before Jongwoo could finish, Moonjo cut in.

“No.” He suddenly declared, continuing on with his eerily serious tone from earlier.

“I don’t think that’s your choice to make, Moonjo.” Jongwoo retorted, his brief moment of
surprise now long gone and replaced with something much more pensive. Sometimes, with
all the love and affection that Moonjo showered onto him, Jongwoo often forgot who he was
really dealing with.

A manipulative, dangerous man who had an unhealthy obsession with him.

Then, a temporary silence fell over them. Jongwoo studied the man opposite him who
seemed to be contemplating his next words. And after he had taken a swig of water from his
own cup, he broke the silence and spoke up.

“Do you want to leave, jagiya?” Moonjo asked solemnly, pausing before adding, “Do you
want to leave me?”

Jongwoo almost got whiplash from Moonjo’s sudden tone change yet again. But before he
could dwell on the man’s unstable mood, Jongwoo’s mind drifted elsewhere.

He didn’t want to leave. Honestly, that was the last thing he wanted to do. Moonjo, with his
flaws and all, had somehow managed to wriggle his way into Jongwoo’s heart, and it seemed
that he’d be staying there for a while.

…So what was Jongwoo doing? Could this perhaps be the last piece of him resisting?

“Jagiya?” Moonjo’s deep voice swiftly brought Jongwoo out of his internal conflicts and
back to reality. But before Jongwoo could speak up, Moonjo continued.

“Why do you keep trying to push me away?” The older man questioned sincerely. And before
he even knew it, Moonjo had risen from his seat and was making his way over to Jongwoo.
Suddenly feeling a little nervous, Jongwoo also rose from his seat in response. Not long after,
the duo wearing matching clothes were standing toe to toe with each other.

“I- Uh…um...” Was all Jongwoo managed as he desperately tried to avoid eye contact with
Moonjo. But it didn’t work for much longer.

“Look at me.”

And when Jongwoo failed to listen to his command, he suddenly felt cold fingers grip onto
his uvula. Moonjo, using his hold on the younger man’s neck, forced Jongwoo to look at him
and finally return his gaze.
“Jagiya, is that what you really want? To leave?” Moonjo’s tone was painstakingly civil as he
spoke.

Jongwoo suddenly felt at a loss for words. The cold fingers on his neck certainly didn’t help.
He wasn’t being choked, but for whatever reason, it felt damn near impossible to get anything
out even if he tried.

“If that’s what you want, I’ll let you go.” Moonjo paused, letting his statement sink in, before
he continued, “I’ll let you return to your life. Your menial studio. Your mundane job.
Everything.”

No.

Jongwoo didn’t want that. His life was a flaming pile of trash before he met Moonjo. And
fair, Moonjo may have helped in fueling the fire until it eventually exploded - but now, the
flames had died down, leaving behind only burnt, brittle ashes. There were still a few hot
embers, a few half-burned remains, but for some inexplicable reason, Jongwoo felt at peace
when he was with Moonjo.

The fire could reignite at any time, of course. But Jongwoo was fine with that. Moonjo held
both the extinguisher and the match. And Jongwoo was fine with that too.

This is where he wanted to be. With Moonjo.

But even with these thoughts swirling around in his mind, when Jongwoo opened his mouth
to object, nothing came out. So, Moonjo took it as an opportunity to continue.

“If you want to leave, then leave.”

And with that, he dropped his hold on Jongwoo’s uvula and let his arms rest idly by his side.
At the sudden retraction, Jongwoo quietly gasped as if his breathing had stopped at some
point throughout it all. But, as he garnered enough strength to finally speak his mind,
Jongwoo shook his head before voicing his displeasure about the man’s offer.

“I don’t want that.” Jongwoo countered, his voice low and stern.

Moonjo didn’t say anything in response, rather cocking his head to the side inquisitively as if
to encourage Jongwoo to go on. He wanted to hear Jongwoo say it. And so, he did.

“I want…I want to stay with you. Here.” Was what came out. His voice trembled ever so
slightly as he spoke, but that didn’t diminish the sincerity of his words at all. But this time
around, Moonjo did speak up.

“Are you sure, jagiya? Once I sink my teeth in, I can’t guarantee that I’ll let go.” Moonjo
replied flatly as he scanned over the younger man in front of him intently.

“Yes.” Jongwoo paused, before he confidently added, “I want this.”

And it was true. Jongwoo wanted this more than anything. Jongwoo then watched as the
corners of the man’s lips curled up into a satisfied smirk, before he outstretched his arms as if
to invite the younger man into his arms. And Jongwoo didn’t hesitate to embrace him.

As the duo swiftly intertwined and pulled each other close into a loving hug, Jongwoo was
the first to break the silence that had temporarily enveloped them.

“I didn’t think I had much of a choice to begin with anyway.” Jongwoo humoured as he let
his head rest against the older man’s shoulder.

“No, no you didn’t.” Moonjo’s response was instant and not at all surprising. Even if he
didn’t want it, Jongwoo didn’t think Moonjo would leave him alone anyway. Moonjo’s
version of “letting him go” was probably just letting Jongwoo go on with his daily life while
he lurked in the shadows.

“We’ll be together forever, did you forget?” Moonjo quickly added, his chest vibrating
against Jongwoo’s check. And Jongwoo couldn’t help but think that his words came off as
both a threat and a promise. He knew he couldn’t escape Moonjo. But maybe…that wasn’t
such a bad thing.

And so the duo stood there in each other’s arms for god-knows how long. Time always
seemed to pass funny when Jongwoo was in the presence of Moonjo. But he certainly wasn’t
complaining. He’d stay in Moonjo’s arms for eternity if it was possible, and then he wouldn’t
need anything else in life. Moonjo made his life complete in a weird, fucked up way.

But while he wanted to stay there forever, Jongwoo knew he couldn’t. After all, they were
going to have to meet up with Gi-hun and the others sooner or later. So, when Jongwoo
eventually pulled away from the older man, he changed the topic to address something that
had been plaguing his mind ever since he had first arrived.

“If I’m going to stay here, I’m going to need some clothes of my own. I can’t just keep
wearing yours.” Jongwoo confessed.

“I don’t mind if you borrow my clothes, jagiya.” Moonjo smiled as he once again scanned
over the younger man who was still adorning a matching set with him.

Jongwoo didn’t seem too amused by this idea however, as he immediately shot the older man
a look as if to say “Yeah, of course you wouldn’t you weirdo.”

“That’s not the point. We’re going to get my stuff before we have to meet up with the others
tonight.” Jongwoo objected as he held up a hand to swat away the man’s ludicrous idea. He
couldn’t solely rely on Moonjo for everything. That would be unhealthy.

Moonjo seemed a little displeased by his response, even going as far to let a small pout grace
his face, but his disappointment soon faded when he nodded in response.

And so, after the dishes were cleaned and dried, the duo set off in getting ready for the night.
It was only 3:34 PM now according to the clock on the bedside table, so they had plenty of
time to come back to unpack his belongings.
…

Soon enough, Jongwoo was waiting outside of the apartment door while Moonjo began to
lock up. Letting his eyes scan over the man’s familiar get up of that long, white t-shirt and
black dress pants, Jongwoo was so grateful that he had stood his ground. After he had taken a
shower, Moonjo had tried to convince Jongwoo to match him yet again. But thankfully,
Jongwoo had outright refused and told Moonjo that he’d rather go naked than match with
him. However, Jongwoo had quickly realised his poor selection of words when that stupid
smug smile crept up Moonjo’s face immediately in response.

Lord, he was such a pervert.

But after what felt like a millennia of trying to dig himself out of that hole, Jongwoo had
finally managed to persuade Moonjo to let it go. And so, Jongwoo hopped back into the
clothes he was wearing when he had arrived here, but this time, they were much cleaner and
significantly less stained. He distantly wondered how Moonjo was able to get the blood stains
out of his clothes so effectively, but then again, Moonjo was probably a veteran at that sort of
shit.

When the sound of the apartment door locking finally sounded, Jongwoo was brought out of
his trance and hurtled back to reality. So, with a duffel bag in one hand each - bags that
Moonjo had so kindly lended - the duo set off down the hallway and into the elevator. And
when they arrived in the lobby, Jongwoo let Moonjo guide him to where the taxi was already
waiting.

As they piled into the car and buckled their seatbelts, Jongwoo went to open his mouth to
inform the driver of his address; he was quickly cut off when the driver butted in.

“So we’re just going to Yeokchon-dong, correct?” The driver reiterated.

Jongwoo furrowed his brows almost immediately. How the fuck…?

“Oh, um…yeah. That’s correct.” Jongwoo confirmed. And when the driver started to speed
off, Jongwoo slowly turned to face Moonjo with disbelief plastered across his face.

“How do you kno— Actually, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.” Jongwoo tried, but
he quickly gave up. Of course Moonjo knew where he lived, how else would he have gotten
into the games if he hadn’t followed Jongwoo wherever he went?

Whatever…

The car ride was quiet, but not uncomfortable. Sure Moonjo knew his address down to a T,
but Jongwoo still felt comfortable. So, Jongwoo let his attention instead focus on the
buildings and shops that whizzed past as they got closer and closer to his apartment studio.

When they finally arrived and the driver pulled up just outside the building, Jongwoo thanked
the driver regardless but let Moonjo pay. It was the least he could do for being a creeper.
But when Jongwoo reached around to pat his back pocket where his keys usually belonged,
his heart dropped when his hands didn’t graze over the familiar outline of them. Jongwoo
snapped his head around as he frantically began to search every pocket and crevice of his
pants and jacket. His efforts proved futile though. So, he turned to the only person who could
have misplaced them.

“Moonjo, what did you do with my keys?” Jongwoo accused as he stared at the man with
desperate eyes. Surely they hadn’t come all this way without his ke—

“I apologise, jagiya. I must have taken them out to wash your pants.”

Fuck.

Jongwoo felt his fists clench up by his side. He wasn’t angry at Moonjo, he was more angry
at himself. Moonjo didn’t want to ruin his washing machine, that's all, so it was Jongwoo’s
fault that he hadn’t checked if he had his keys before he left the apartment. And unlike
Moonjo, Jongwoo’s studio was not nearly as fancy and did not have a keypad. He had a good
ol’ fashioned set of keys, so he was now in a bit of a pickle to say the least.

“Ah, shit…” Jongwoo relented, letting out a disappointed sigh as he brought two fingers up
to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“Sorr—” But before Moonjo could apologise for the second time, Jongwoo stepped in.

“No, don’t be. I should’ve checked that I had them on me before we left the house. I’ll just
try and convince the receptionist to let me in.” Jongwoo interrupted, not at all letting Moonjo
apologise for something that wasn’t his fault.

And so, Jongwoo resumed his journey into the building before he walked up to the reception
desk. To call it a desk was an overstatement though, as it was really just a hole in the wall. In
comparison to the lobby of Moonjo’s apartment, Jongwoo suddenly felt unbelievably poor.
He had accepted his fate before, but after being introduced to the luxury of Moonjo’s
apartment, Jongwoo felt like he couldn’t settle for anything less anymore. Whatever, he was
getting out of this place anyway.

“Go wait over there, I’ll only be a few minutes.” Jongwoo suggested as he pointed over to the
clearly used and worn sofa leaning against a cracked wall in the corner. Moonjo looked at
Jongwoo and then at the sofa, before he turned back to face the younger man and shrugged.
And so, when Moonjo finally, albeit a little reluctantly, sat down on the couch, Jongwoo
turned to face the receptionist.

…It did not, in fact, take a few minutes. Jongwoo spent the better half of 15 minutes trying to
convince the receptionist that he actually lived there and wasn’t just some creep trying to get
inside some poor person’s room.

“Sir, as I’ve already told you, I cannot let you in without some form of identification.” The
woman repeated for about the fifth time.
“And like I’ve said, my ID is in my room. What do you want me to do here? I just need to get
some clothes out and then I’ll go. Please?” Jongwoo said sassily. His patience was running on
a thin line. Of course it was good that the studio had some sort of security in place - unlike
his old residence - but this was just inconvenient.

“I’m sorry, sir. You said you left your keys at your partner's place, so perhaps you could try
and contact them to get them to drop them off.” The receptionist repeated, her voice still
holding strong despite Jongwoo’s partially annoying determination.

“Yes, but his apartment is on the other side of— Oh, for fucks sake.” Jongwoo resigned,
ultimately giving up after an agonisingly long 15 minutes. And so, Jongwoo sighed in
irritation before he swivelled on his feet and made his way over to Moonjo, who, in return,
stood up as soon as he approached.

“No luck?” Moonjo asked and Jongwoo shook his head.

“I need an ID but it is inside my room. Isn’t that just so convenient?” Jongwoo sarcastically
retorted, before letting his head drop in defeat.

“We can come back tomorrow.” Moonjo offered, but Jongwoo immediately shut the idea
down.

“No.”

Moonjo cocked his head in confusion, a little amused as to what Jongwoo had planned.

“You know how to pick a lock, right?” Jongwoo questioned suddenly, and it seemed to catch
Moonjo off guard just a little bit. But, he recomposed himself and eventually responded.

“What makes you think that?” Moonjo countered as he scanned over the younger man
inquisitively. And almost immediately, Jongwoo flashed him a look as if to say “You really
want me to answer that?”. Then, Moonjo let out a light chuckle at his reaction before he
finally answered Jongwoo’s question.

“Yes, it just so happens that I do. What do you have planned?” Moonjo inquired eagerly.

“Well, first we’ll hack into the security system and shut down all the cameras. Then we’ll
rappel down the side of the building and break in through the vents.” Jongwoo paused,
relishing in the confused look that his words gave Moonjo, before he continued, “What the
fuck do you think? We’re picking the damn lock to my studio!" J remarked sarcastically, his
voice purposefully lower than normal.

And of course, Moonjo didn’t seem to be thrown off by Jongwoo’s annoyed retort because he
quickly followed up with a question of his own.

“Won’t she see us if we go up the elevator?” Moonjo asked as he nodded in the direction of
the receptionist who kept stealing glances at the pair.

“Not if we go the back way.” Jongwoo’s response was immediate.

And so, after giving the receptionist a half hearted smile, Jongwoo guided the older man back
outside and then down the alleyway that neighboured his studio building. When Moonjo
realised that they’d be entering via the fire exit, he opened his mouth as if to say “Ah.” before
he began to follow Jongwoo through the door and up the stairs.

By the time they made it to the sixth floor, Jongwoo did his best to compose himself enough
so he wasn't a huffing and puffing mess. But after catching his breath, Jongwoo went to open
the door to his floor before Moonjo swiftly spoke up and stopped him.

“Are there security cameras?” Moonjo asked.

“No, the owner installed them ages ago but they don’t work. But no one here usually has to
worry about anyone entering each other’s room uninvited.” Jongwoo said, knowing that his
last words were a direct jab at Moonjo and the rest of the freaks at Eden. And it seemed that
the man had gotten what he was referring to, as a small smile flashed across his face in
response.

With that being established, Jongwoo swivelled back around to push open the door to his
level. Moonjo followed closely behind as Jongwoo led them both to one particular room that
was near the end of the hallway.

“This one’s me.” Jongwoo announced as he stopped in front of a door that read “607”.

Moonjo simply nodded in response, before he fished something out of the pocket in his pants.
And it was…a paperclip? Now how the hell did he get that? It seemed that Moonjo had
noticed the bewildered expression on Jongwoo’s face, as he quickly confessed as to how the
paperclip in his hands had seemingly materialised out of nowhere.

“I found it while I was waiting for you. It was holding a stack of old magazines together.”
Moonjo offered, and Jongwoo quickly brushed it off.

“Whatever, just get on with it.” And without needing much more encouragement from
Jongwoo, the older man got to work.

Moonjo smoothly unfolded the paperclip, bending one end into a makeshift pick while the
other remained as a grip. Ideally, he’d need a tension wrench to apply pressure to the lock’s
cylinder, but Moonjo wasn’t the type to let technicalities stop him. He made do with his
thumb, pressing lightly against the keyhole.

He slid the straightened end of the paperclip into the lock, carefully feeling for resistance.
One by one, he nudged the pins upward, listening for the faintest clicks. Jongwoo was behind
him now, shifting with curiosity. He wanted to know what exactly Moonjo was listening for.

“What—”

Moonjo shushed him with a quiet tsk, and Jongwoo immediately clamped his mouth shut.

“Rude.” Jongwoo mumbled under his breath, but Moonjo didn’t catch it as he was too
preoccupied with the lock.
Regardless, slowly and deliberately, Moonjo worked each pin into place, relying on touch
alone. The lock was cheap, the kind that wasn’t designed to keep out someone like him. He
could feel it giving way.

With a final, gentle flick of his wrist, the last pin fell into place. The tension cylinder gave a
satisfying click, and Moonjo turned it with ease.

“That was…weirdly quick.” Jongwoo muttered as he stared at the door to his room that was
now wide open.

“What can I say? I’m experienced.” Moonjo confidently retorted as he gestured an arm out to
invite Jongwoo inside.

“Verrrry cool. Do you want a medal for that, creep?” Jongwoo jested before completely
pushing past Moonjo and heading into his sad excuse of a room.

Jongwoo’s room was a step up from Eden, but only just.

It was still small, still suffocating in its own way, but at least it had a working window — a
single, narrow pane of glass that let in a sliver of daylight, enough to remind him that the
outside world still existed. The walls were whiter than before, though time had still carved its
marks into them — cracks, dents, faint stains that never fully faded no matter how hard
someone scrubbed. Proof that this place had been lived in, worn down.

The bed was a single, pushed into the corner like an afterthought, the sheets slightly rumpled
but otherwise untouched — he barely slept in it anyway. A small desk, cluttered with a few
stray papers and his laptop, sat against the opposite wall. The wardrobe was modest, barely
big enough to hold his clothes, but Jongwoo didn’t need much. He never had.

It was better than Eden, sure. But really, anything was better than Eden.

And so, Jongwoo didn’t waste a second to rip open the doors to his wardrobe before he
started to shove anything and everything into his duffel bag. Whilst he did that, Moonjo
began to do the same with the meagre belongings in and around his desk.

However, as Jongwoo continued to strip his clothes off of their respective coat hangers, he
heard it. That familiar jingle.

Of teeth.

Almost immediately, Jongwoo snapped his head around and looked in horror when his eyes
fell on Moonjo holding the bracelet. That bracelet. The one Jongwoo should’ve tossed,
burned, destroyed — anything but kept. And yet, here it was.

Jongwoo barely looked up. “Give it back.”

Moonjo twirled it between his fingers, head tilting with quiet amusement. “You kept it.”

Jongwoo lunged forward in an attempt to snatch it out of the man’s grasp, but Moonjo was
faster, stepping back like he was playing some childish game.
“I was going to ditch it after I came back from the games.” Jongwoo tried to sound
indifferent, but Moonjo wasn’t having it.

“Were you now?” Moonjo echoed, mocking, as he carefully unfastened the clasp. He reached
for Jongwoo’s wrist, ignoring his weak attempts to pull away.

“Hold still,” Moonjo hummed, grinning now as he fastened the bracelet back around
Jongwoo’s wrist, his fingers lingering just a little too long. His thumb dragged over the
smooth bone — gentle, almost affectionate.

Jongwoo swallowed. The teeth felt cool against his skin, but Moonjo’s hands were warm.

“There,” Moonjo said, satisfied. “Now don’t take it off again.”

Jongwoo scoffed in disbelief. “And if I do?”

Moonjo leaned in, his voice low, teasing, his breath ghosting against Jongwoo’s ear. “Then
I’ll just have to put it back on myself.”

Jongwoo hated how he immediately felt his cheeks redden at the man’s words. This
asshole…

Moonjo pulled back, pleased with himself, already turning back to their half-packed bags.
Like he hadn’t just staked his claim on Jongwoo all over again.

While Moonjo went back to the task at hand, Jongwoo found himself looking down at the
bracelet. He should take it off. But…

His fingers didn’t move.

And they both knew they wouldn’t.

So, after shoving the final piece of clothing in his duffel bag alongside his sad excuse of
toiletries, Jongwoo swung the bag over his shoulder and rose to his feet. Quickly following
suit, Moonjo held the bag by his side as if it was some sort of briefcase. Jongwoo did one
final scan of the room, making sure he wasn’t leaving anything else behind. To be honest,
even if he did, it’s not like it was anything valuable. After all, Jongwoo had moved to Seoul
with his life’s worth in a suitcase and a backpack. He couldn’t really afford to be a hoarder
anyway.

As the duo swiftly exited the room, Jongwoo shut it behind him, not caring that it was now
open to the public. There was nothing inside and plus, this place wasn’t like Eden. His
neighbours probably didn’t even realise he had existed - everyone was so isolated here.

Quickly brushing it off, Jongwoo guided the older man back down the stairs they had come
through before they were leaving through the fire exit.

Mission accomplished.
Moonjo took it upon himself to call a taxi, and while they waited on the side of the road with
a duffel bag in one hand each, Moonjo suddenly broke the silence and spoke up.

“Don’t you have to end your lease or contact your landlord?” Moonjo inquired as he stared
back at the building briefly.

“Yeah, but I’ll do it later. I’m not spending my first day as a free man doing paperwork.”
Jongwoo said, brushing it off.

And Moonjo seemed to agree as he quickly turned back to face the road they were looking on
to. Jongwoo watched as cars whizzed past in a blur of red tail lights and flashing indicators,
the occasional honk piercing through the steady hum of traffic. The air was thick with the
scent of asphalt, exhaust, and the faint, lingering aroma of street food from a nearby stall.
Neon signs flickered overhead, their reflections smearing across the wet pavement like oil
slicks.

But it wasn’t long until their taxi arrived, and the duo didn’t waste a single second before
they began to pile onto the car yet again. Jongwoo felt his head fall against the window out of
exhaustion, and he distantly heard Moonjo confirming the address of his apartment with the
driver.

And while Jongwoo had managed to get more than 12 hours of sleep, he still felt himself
drifting away. The steady hum of the engine, the rhythmic thump of tires against the asphalt
— it all lulled him into a quiet daze. From there, the car ride back to the apartment was long
and quiet. But neither Jongwoo or Moonjo seemed to mind the silence, as by now, it had
become quite normalised for them. Comfortable even.

Jongwoo was pulled out of his quiet haze though when he felt the car come to an abrupt stop
and a hand on his shoulder softly shaking him awake. And as Jongwoo slowly made his way
out of the car, he waited until Moonjo handled the payment yet again before they joined up
together and began to head inside. And after taking a ride up the elevator and watching
Moonjo put in the code to his apartment door, Jongwoo waltzed inside and headed toward the
bedroom before placing the duffel bag down on the bed. And…

Jongwoo tried his best. He really did. He placed his belongings carefully, making a conscious
effort to align with Moonjo’s meticulous order. But no matter how hard he tried, his presence
felt clumsy, intrusive, like a stain on something pristine.

He set his toothbrush on the sink beside Moonjo’s, only to hesitate and move it a few inches
to the left — then back again. He stacked his folded clothes inside the wardrobe, but they
didn’t sit as neatly as Moonjo’s, the edges just slightly uneven. He tucked his socks away in a
drawer, then frowned, wondering if they belonged somewhere else.

Moonjo moved beside him, silent but sure. He fixed everything without hesitation. The
toothbrush was nudged closer, placed directly beside his own as if it had always been there.
The wardrobe — once too perfectly arranged — now made space for Jongwoo’s things,
Moonjo’s hands smoothing over the fabric, aligning edges, finding spots for everything
without breaking the careful balance of the room.
Jongwoo stood there, watching as Moonjo wordlessly wove him into the space. The books
stacked on the desk, one of his placed atop Moonjo’s own. His jacket, slotted into the front of
the wardrobe, no longer an afterthought but something expected. His presence no longer
misplaced, no longer something to hesitate over.

And somehow, as he looked around, the apartment no longer just looked like Moonjo’s.

It looked like theirs.

And that felt nice.

The last thing that was pulled out of the duffel bag was Jongwoo’s laptop, and he set it down
on the bedside table on his side of the room. But as he fumbled around the charger cord he
had taken with it before managing to plug it in, Moonjo broke the silence that had once
engulfed them.

“Are you still writing your novel?” Moonjo asked genuinely.

Standing up after putting his laptop on charge, Jongwoo contemplated his answer for a
moment before he replied.

“Oh, uhm…yeah. I’m getting there.” Was what he managed, and to be fair, it wasn’t a lie.
Sure he had only written a few more sentences since his time at Eden, but progress was better
than nothing. And writer’s block was a real phenomenon, and it just seemed that Jongwoo
had fallen an unlucky victim to it over this past month or so.

“I look forward to reading it.” Moonjo offered.

Jongwoo went to open his mouth to say something sarcastic and probably along the lines of
“Yeah, you wish”, but he quickly clamped it back shut. Moonjo gave good feedback on his
writing. It also probably helped that he was writing a crime novel and Moonjo was more than
qualified to describe how the protagonist would be feeling about his kills. So, it would be
stupid to push Moonjo away if he wanted to keep getting his useful feedback. Whatever, he’d
just have to compromise.

Rather than outright responding to him, Jongwoo instead settled on grunting in reluctant
agreement. Moonjo didn’t follow up with any more questions, and Jongwoo was more than
happy that he didn’t.

The rest of the afternoon and early evening flew by in a flash. Jongwoo spent the last half of
the day back on the bed, hoping he’d be able to sneak in an extra hour or two of sleep before
he would have to get up to mingle. And Moonjo? Well, Moonjo did whatever he was doing.
He was sitting on the bed next to Jongwoo while he slept, and Jongwoo could’ve sworn he
heard the pages of a book flipping. So, he assumed that Moonjo had spent his time reading.
But who really cared, it was time to meet up with everyone else now.

Suddenly feeling a lot more energised than at any point during the day, Jongwoo added the
final touches to his appearance before finishing it off with a few spritz of Moonjo’s cologne.
Sure Jongwoo had a fragrance of his own, but he couldn’t deny that Moonjo’s one smelled
better.

As he turned to leave however, Moonjo appeared behind him, silent as ever. He stood just a
few steps away, inhaling deeply, eyes narrowing as he looked at Jongwoo.

“You smell ravishing,” Moonjo said, his voice low, as if the words themselves carried weight.

Jongwoo stiffened, the compliment hitting him in a way he hadn’t expected. The warmth in
his chest spread like a slow burn, his heart skipping a beat. He quickly turned away, brushing
it off with a forced nonchalance, the nervous flutter inside him hidden behind a thin veil of
irritation.

God, he hated how easily Moonjo could mold him into putty with only a few words.

“We’re going to be late to meet up with Gi-hun and the others,” Jongwoo muttered, adjusting
his jacket and walking briskly toward the door, trying to ignore the sudden heat crawling up
his neck. The bracelet jingled ever so slightly at his sudden movement, the sound echoing in
the vastness of the bathroom.

Moonjo watched him, that faint smile never quite reaching his eyes. He didn’t argue, simply
following behind. The air between them was thicker now, charged with something unspoken
but undeniable.

In the taxi on the way over to the address Gi-hun had texted, Jongwoo stared out the window,
the motion of the city blurring by, a cold, indifferent reflection of the chaos in his mind.
Moonjo sat next to him, close enough to be felt, but not quite touching. The tension hung in
the air like a delicate thread, only broken by the occasional sound of the engine and the
rhythmic tapping of the rain on the windows.

When they arrived at the restaurant, the world outside seemed to rush back into focus, the
noise of the crowd and chatter pushing the moment with Moonjo to the back of Jongwoo’s
mind. He took a deep breath, steadying himself before he hopped out of the car and watched
as it sped off shortly after.

Then, Jongwoo’s eyes fell on the sight of three familiar figures sitting at a table just inside
and beyond the restaurant’s windows. It was Hyunju, Junhee, and Gi-hun.

But no sign of Young-il.

Jongwoo didn’t seem that surprised however, as he quickly brushed the thought off and began
to make his way into the restaurant with Moonjo by his side. And almost immediately, the
sound of the door’s bell ringing signifying their arrival caused the trio to turn to face them.
Then, Jongwoo watched as their faces lit up upon seeing the duo.

When Jongwoo and Moonjo finally approached them, they all got up from their seats. And
when Hyunju went in for a friendly hug, Jongwoo reciprocated and embraced her
wholeheartedly.
“Glad you two could make it.” Hyunju said before she pulled back from the hug completely.

“It’s good to see you guys too.” Jongwoo replied as he flashed the other two a warm smile
before everyone took their respective seats.

“I’ve already ordered some food, I hope that’s okay.” Gi-hun confessed, and Jongwoo
immediately brushed him off saying it was fine. Then, Jongwoo’s attention immediately
caught on to the several bottles of soju sitting on the table. Jongwoo wanted to argue that he
wasn’t an alcoholic, but the fact that he felt his heart skip a beat upon seeing the alcohol
probably didn’t help his case. But who could blame him? The past week had been a
nightmare and definitely deserved a drink or two.

Jongwoo reached for the bottle and opened it, before he began to pour some into Moonjo’s
glass. He was desperate sure, but he wasn’t impolite. Then, to reciprocate the kindness,
Moonjo poured some soju into his while Jongwoo received it with two hands. But as
Jongwoo watched as Moonjo filled up his glass, his mind drifted elsewhere.

With Hyunju and Junhee on his left and Moonjo on his right, Jongwoo noticed how there
were two empty chairs beside Gi-hun. But rather than letting the question eat away at him,
Jongwoo spoke up.

“Are we waiting on more people?” Jongwoo asked, nodding in the direction of the two empty
seats whilst Moonjo finished pouring him a shot.

“I was going to introduce you all to someone I was working with before the games. His name
is Hwang Junho and he was looking for his brother who happened to be in the games.” Gi-
hun replied earnestly.

Jongwoo nodded slowly in response. These games? The one that had just passed? Jongwoo
hoped that Gi-hun had told him that no one else had made it out alive other than the people
sitting at this table. Well, and Young-il, he supposed. But he was a mere afterthought at this
point. If Jongwoo couldn’t see him, then Jongwoo couldn’t be arsed enough to care about
him.

“And the other chair?” Jongwoo said.

“It’s for Young-il. I hope he’ll be joining us. I mean, I’ve texted him the address but he hasn’t
responded.” Gi-hun answered, his tone of voice sounding a little defeated that the older man
had yet to join them.

Jongwoo felt torn. Half of him wanted to tell Gi-hun to just give up and not be so hopeful,
but then again, he didn’t want to ruin the night with his honesty. Sometimes, honesty wasn’t
always the best thing. So, in the end, Jongwoo relented and just agreed with the man.

Suddenly, Gi-hun rose from his feet and cleared his throat loudly. And almost immediately,
everyone’s attention drifted toward him. He was going to make a speech it seemed.

“Well,” he began, glancing around at the familiar faces, “I don’t think any of us thought we’d
be sitting here like this. Alive. In one piece— ” He smirked and turned to Jongwoo, “—
relatively unharmed.”

A few lighthearted chuckles broke out as Jongwoo rolled his eyes, shaking his head, but there
was no real bite to it.

Gi-hun continued, his expression softening. “But we made it. Against all odds, we’re here.
And I don’t know about you, but I think that’s something worth celebrating.” He lifted his
glass slightly, his voice steady but warm. “More than that, I’m proud of all of you. It wasn’t
just about surviving those damn games — it was about making it back and figuring out how
to keep going. And you did. We all did.”

He took a breath, eyes flicking to each of them in turn. “So, I want to wish you all the best, in
whatever comes next. Junhee—” he nodded toward her, a smile creeping onto his lips, “—
you’ve got a little one on the way, and I know you’re going to be an amazing mother. That
kid’s already lucky as hell.”

Then, to Jongwoo and Moonjo, his smirk returned, a teasing glint in his eyes. “And you two?
I don’t know what the hell is next for you, but… good luck. You’ll probably need it.”

The table laughed, but there was a genuine warmth beneath his words.

Finally, he turned to Hyunju. “And Hyunju — wherever you’re headed, whatever you choose
to do, I hope you find peace. You deserve that much.”

He exhaled, letting the moment settle before raising his glass a little higher.

"I wish the others were here..." Gi-hun said, his voice quieter now, carrying the weight of
names unspoken.

The table fell silent. It wasn’t the heavy kind of silence that suffocated — it was the kind that
settled over them like a shared understanding, a quiet acknowledgement of those who should
have been sitting among them. The empty spaces, the ghosts that lingered in the corners of
their minds, the memories of voices that would never join another toast.

He swallowed, then straightened a little, his grip firm as he lifted his glass higher. "For
Jungbae."

Junhee followed, her fingers tightening around the stem of her glass filled with water rather
than anything alcoholic. "For Myung-gi."

Hyunju exhaled softly before she spoke. "For Yongsik and Geumja."

And then, Jongwoo. His gaze flickered downward for a beat before he lifted his glass, the
candlelight catching in his eyes. "For Daeho."

“May they live on in our hearts forever. To those we left behind.” Gi-hun concluded with a
pained smile.

The glasses met in the center of the table with a quiet clink, a small but resounding tribute.
No more words were needed. Just the shared grief, the unspoken promise that they would
carry the memories of the fallen with them, always.

And as Jongwoo threw the shot back, he couldn’t help but think that it was all such a shame.
Bittersweet too. They had made it out but what about everyone else they left behind?
Unfortunately, this was the cost of freedom.

However, soon after their tribute to the fallen, the group fell into comfortable chatter. First,
the conversation focused on Junhee and her baby.

“When are you due, Junhee?” Gi-hun asked softly.

“Well, when Hyunju and I went to the hospital earlier today, they told me that I’ve been too
stressed lately and it’s taken a toll on my body. Because of that, the baby’s coming a little
early — I’m expecting to go into labor in the next couple of days." Junhee replied, letting a
warm smile creep up her face simultaneously.

“I hope everything goes well for you and the baby.” It was Jongwoo who chimed in this time,
letting his statement sink in before adding, “Do you know whether it’s going to be a boy or a
girl?”

Junhee nodded gently, “It’s a boy.”

Noticing how Moonjo’s glass was now empty, Jongwoo reached for the soju bottle before he
poured him another glass. And when Moonjo did the same, Jongwoo continued to listen to
the conversation.

“Do you have any names in mind, then?” Gi-hun questioned happily.

"Myung-gi."

Junhee’s voice was steady, but the weight behind the name was unmistakable.

For a moment, no one spoke. The air around the table seemed to still, the quiet settling over
them like a slow exhale. Gi-hun’s smile faltered just slightly, his fingers tightening around the
base of his glass. Hyunju blinked once, her lips parting as if to say something, but no words
came. Even Jongwoo, who never really cared for Myung-gi in the first place, found himself
staring down at the table.

It wasn’t just a name. It was a tribute, a memory, a piece of someone they had all lost brought
back into the world through the child who had yet to be born.

Junhee exhaled softly, her hand resting on her stomach as she glanced around at them. "It’s
the least I can do to honor the man who saved my life." Her smile was small but certain. "I
think he’d like that, don’t you?"

Gi-hun was the first to break, his smile returning, softer this time. "Yeah," he said, raising his
glass once more. "I think he would."

One by one, they followed suit, lifting their glasses — not just in celebration of new life, but
in remembrance of the one that had been lost. Then, as the atmosphere relaxed back into
something far more comfortable, it was Jongwoo’s turn to be the centre of conversation.

“You’re looking much better, Jongwoo.” Hyunju smiled as she looked over Jongwoo who
was significantly cleaner and better dressed than before.

“Moonjo did a good job indeed. You’re lucky to have him around.” Junhee added as he shot
the duo a warm smile.

And while Jongwoo only nodded politely in response, he couldn’t help but agree. Moonjo
had come to his rescue in his time of need and Jongwoo was more than grateful that he did.

When the food arrived and Jongwoo’s eyes widened at the array of various chicken and side
dishes, he immediately perked up. The sight of the differently marinated chicken was
mouthwatering to say the least. But just as he was about to dig in, the sound of Gi-hun
dropping his metal chopsticks and scooting his chair back as he stood up caused Jongwoo to
stop dead in his tracks. Furrowing his brows, Jongwoo noticed how Gi-hun was looking at
something behind them. And it seemed that the two women at the table were also caught off
guard by his sudden movements, but when they all followed his eyeline, the table went silent.

“Young-il?” Gi-hun’s voice trembled ever so slightly as he spoke.

…What? Young-il had actually shown up? Jongwoo turned to Moonjo in a mix of confusion
and disbelief and it seemed that the older man was just as surprised by his sudden
appearance.

Then, Young-il began to make his way over to Gi-hun before bringing him into a comfortable
embrace. And as Jongwoo watched the duo hug for a period of time that was far too long to
be considered friendly anymore, he still couldn’t shake the confusion off of his face. But it
was Gi-hun who pulled away first, eventually speaking up.

“I thought you’d never come.” Gi-hun confessed as he gazed into the other man’s eyes in
disbelief. Young-il shot the man a half-hearted smile before he replied.

“It was hard to get away from work, but I’m here now. Sorry that I’m late.” But Gi-hun shook
his head at Young-il’s response, not even entertaining the idea. By now, Gi-hun had fully
broken away from the hug, now standing only a foot away from the other man now.

“No, don’t be.” Gi-hin brushed off, before he quickly followed up with, “You’re already back
at work?”

And that was exactly what Jongwoo had been thinking. Why did he need to go back to work
if they had just won all that money? Shit…how much debt was this guy in?

“Indeed. It’s quite demanding and I’m the only one in my position, so it’s hard to get some
time off. But I couldn’t possibly miss this.” Young-il confessed as he looked around at the
other players with a gleeful smile plastered across his face.

“Well, alright. I’m glad you could make it. Let’s not let the food go cold, shall we?” Gi-hun
suggested as he gestured for Young-il to take a seat down beside him.
When they did, everyone immediately began to dig in. Sure, the two duos sitting opposite Gi-
hun and Young-il were a little hesitant, but they eventually gave up. It was surprising to see
Young-il here after everything he had preached at the games, but it wasn’t entirely unpleasant
to have the whole gang back together. Well, that’s what the general consensus was for most
part anyway. Jongwoo still wasn’t all that glad to see him, but he pushed past it and focused
on being the bigger person. He wasn’t going to ruin this night with more of their heated
arguments.

After some time, the group polished off the endless plates of fried chicken effortlessly. Then,
since all the food had been eaten, everyone focused their attention on finishing off the various
soju bottles scattered across the table. And as Moonjo and Jongwoo took turns pouring each
other drinks, Jongwoo accidentally spoke up.

“This is nice.” His voice was quiet, and only Moonjo could hear it. Jongwoo hadn’t really
intended for that to come out, but it was too late to take it back now. Plus, it was true.

Moonjo simply looked at the younger man in amusement, silently encouraging him to
continue. And so, he did.

“What do you think?” Jongwoo asked, trying to get some sort of conversation flowing.

“If you’re happy, so am I.” Was all Moonjo replied with, coupled with a satisfied smile.

Jongwoo shrugged, completely giving up on trying to make conversation with the older man.
So, instead, Jongwoo sat back in his chair, letting the conversation flow around him like a
steady current. The restaurant buzzed with life — the quiet clatter of chopsticks against
bowls, the hum of overlapping voices, the occasional burst of laughter from a nearby table. It
was warm here, the air thick with the scent of fried chicken and spice, the glow of hanging
lights casting a soft haze over everything.

He wasn’t much for talking, not tonight. Instead, he watched. Gi-hun gestured wildly with his
chopsticks as he recounted some ridiculous story, Junhee shaking her head with a fond smile,
Hyunju covering her mouth as she laughed. Even Moonjo, lounging lazily beside him,
amusement flickering behind sharp eyes.

For once, Jongwoo let himself soak it all in — the sound, the warmth, the easy familiarity of
it. It was rare to have moments like this, where the past didn’t claw at his heels, where the
future didn’t seem so uncertain.

So he sat, silent but present, and let himself enjoy it.

But just as quickly as he let himself soak in the ambience of the restaurant, it was soon
interrupted when he heard the sound of someone’s footsteps rapidly approaching from behind
him. Instantly, Jongwoo turned his head to see an unfamiliar man standing just behind their
table. But the man’s eye’s weren’t on him, but rather on Gi-hun.

“Junho! You made it!” Gi-hun happily exclaimed as he rose from his chair.
“Gi-hun! Glad to see that you’re still aliv—” But the man, who Jongwoo now realised was
Junho, suddenly cut himself off. His eyes drifted over to someone else, and Jongwoo turned
his head around to see who exactly he was looking at.

“…Hyung?” Junho muttered, his voice cracking as he spoke.

Young-il, who had become uncharacteristically startled in the past few seconds, abruptly
arose from his chair. Then, Jongwoo’s eyes flickered between the two men who were silently
scanning each other over.

“Hyung?” It was Gi-hun who broke the silence, eventually following up with, “Do you two
know each other…?”

And Young-il and Junho’s responses were both instant.

“No.” Young-il snapped.

“Yes.” Junho simultaneously said.

Immediately, a tense air settled over the table. Hyunju and Junhee were looking at each other
with just as much confusion as Jongwoo and Moonjo. But just as quickly as the silence had
enveloped them, Young-il cleared his throat.

“Sorry, I think I need some air.” Young-il said, excusing himself as he frantically scrambled
away, bumping into a few tables on his way out. Jongwoo had never seen him so
uncoordinated.

“Hyung? In-ho, stop!” Junho called out after him, following the man out of the back door he
had left through. When the strange duo left, Gi-hun began to speak to himself quietly.

“In-ho…?” Gi-hun pondered, shrivelling his face up in confusion as he tried to make sense of
what the fuck had just happened. And honestly, Jongwoo was right there with him.

He turned to look at Moonjo who only shrugged in response. But rather than sitting around
and letting their questions pile up, Jongwoo decided he’d do the dirty work no one else was
willing to do.

“I’ll be back, I’m just going to head to the bathroom.” Jongwoo announced. And it seemed
that Moonjo caught onto what he was insinuating, as he cocked an eyebrow up at the man.

“I’ll go too.” Moonjo chimed in as he stood up beside Jongwoo. Because in the end, they
were nosy motherfuckers. So when they excused themselves to the bathroom knowing damn
well that’s not where they were going, the duo purposefully walked in the direction of it
before they made a sharp turn once they were out of sight of the others.

Pushing open the door that led to the alleyway beside the restaurant, Jongwoo distantly heard
Junho’s voice calling out for Young-il. So, Jongwoo and Moonjo found a spot against the
wall and leaned in closer, eager to listen to whatever the hell was up with these two.
“Where have you been, In-ho? I’ve been looking for you! Don’t you know that our mother
has been worried sick about you? How could you do that to her?” Junho argued, and
Jongwoo heard how the retreating footsteps suddenly stopped.

Why does he keep calling him In-ho…?

“I’ve been busy.” Was all Young-il replied with, his tone icy.

“At the games? Wearing that stupid black mask?” Junho spat, the frustration evident in his
voice.

Jongwoo immediately furrowed his brow. The games? Jongwoo and Moonjo shared a
confused glance before they refocused their attention on eavesdropping into the pair’s
conversation.

“Junho, you don’t understand.”

Then, in response to Young-il’s comment, Jongwoo heard a loud scoff from the other man.

“I don’t. I really don’t, In-ho.” Junho snapped, fiery and hot. But just as he said that, a
notification from one of their phones rang out. Hearing the distant shuffling of the person
reaching into their jacket pocket to take it out, Jongwoo assumed that they were probably
reading the notification.

“I have to go. Goodbye, Junho.” It was Young-il who spoke up first, and Jongwoo now
realised that the sound belonged to his phone.

But just as the sound of Young-il’s footsteps started up again, Junho reached out an arm and
grabbed onto him, stopping the man dead in his tracks.

“So you’re going to leave just like that? What about our mother?” Junho paused, letting his
questions sink in, before he added, “What about me?”

“I can’t stay, I have to go back.” Young-il countered.

“What? So even more people can die at the feet of your fucked up games?” Junho retorted
just as fiercely as before.

Jongwoo turned back around to Moonjo, mouthing the word “Your?” to the older man in
confusion. Then, Jongwoo’s breath hitched. What was he trying to say?

“They’re not—” Young-il tried, but he was swiftly cut off by Junho.

“Don’t even start with that bullshit. You’re killing people.” The younger man argued,
emphasising the word ‘killing’ to further prove his point.

“Junho, you have no clue what you’re talking about.” Young-il dismissed as he tried to shake
Junho’s hand off of him.
“Gi-hun told me all about what you’ve been doing in there! I saw it first hand and you expect
me to believe that you’re not tormenting those poor people by hanging a big ball of money
over their heads as bait?” Junho screeched, his tone of voice accusatory and filled with anger.

“I’m not doing this with you, I have to go.” Young-il said, trying to brush the younger man
off.

And with that, it seemed that Young-il had successfully broken free because he had swiveled
on his feet. But before the retreating footsteps could get too far away, Junho spoke up.

“You know, I could’ve told Gi-hun about who you are.” His voice was significantly less loud
and harsh, now having dwindled down to something more soft.

This effectively caused the footsteps to halt.

“What?”

“I told Gi-hun that I saw the Frontman and he asked me who it was, but I lied to him.” Junho
paused, “I said that I didn’t see your face.”

Jongwoo’s eyes lit up in horror as he truly comprehended the words. Was he saying…? No,
surely not.

…Right?

Once again turning to face Moonjo, Jongwoo quickly realised that Moonjo was equally as
astonished as he was. Seriously, what the fuck? But the more he thought about it, the more it
made sense. Young-il’s persistence to continue the games? Him not being dropped off with
Gi-hun?

All of a sudden, it felt as if the last few puzzle pieces were falling into place. Then, Jongwoo
held up an accusatory finger and pointed it in the direction of the man, silently mouthing the
words, “I knew that bastard was shady!”

Young-il - no screw it - In-ho was the Frontman? Shit, things just got complicated.

“Why would you do that?” Young-il muttered, his voice no longer containing the coldness
from before.

“Because you’re my brother.” Junho declared solemnly, before adding, “Gi-hun wanted to
find you to convince you to end the games for good.”

“I know.” Young-il mumbled quietly.

“Did it work?” Junho tried, a small sliver of hope still prominent in his words.
“No, no it didn’t.”

Then, a tense silence fell over the pair for a fraction of a second. But just as quickly as it had
arrived, it was broken when Junho spoke up. But it seemed that Junho choked up on his next
words.

“But…why? Why do you want—”

Suddenly, just as Jongwoo decided to take another step forward to be able to hear the
conversation better, he accidentally kicked over an empty beer can. He watched in horror as
the can rattled and rolled out of the alleyway and in the direction of the brother duo.

Oh fuck.

The conversation immediately stopped and it went eerily quiet. Jongwoo spun around to face
Moonjo yet again, but this time, he was trying to silently communicate as to how the fuck
they were going to get out of this.

Then, a commanding voice spoke up.

“Who’s there?” It was Young-il.

“Come out, we know you’re there.” Junho chimed in.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

But just as Moonjo shrugged beside him and was about to take a step out, Jongwoo shot an
arm across his chest to step him. Moonjo obliged and stopped dead in his tracks, but looked
down at the younger man in curiosity as to what his plan was going to be instead of coughing
themselves up.

Then, two sets of footsteps began to approach, and rapidly. Jongwoo darted his eyes around,
desperately trying to conjure up some random excuse - any excuse - as to why they were
lurking in a dark alleyway, and then it hit Jongwoo.

For fucks sake. This was such a cliché get-out-of-jail-free card, but fuck it, they had no other
choice.

He closed the distance between them without thinking, his lips crashing against Moonjo’s
before he could second-guess himself. The shock of it hit Moonjo first — his body stiffened,
eyes wide for a fraction of a second as Jongwoo’s breath mingled with his. Then, as if
recognizing the unspoken tension in Jongwoo’s kiss, Moonjo responded. His hands slid to
Jongwoo’s waist, pulling him in closer, their bodies now pressed together as the world
outside the alley faded into nothing.

Frankly, Jongwoo had forgotten just how good it felt to kiss Moonjo. The heat of his mouth,
the feeling of being consumed by the man he couldn’t seem to escape — it was intoxicating.
Jongwoo’s hands found their way to Moonjo’s shoulders, clutching at the fabric of his white
shirt as if trying to keep himself grounded.
The kiss deepened, urgent, desperate. Moonjo’s fingers tightened against his waist, and for a
moment, Jongwoo forgot everything — forgot about Junho and Young-il, forgot about the
secrets and the lies, and just focused on the heat and the rawness of the kiss.

But then, as the tension between them reached its peak, the sound of footsteps echoed from
around the corner. Jongwoo’s heart lurched in his chest, and just as their kiss grew more
fevered, the voices of Young-il and Junho drifted into the alley.

“Jongwoo…? Moonjo?”

Jongwoo’s eyes shot open, the reality of the situation slamming into him like a bucket of ice
water. He pulled away from Moonjo, his breath coming in short, sharp gasps. Moonjo’s lips
were still swollen, his eyes darkened with an intensity that mirrored Jongwoo’s own.

There was no time to explain, no way to undo the damage done.

“Oh…” Junho’s voice trailed off, clearly surprised by the scene in front of him. Young-il
stood frozen, his expression unreadable.

Jongwoo opened his mouth, but nothing came out. His mind was blank, and all he could
think of was the way Moonjo’s hands had felt on his waist just seconds ago.

Junho then cleared his throat awkwardly, hoping to try again, before he eventually spoke up.

“Uh…sorry for disturbing you.” Junho said as he looked at the pair a little strangely. Then, it
was Young-il’s turn to make sense of the situation in front of him.

“Ah, Jongwoo and Moonjo. Fancy seeing you two here.” And as Young-il spoke, Jongwoo
felt Moonjo’s hand find its place on his waist again, softly trying to tug him closer. Trying his
best to ignore it, Jongwoo realised it was time to put on his best poker face.

“Oh, uhm…sorry, we didn’t know anyone was out here…” He trailed off, avoiding the
piercing gaze of the older man drilling into the side of his head.

“It’s alright. Young love, am I right?” Young-il humoured as he turned to Junho who simply
nodded a little uncomfortably in response. Jongwoo couldn’t blame him though. It was
probably a little weird to find two people making out in the middle of a gross, trash infested
and dimly lit alleyway.

But Jongwoo fought back from furrowing his brow at the man’s comment. Young love his ass.
Jongwoo was pushing 30 and Moonjo, well, he was…Wait. How old was Mo—

“We’ll leave you two be then. Apologies for interrupting,” Young-il paused before slyly
adding, “Again.”

Jongwoo shot the man an awkward smile, before they both watched the brother duo head
back in the direction they came from and then out of sight completely. And once the coast
was clear, Moonjo took it as an opportunity to try and make an advance.
“Where were we then, jagiya?” He mused, using his hold on Jongwoo’s waist to pull the
younger man back in closer.

“Shut up you pervert.” Jongwoo hissed, but his words didn’t pack much of a bite. He could
feel his cheeks scorching and his body screaming at him to get him to resume their previous
activity, but Jongwoo refused to give in that easily. Not now, anyway.

So, he instantly shot up a finger to Moonjo’s forehead, poking him before pushing his head
back completely. Moonjo grumbled at his refusal, but Jongwoo swiftly made himself clear.

“Now’s not the time. Weren’t you listening to what they were saying?” Jongwoo whispered,
purposefully making his voice quieter in case the two brothers came back or were still
nearby.

Moonjo pouted ever so slightly at the sudden change in topic, but he eventually gave in too.

“Indeed.” Was all Moonjo replied with, then a brief moment of silence fell over them.

The sound of distant voices and the clatter of passing cars seemed muffled in the alleyway,
the night air thick with tension as Jongwoo and Moonjo stood in uneasy silence. Jongwoo’s
mind raced, each thought more desperate than the last. He knew what needed to be done, but
at the same time, he wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do.

“We should tell him,” Jongwoo finally said, his voice rough, like he’d been holding back too
long. He rubbed the back of his neck, his words coming out like a breath he had to release.
“Gi-hun deserves to know who’s behind that mask.”

Moonjo didn’t immediately respond. He just stood there, eyes narrowing as if weighing every
syllable. The streetlights cast long shadows across his face, making him look even more
inscrutable than usual. “You really think so?” he asked, voice low but sharp. “Do you think
Gi-hun’s ready for that? Do you think he’ll want to hear it?”

Jongwoo’s chest tightened, but he forced himself to stay calm. “Well, he has to. He’s going to
find out the truth eventually, whether it’s from me or not.”

Moonjo leaned back against the cold brick of the alleyway, arms crossed, his gaze drifting to
the ground before flicking up to meet Jongwoo’s. “But that doesn’t mean you have to be the
one to break the news. If he’s going to find out anyway, let him do so on his own. That’s not
your responsibility.”

Jongwoo’s throat tightened, but he didn’t back down. “But it’s not right to keep him in the
dark. I know we can’t protect him from the truth forever, but he deserves to know who killed
his friend sooner rather than later.”

Moonjo’s eyes softened, but the look in them wasn’t reassuring. “You’re underestimating
how much this will change things. You think telling him will bring him closure? You think
the truth will give him peace? It won’t, jagiya. It’ll tear him apart.” Moonjo paused before
adding, “He’s not as strong as you are.”
Jongwoo’s heart pounded in his chest as he felt the weight of the decision pressing down on
him. “But if we don’t, it’ll just keep eating away at us. And at him. He needs to know. He
deserves that at the very least.”

Moonjo took a slow step toward him, his voice quieter now, almost too calm. “What if telling
him breaks him? What if he can’t come back from it? Are you ready to live with that? Are
you willing to ruin him just so you can feel better about telling the truth?”

Gosh, what was Moonjo’s problem? Jongwoo’s thoughts swirled, the guilt gnawing at him.
“But if we hide it, we’re just as bad. He deserves to have his chance at justice. And if we
don’t, we’re just letting the people who did this get away with it.”

“Justice?” Moonjo’s voice was edged with something dangerous now. “What makes you
think he’ll want justice when it costs him everything? Sometimes, the truth isn’t something
you can just hand out like a prize, jagiya. Sometimes, it’s a burden. A weight you can’t undo
once it’s been laid out there.”

Jongwoo’s stomach twisted, the uncertainty swallowing him whole. Moonjo was right about
one thing — the truth wasn’t a clean cut. It would hurt. It would destroy. He knew that. But
was that reason enough to keep Gi-hun blissfully oblivious?

“I don’t know what to do,” Jongwoo admitted softly, looking at the ground as he felt the
tension in his chest tighten. “I want to do the right thing. I want to tell him...but what if it’s
too much for him? What if it ruins everything?”

Moonjo’s hand came to rest gently on Jongwoo’s shoulder, a rare softness in his touch. “I
know you do. But some things aren’t meant to be known. Some truths are too heavy to bear.”

Jongwoo stayed silent for a long moment, his mind still a storm of conflicting thoughts.
Finally, he exhaled, the weight of the choice sinking in. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to live
with this choice,” he whispered, more to himself than to Moonjo.

Moonjo’s grip tightened slightly, a quiet reassurance in his touch. “You won’t have to burden
it alone. I’ll be right here with you.”

Jongwoo closed his eyes for a moment, letting the quiet reassurance settle over him like a
blanket. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it was the one that made sense. This was Gi-hun’s
truth to find out.

“Thank you,” Jongwoo whispered, feeling the weight of the decision lift, even if just a little.

Moonjo’s grip on him tightened slightly, an unspoken promise. “Always.”

The walk back inside was a little tense, and when Jongwoo locked eyes with Gi-hun, he felt a
little bit of guilt resurface. But he pushed it back down, because he knew it was for the better.
Plus, he didn’t want to ruin the night any more. Young-il, unsurprisingly, was nowhere to be
found. However, Jongwoo was a little surprised to see Junho sitting beside Gi-hun. And
without a doubt, the man looked a little tense. No figure. As Jongwoo and Moonjo found
their seats again, Gi-hun suddenly spoke up.
“Junho said Young-il had to leave to go back to work.” Gi-hun admitted. And Jongwoo
almost let the words “I know.” slip, but he caught himself before they did. So, instead,
Jongwoo simply nodded his head.

And clearly, Junho hadn’t told him the truth about Young-il either, so that made Jongwoo feel
a little better about his decision. Then, Gi-hun continued.

“I’m going to try and stop the games again, and I think having some more former players on
our side would be beneficial.” Gi-hun announced, before adding, “We'd be doing it for the
friends we lost along the way.”

And of course, everyone seemed to be conflicted. Hyunju shifted in her seat uncomfortably
and Junhee let her head drop for a moment, before she was the first one to speak up.

“I’m sorry, Gi-hun. I can’t.” She said solemnly, “I need to raise my child.”

Gi-hun deflated ever so slightly, but seeing as he shot the pregnant woman an acknowledging
smile, Jongwoo assumed that Gi-hun had also been kind of expecting her response. Then,
Hyunju sighed to his left.

“Gi-hun, I’m sorry. I really am. But I think Geumja and the others would want us to move on
and live for them, so that’s what I’m going to do. After I do my final surgeries, I’m going to
move to Thailand. I’m sorry, I won’t be joining you.” Hyunju declared, her voice quiet and
soft.

And Jongwoo couldn't help but agree with her words. Sure, Gi-hun had every right to chase
after the person behind the games who also killed his friend, but Hyunju had a point too.
Would their friends really want them to keep spiraling in the past, consumed by vengeance,
or would they want them to find peace and live the life they could never have?

Gi-hun definitely seemed to be deflated now, realising that he had lost a valuable asset to the
team. Hyunju had proven that she was more than capable of handling a gun, but now, she
wasn’t going to be joining him. So, in a final act of desperation, Gi-hun turned to Jongwoo
and Moonjo.

“And you, Jongwoo? Moonjo? I could really use your help.” Gi-hun asked, practically
begging.

Jongwoo already knew what he wanted to do, but that didn’t soothe the guilt that hit him yet
again. He knew who Gi-hun was running after now, and it was the one close friend that Gi-
hun had left. And as much as he cared about Gi-hun as a friend, Jongwoo didn't want to stick
around to see him find that out.

“I can’t go back, Gi-hun. I’m done.” Jongwoo finally answered, his voice breathy and
conveying how exhausted he was from even just thinking about the games. Gi-hun simply
sighed and turned to face Moonjo instead.

“Moonjo?”
“I won’t be joining you either, but I wish you the best of luck.” Moonjo replied, as he shot the
man with a half-hearted smile.

“Alright, I understand.” Gi-hun dejectedly admitted, before he turned to Junho and continued,
“It’s just you and I then, Junho.”

But Junho didn’t immediately respond.

“Junho?”

Instantly, Junho snapped out of his trance and looked around as he began to come back to his
senses.

“Are you okay? You’ve been out of it ever since you came back.” Gi-hun exclaimed as he
scanned over the man in confusion.

Jongwoo sarcastically wondered why. He couldn’t even imagine what Junho was feeling right
about now.

“Oh, uhm, sorry. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.” Junho relented as he brought a hand up to
rub the back of his neck awkwardly. Gi-hun brushed it off, but then Jongwoo watched as the
man’s eyes lit up as if a thought had just crossed his mind. Then, not long after, he voiced it.

“Oh, I never got to ask you. How do you know Young-il…?” He trailed off as he looked at
Junho intently.

Jongwoo watched as Junho connected the dots between the pseudonym of Young-il and his
brother’s actual name, before he eventually responded.

“Uh…He was my senior in college.” Junho lied.

Wrong.

Gi-hun seemed to be satisfied with that answer however, completely oblivious as to just how
wrong that statement was. Jongwoo quickly realised that Gi-hun was not the best at
connecting the dots. But after that, the group fell into a somewhat comfortable silence.

It was clear that the dinner had started winding down, the clink of glasses and low murmurs
of conversation slowly fading as people began to feel the weight of the day settling in. Junhee
glanced at Hyunju, her expression softening with a tired smile.

"I think I’ll head out," Junhee said, placing her water down gently. "I’ve had enough
excitement for one night, and I need to get some rest before—" she paused, her hand
instinctively resting on her belly, "—before the baby comes." She looked around at the group,
her voice warm. "It was really good to see all of you. Let’s do this again sometime, okay?"

Hyunju nodded, a quiet smile on her face. "I’ll walk you out," she added, standing up. "I need
to get some sleep too. I have a long day of packing ahead tomorrow."
The two of them shared a brief, knowing look before Hyunju leaned over, giving Jongwoo
and the others a soft nod. "Take care, everyone."

With that, they quietly slipped out of their seats, exchanged a few parting words, and made
their way towards the door. After Hyunju and Junhee excused themselves, the table felt a
little quieter, a little emptier. The conversation turned to a gentle hum as the others exchanged
their thoughts, but it didn’t take long for Jongwoo to feel the weight of the evening pulling at
him too. He met Moonjo’s eyes beside him, and without a word, they both seemed to agree.

Jongwoo shifted in his chair, the gesture subtle but unmistakable. “We should probably get
going too,” he murmured, his fingers idly tracing the rim of his glass.

Moonjo was already rising from his seat, his calm presence unbothered by the quiet that
settled over the room. “It’s been a long day.” Was all he said, his voice low, almost soothing.
Jongwoo smiled, nodding. He wasn’t sure why, but it felt like their departure was the natural
conclusion to the evening. He stood up, pushing his chair back with a soft scrape. As he
glanced around the table, he caught Gi-hun’s eyes, who offered a warm but tired smile.

“Take care, you guys,” Gi-hun said, and there was a quiet sincerity in his words.

“We’ll be in touch,” Jongwoo replied, his voice gentle as he gave a small wave. He wasn’t
entirely confident that he would be, but it didn’t hurt to say so.

Moonjo, standing beside him, gave the group one last look before he opened the door. “Good
night, everyone,” he said smoothly, his tone effortlessly polite, yet with a layer of something
deeper — perhaps the weight of everything unsaid.

With that, the door closed softly behind them, and the quiet hum of the restaurant was left
behind. Outside, the air was cool, a welcome change from the heat of the dinner table. The
sounds of the night felt distant, almost peaceful, and as they made their way toward the street,
Moonjo didn’t need to say anything. The silence between them was comfortable, knowing,
and the promise of whatever was ahead lingered in the air.

“You did the right thing, jagiya.” Moonjo suddenly announced, his deep voice breaking the
silence.

“I hope so.” Jongwoo admitted as he looked up at the minimal stars in the night sky. The light
pollution must be especially bad tonight.

Moonjo stood next to him, his presence calm, his figure half-illuminated by the soft, golden
glow of the streetlamps and the sharp, colorful flickers of neon signs.

Jongwoo’s gaze drifted to him without thinking, eyes lingering on the lines of his face, the
sharpness of his jaw softened by the streetlight. There was something about the way the light
caught his features — how it made the angles of his cheekbones more pronounced, the curve
of his lips almost like an invitation, the sharpness of his eyes, always watching, always
knowing.
 The neon lights reflected in his eyes like distant stars, and for a moment, Jongwoo couldn't
help but feel like he was looking at something impossibly beautiful, something rare, too
perfect for the world they lived in. He noticed the way Moonjo’s dark hair shimmered
beneath the streetlights, the faintest hints of silver from the light dancing through it, and how
his white shirt complimented the hidden curves of his body underneath. The way Moonjo
stood there, so effortlessly composed, made Jongwoo’s chest tighten in a way that had
nothing to do with fear and everything to do with how much he longed to hold on to this
moment, to this person, forever.

It was then, in the stillness of the night, that Jongwoo realised something. Something he’d
known for a while but hadn’t been able to fully verbalise until now. His heart was caught
somewhere between awe and longing. He felt something shift inside him, a quiet recognition
that everything was about to change.

Jongwoo took a deep breath, his pulse suddenly quickening as his eyes traced the lines of
Moonjo’s face, the way the light curved around him. His hands tingled with the unspoken
need to reach out, to touch, to pull Moonjo closer.

He had to say it. There was no running anymore.

He swallowed, trying to steady his racing thoughts. Turning to Moonjo, his voice was steady
but low, the weight of what he was about to say hanging in the air between them.

“Let’s walk home,” he said, his voice a little more breathless than he intended. “I want to tell
you something.”

And there, under the soft glow of the city lights, with Moonjo’s beauty illuminated by the
warmth of the neon and streetlamps, Jongwoo realised this was the moment. The moment
when he couldn’t hide behind his walls any longer.

The truth was ready to be said.

Chapter End Notes

I know some people might be disappointed that Gi-hun won’t get to know Young-il’s
true identity, but i think it fits. I mean, put yourself in Gi-hun’s shoes — If you found
out that the last person you trusted wasn’t actually who they portrayed themselves to be
AND shot your best friend AND was the one behind all these fucked up games that led
to the deaths of your other friends three years ago, would you want to hear that? And out
of everyone, would you want to hear that from someone like Jongwoo? Who you’ve had
drama and arguments with in the past? Or would you want to hear that confession from
the instigator himself? Hmmm…I think Jongwoo made the right choice. Feel free to
have your share in the comments, but that’s just what I think! I don’t think it’s
Jongwoo’s responsibility to reveal Young-il’s secret, and in the end, Gi-hun WILL find
out anyway. But just not from Jongwoo :)) He’ll eventually find out from Young-il
himself, whether that will be the next day or in two years, who knows. That’s a moment
for Gi-hun & Young-il to share i’m afraid (unfortunately, that will just have to be a
bit of an open ending for gi-hun & Young-il, but feel free to share your theories!) okay,
enough rambling, let’s move on!
P.S. yes, Gi-hun is a little slow guys Buddy isn’t connecting the dots

And then Jongwoo and his ✨illusion of choice✨ like bro bffr, ur gay ass aint leaving

now u gotta confess yo love pls 🙏

moonjo 😹 Ur locked in forever!! Theres no escape!! Too bad!! but fr, jongwoo any day
The longer u put it off, the more it hurts (us) so
PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GO GET UR MAN AND SEAL THE DEAL
OFFICIALLY OH MY GAWWWWWDDDD ☹☹☹

with that being said, im sure u guys have noticed that this fic is now 15/16 chapters
completed. Yes, the next chapter will be the last I wont yap on here about the
sentimental stuff (saving it for later 😈) but all i can say is that jongwoo will confess
next chapter. sorry to edge yall LMFAOO but i think it would be a sweet way to end off
this fic. Thank you guys for waiting for this chapter!! I had a really hard time trying to
figure out how i wanted to end this fic (like how many more chapters to have) but i have
decided on ending it at 16!! Wohoo, lol. But yeah, as i said at the start, the next chapter
might not be as long as my typical 10k/12k+ chapters, but i think thats fair considering
we’re ending things off next chapter 😊

who’s excited for jongwoo’s love confession though? I KNOW I AM

owe that to these two idiots🙏

Anyhooo!! Ive started to get more active on tiktok again (@loustatclub) and i think i
If u ever want to chat to me outside of these comments,
my tiktok dms are open and im always down for a chat ❤ Thank u again guys! Your
support means the world.
 Yours, Even if It Kills Me
Chapter Summary

Jongwoo and Moonjo go on a day trip to Busan.

Chapter Notes

While it is most certainly bittersweet that this is the last chapter, I’m glad that these two

idiots, because I sure as hell did. Jongwoo is such a good son.

up, Jongwoo’s mum’s name is Yoon Mi-kyung.
🥲
can finally get their happy ending. I hope you guys enjoy this final journey of these two
And yes, i searched it

Short chapter because it’s the last. :)

p.s. Here’s a little game: Who can spot the hannigram reference? Extra brownie points to
those who find it 😋

🥰
NOTE: For the sake of this fic, let’s pretend that there is a ferry service that goes straight
from Seoul to Busan.

See the end of the chapter for more notes

They had walked about a few hundred metres or so in comfortable silence - the restaurant
now completely out of sight and mind. Jongwoo, while he had only taken a few shots, wanted
to be completely sober for this, and he thought that he’d be able to walk off any feelings of
inebriation.

He certainly didn’t feel drunk, so that was a good sign. Jongwoo knew what he was doing,
and he wasn’t going to regret it.

Or well, maybe a little. But that was a future-him problem.

So when Jongwoo found his gaze falling back onto the ethereal sight of Moonjo under the
moonlight, he wasn’t surprised when the older man caught him in the act.

“Something on your mind, jagiya?” Moonjo softly asked as he turned to return his eye
contact.

Jongwoo sighed, his last feeble attempts of hesitation going with it, before he came to a
complete stop. While Moonjo was initially a little confused, he stopped too. Thankfully, the
streets were practically dead - only an odd car or two passing by every so often. For a city
that prided itself on their nightlife, the area was uncharacteristically quiet. But that worked in
Jongwoo’s favour, so who was he to complain?

Jongwoo wet his lips, suddenly aware of the weight in his chest, the way his heart seemed to
be clawing its way up his throat. His fists clenched and unclenched at his sides, restless. He
doesn’t know how to say it. Sure he was an author, but he never wrote about this sort of
thing. He’s never been the type to spill his heart out in pretty phrases. But this wasn’t
something he could keep locked away any longer.

So he just said it.

“I love you.”

It came out rough, unpolished — nothing grand or poetic. But it’s raw, unfiltered, real. It’s the
truth.

Immediately, even though he knew it was coming, he could feel his cheeks heating up with
embarrassment at the sudden confession. Whatever - the quicker he said it, the quicker it was
over with.

Jongwoo exhaled sharply, shaking his head. “I shouldn’t,” he added, voice quieter. “I know I
shouldn’t. You’re—you’re bad for me, Moonjo. I know that. But no matter how much I try to
fight it, no matter how many times I tell myself I should leave, I…” He swallowed hard. “I
don’t want to.”

His gaze flickered up, searching Moonjo’s face, waiting for some kind of reaction. But
Moonjo just stared at him, quiet and unreadable, the faintest hint of amusement curling at his
lips.

Jongwoo sighed, running a hand through his hair. “You’ve ruined me,” he murmured. “Or
maybe I was already ruined, and you just made me see it.” His throat tightened, and for a
second, he almost laughed — because God, this was insane. But so was everything about
them.

A deep breath.

“But I can’t run from it anymore,” he admitted. “And I don’t think I can save myself this
time, but I think that’s just fine.”

Jongwoo’s confession hung in the air, heavy and raw, like something he never thought he’d
admit. For a long moment, Moonjo stood perfectly still, his eyes locked on Jongwoo,
unreadable. It’s like he was processing the weight of Jongwoo’s words, the truth finally
sinking in. His usually composed demeanor faltered for just a moment.

Then, without a word, Moonjo stepped forward, closing the distance between them with slow,
deliberate movements. His hands, once cool and detached, reached out to grasp Jongwoo’s
shoulders with an almost possessive intensity. His fingers curled into the fabric of Jongwoo’s
jacket, as if grounding himself in the moment. Moonjo’s gaze never once wavered, and for a
brief second, Jongwoo could see something softening in his eyes — something deeper than
the usual coldness.

Moonjo didn’t speak immediately. Instead, he pulled Jongwoo closer, his body pressing
against his in a way that was possessive yet intimate, like he was drawing him into a space
where nothing else mattered. Jongwoo felt the weight of Moonjo’s presence, the way his
chest rose and fell with every breath, and it made everything inside him go still.

Moonjo rested his forehead against Jongwoo’s, his breath warm against his skin, as though he
was trying to steady the storm inside himself. It wasn’t an act of dominance. It was more like
an acknowledgment — of their connection, of the surrender that had been given, and of the
unspoken understanding that they were bound in a way neither could escape.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Moonjo pulled back slightly, but only enough to look
into Jongwoo’s eyes. His fingers moved to the back of Jongwoo’s neck, his touch gentle,
almost reassuring — like a quiet promise. His voice was low, but there was a firmness to it
that cut through the silence.

“You don’t need to save yourself, jagiya,” he said, his words steady but heavy with meaning.
“You’re exactly where you belong. And I’m not letting you go.”

There was a pause as the weight of his words settled between them, and then Moonjo leaned
in just slightly, his lips brushing against Jongwoo’s ear as he whispered, “You’re mine now...
And you always will be.”

He pulled back just enough to see the reaction in Jongwoo’s eyes, waiting for that final
moment of truth to settle, but it was clear — Moonjo wasn’t going anywhere. And neither
was Jongwoo.

For a long moment, they just stood there, the city buzzing around them, the neon glow
casting shifting patterns over Moonjo’s face. Jongwoo could still feel the ghost of Moonjo’s
touch, the warmth lingering between them, but it wasn’t just that. It was everything. The
weight of his own words, the quiet finality of it all.

Jongwoo took a breath, steadying himself, then broke the silence. “Let’s go home.”

Home.

The word settled between them like an unspoken vow, wrapping around Jongwoo’s ribs,
sinking deep into his chest. It wasn’t just a place anymore. It wasn’t just a room he’d be
staying in or a temporary refuge. No — this was real. This was his.

Moonjo’s lips curled, his grip tightening ever so slightly before he turned, leading them
forward. Jongwoo followed, step for step, and let Moonjo guide them back to his apartment.
And just like they had started, a comfortable silence engulfed them. But this time it was
different.

Jongwoo felt lighter. Like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
And as he drifted his eyes back over Moonjo’s frame, he couldn’t help but smile to himself. It
was clear his feelings had been reciprocated - for a while, really - so Jongwoo was more than
content.

So there he was, hand in hand, getting led on by his lover.

There were no take-backs now, but Jongwoo was more than happy with that. For the first
time in what felt like an eternity, Jongwoo felt undeniably and irrefutably loved. He knew
they were both toxic, but they were toxic for each other. That had to count for something.

And so, by the time the duo reached the apartment building, Jongwoo felt way better than he
had been when he left. Still standing side by side in that comfortable silence from before,
Jongwoo and Moonjo rode the elevator up to the older man’s apartment. Suddenly, a rather
confronting thought crossed his mind.

What now?

Jongwoo had bared himself open, let the truth slip past his lips, and Moonjo had accepted it
with open arms. But did that mean… was he expecting more? Something Jongwoo wasn’t
sure he could give — at least, not yet.

His throat felt dry. Maybe it was paranoia. Maybe it was just his own twisted sense of
obligation clawing at him. After all, wasn’t this how these things usually went? First, the
confession — then, complete submission? That’s what love was supposed to look like, right?

The thought made his pulse quicken.

But then the elevator chimed, doors sliding open, and when Jongwoo finally glanced at
Moonjo, there was no hunger, no impatience — just the same steady, knowing look.

So Jongwoo relaxed.

He felt like he would implode if he immediately jumped into that with Moonjo, so he settled
on accepting that it was a challenge for a different day. He had kissed him twice already, sure,
but Jongwoo still wanted to take things a bit slower. After all, there was no rush. And
Jongwoo knew that Moonjo would wait an eternity for him if it really came down to it.

And so, the rest of the right was rather anticlimactic. Jongwoo had taken a shower and gotten
into his - much to Moonjo’s dismay - own pyjamas and settled into bed. Moonjo had done the
same, but he had acquired a book and was reading quietly beside him.

Even with the love confession hanging between them, Jongwoo realised nothing had really
changed. Not in the way he thought it would. There was no sudden shift, no overwhelming
revelation. They had already been like this, orbiting each other, slipping into an unspoken
rhythm that neither of them had dared to name until now. The words had only confirmed
what had already been true.

Jongwoo shrugged it off and flipped over so he was facing Moonjo. He was getting even
more tired by the second, but the light radiating off of Moonjo’s bedside lamp was not
helping in any way. So, he bargained with Moonjo to join him.

Well, sort of.

Jongwoo simply groaned and mumbled out a groggy “Moonjo…”, but it seemed to do the
trick just fine. After shooting him an acknowledging smile, the older man shut his book softly
and placed it on the bedside table. Then, he leaned over and turned the lamp off — the room
immediately adorning a satisfying darkness. Finally.

And, just like the many nights before and probably many more to come, Moonjo slotted in
with Jongwoo’s body like a puzzle piece. Even in the darkness, Jongwoo knew that Moonjo
was staring at him. He knew he shouldn’t encourage the creepy behaviour from the other
man, but he couldn’t be bothered to tell him to stop.

“Sleep well, jagiya.” Moonjo purred into Jongwoo’s ears, his voice low and soothing. Then,
he added one final thing before Jongwoo dozed off completely.

“Love you too.”

After a relatively relaxed morning of eating breakfast made by Moonjo yet again, Jongwoo’s
attention was suddenly driven elsewhere. As he brought the steaming mug up to his lips to
take a sip, he almost had to do a double take when he saw it.

The credit card.

Jongwoo approached the kitchen island that the card rested on top of before he swiftly took it
in his hand. Huh. With everything that had happened lately - with Moonjo, with Gi-hun and
the others, with Young-il - Jongwoo had forgotten about the money in its entirety. It was
strange that Jongwoo, who still had his various debts, had forgotten about the insanely huge
wad of cash he had accumulated, but he had.

It seemed that Moonjo had also taken notice in Jongwoo’s sudden fixation on the card, as he
finished drying off his hands after cleaning the dishes and walked over.

“What are you going to do with the money, jagiya?” He questioned sincerely.

Jongwoo had a rough idea of what he wanted to do with it. Of course, he was going to pay off
his debts, but there was something else that had been bugging him.

“Will you come to Busan with me?” Jongwoo suddenly offered, and Moonjo seemed to be
just as confused but realisation hit him shortly after.

“Of course. I’ll see if we can book seats on a bus.” Moonjo offered happily.
…

And so, a few hours later, Jongwoo found himself getting dropped off by a taxi outside of
Seoul’s Express Bus Terminal with Moonjo by his side. Unlike the bustling commuters
around him, Jongwoo only brought himself, his phone, and the card. He wasn’t going to be
staying long anyway.

After finally attaining their tickets, Jongwoo and Moonjo headed for the gate assigned on
their tickets. When they arrived, the duo clambered onto the bus alongside the several other
passengers. Jongwoo couldn’t help but sigh when he sat down.

Only 4 to 5 hours to go, yippee.

The bus ride was hell.

It was stuffy, boring, and downright miserable. Moonjo seemed to enjoy it - using the time to
catch up on a few books he had packed. On the other hand, Jongwoo only had his phone to
entertain himself with, but even so, he quickly ran out of things to do. So, in the end, he
settled on simply looking out the window for most of the bus ride.

Jongwoo leaned back in his seat, gazing out of the window as the bus hummed along the
highway, the familiar landscape slipping by. It was a strange feeling, retracing his steps back
to where it all started. He thought about the last time he had taken this ride into Seoul — how
different everything had seemed then. He was so blissfully unaware of what lay ahead, of the
people he would meet, the chaos he would endure, and the feelings that would inevitably
consume him. It felt like a lifetime ago, a simpler time when his world was still small, still
intact. Well, for the most part anyway.

Back then, the road was just a road. It was just a bus ride to another city, just another step
forward in an ordinary life. But now, the road stretched out in front of him like a ribbon of
change, leading him back to where he began — but everything was different. He was
different.

The memories of that moment, when his journey was just beginning, felt distant, almost
unreal. He hadn’t known what was coming, hadn’t even imagined the twists and turns his life
would take. Jongwoo almost envied the naïve version of himself who’d boarded that bus with
no idea that his world was about to be turned upside down.

Simple times, indeed.

The rest of the bus ride went agonizingly slowly, only stopping a few times along the road to
allow the passengers to stretch their legs and alleviate themselves. When they did finally
arrive however, Jongwoo suddenly felt far more ecstatic than he had been in the past 5 hours
of hell. He was just glad he was going to get off that wretched bus.

When he stepped onto familiar land, Jongwoo breathed in the fresh air of Busan. It was just
after 2:30 PM, but the streets were still bustling with life. After Moonjo had gathered himself
and his belongings, they eventually set foot in the direction of his mother’s house.

Busan wasn’t a small city by any means, but the exercise couldn’t do them any harm.
Especially after having spent the past five hours sitting on his ass in a bus, Jongwoo
welcomed the challenge. It seemed Moonjo didn’t mind either, so Jongwoo continued to lead
them both to his family home.

Eventually, they couldn’t have been more than a block or two away from his home before
Jongwoo suddenly realised what he had to do before meeting her.

“I’ll be right back.” Jongwoo assured, quickly swiveling on his feet before he began to search
for a nearby bank. And of course, since it was a metropolitan area, he didn’t have to search
for long. But Moonjo caught up with him in no time anyway - not letting him have a single
moment to himself as usual - before finding his position beside the younger man as they
stood in front of a bank’s entrance.

This was the moment of truth.

Inside, the bank was quiet, the air thick with the sound of fluorescent lights humming above
them. Jongwoo approached the counter, his heart racing despite himself. The woman behind
the desk greeted him with a polite smile and motioned for him to hand over the card. Her
fingers brushed the plastic as she inserted it into the machine, and then she began typing
away.

A moment passed, and her eyes flickered to the screen. Her fingers stilled, her expression
momentarily unreadable. She cleared her throat and glanced back at Jongwoo. “I see you
have a substantial balance.” There was a brief pause as she examined the information again,
slightly taken aback. “And what would you like to do today, sir?”

Jongwoo’s stomach twisted at the realization. The card — his card — was real. The money
was real. A rush of disbelief flooded him, though he quickly masked it behind a calm
exterior. His hands were steady, but inside, he felt triumphant. All that bloodshed in the
games hadn’t been for nothing.

He swallowed and spoke with quiet resolve, though the words barely seemed to match the
whirlwind inside him.

“Withdrawal, please.”

Thirty minutes later, after some paperwork and the necessary formalities, Jongwoo walked
out, the weight of a significantly larger sum pressing against him.

Shit, it was real.

As Jongwoo clutched the bag that the bank had given him in his hand tightly, he knew it was
time. It felt like it had been a century since he had seen his mother, so a small sliver of
himself felt nervous. But that nervous feeling quickly dissipated. It was only his mother, why
should he feel so uneasy?

As they walked down the sidewalk, the crisp autumn air biting at the edges of their jackets,
Jongwoo couldn’t help but glance down at the small stack of cash in the bag. Ten million
won. The limit. He would have taken more, but the bank’s rules were strict, and he wasn’t
about to make a scene. Even though he was a little irritated by the bank’s precedings, he
couldn’t argue that the rule wasn’t entirely unreasonable. Jongwoo doubted that they were
able to have millions upon millions stashed away at every location.

So, he brushed it off. This was for his mother, and no matter how much it was, Jongwoo
knew she would appreciate it.

His thoughts lingered on the idea of what this gesture truly meant. It wasn’t just about
handing her the money, it was about the meaning behind it. Jongwoo had never had much to
give, always living paycheck to paycheck, scraping by in a way that had left him feeling
small and inadequate. But now, with the bank balance that seemed almost too good to be real,
he could finally offer her something substantial. He could provide for her in a way he never
had before. Sure he had given her the odd hundred thousand or million here and there, but
now, things were different.

But it wasn’t just the money he wanted her to see. He could have just transferred the funds to
her bank account back in Yeouido, but no, Jongwoo wanted to come to her in person. To
show her that he had made it in his life at Seoul, even if in the most complicated and strange
of ways.

Moonjo was walking quietly beside him, his presence a steadying force. He hadn’t asked
many questions about the money — he had merely accepted it as part of Jongwoo’s journey.
The weight of the cash in the small bag seemed inconsequential next to the unspoken bond
between them, yet Moonjo’s steady silence was a reassurance. They didn’t need to talk about
it. Jongwoo already knew Moonjo understood.

“Just a little further,” Jongwoo muttered under his breath, more to himself than to Moonjo.

Moonjo’s voice came low, without hesitation. “Take your time.”

Jongwoo nodded, forcing his focus back to the task at hand. His chest felt tight as he thought
of his mother. She didn’t know anything about the games, about what he had to do to come
up with this money — the blood on his hands. She’d never understand. But in his mind, this
was his way of saying sorry. This was his way of giving her something — not just as a son,
but as someone who had fought through unimaginable things just to stand here now.

If only she knew.

But that was something Jongwoo could never explain. Not yet, not ever. For now, this small
act, the one she would never know the true meaning behind, was enough. It would have to be.

When they finally arrived, Jongwoo lingered on the porch for a beat too long. He sighed
before forcing himself to perk up, reaching a hand up to the door and knocking a few times.
Then, he retracted his hand and waited.

The silence was deafening and felt painfully long, but just as quickly as it had come, it was
gone when the door was unlocked.

The door then creaked open, revealing a woman who had clearly been caught off guard by
the unexpected visitors. Jongwoo’s mother stood there, her dark, curled hair a little
disheveled, as if she’d just been in the middle of something. She was dressed in comfortable
clothes, the kind you’d wear when you had no plans of stepping outside, and for a moment,
she just blinked at them, processing.

And then her eyes landed on Jongwoo.

Her breath hitched — just barely, but enough for Jongwoo to catch it. Her lips parted, as if to
say his name, but no words came out. Instead, she just stood there, taking him in, her gaze
sweeping over him like she wasn’t quite sure he was real.

“…Jongwoo?” She finally managed, her voice quiet, uncertain.

“Eomma.” Was all Jongwoo said as he let the bag of money drop to the floor before he held
out his arms.

His mother, though a little taken aback by his sudden appearance, melted into the hug,
squeezing her son with so much tenacity that Jongwoo had to wonder if he had been gone
longer than he once thought.

When they finally pulled back, she scanned over Jongwoo one final time, studying every
curve and edge of him to reassure herself that he was in fact standing right in front of her. But
their sweet moment was quickly ruined when her eyes flickered over to the still frame of
Moonjo standing just behind him.

“Oh! I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there.” She apologised, bowing to Moonjo out of
embarrassment due to her disheveled state. Turning to Jongwoo, she whispered into his ear,
“You should’ve told me you were coming with a friend! I would’ve cleaned up a bit.”

Her words didn’t contain any bite though, and Jongwoo simply chuckled out a half-assed
apology. Yeah, he probably should’ve let her know they were on their way but it was too late
now.

“And you must be…?” She trailed off, turning to face Moonjo and completely ignoring her
own son.

“Seo Moonjo.” He replied as he shot her a polite smile, simultaneously bowing to show his
respect.

“Well, it’s lovely to meet you Moonjo.” She countered.

“Likewise, Ms Yoon.” Moonjo offered, but was quickly shut down only seconds later.

“Oh please, call me Mi-kyung. I insist.”

Moonjo only nodded in acknowledgement, clearly noting the woman’s name preference in
the back of his mind for later. Then, right as Jongwoo went to ask if they could come inside,
his mother quickly ushered them in.

“Ah, what kind of host am I? Please, come in.” Mi-kyung suggested as she gestured for the
duo to enter. And without needing much more encouragement, the two stepped into
Jongwoo’s old family home.

And…it looked the same as it was when he left.

Stepping inside, Jongwoo was hit with the unmistakable scent of home — warm, slightly
aged wood and the faint lingering trace of whatever his mother had cooked earlier in the day.
The off-white walls stood just as they always had, the wooden floors creaking softly beneath
his steps, like they were greeting him after so much time apart.

His eyes flickered to the corner, where the old fan still stood, humming softly. The small TV
sat in its usual spot on the low cabinet, and beside it, the same two photo frames remained
untouched by time. One held a moment frozen in his military uniform, standing beside his
mother, her hands clutching a bouquet of flowers with that proud, teary-eyed smile. The other
— a similar picture, but this time with his brother.

Even the balcony was the same, overflowing with plants and odds and ends that had
accumulated over the years, overlooking a city that had moved forward while this place had
remained unchanged. It was almost unsettling how familiar it all was, as if he had never left,
as if the last few years hadn’t happened.

Nothing had changed.

Except for him.

But even as he continued to take in the familiar sight, a different thought crossed his mind.
And after his mother shut the door behind Moonjo, Jongwoo decided to voice his thoughts.

“Where’s Jongseok?” Jongwoo asked as he looked around.

“Oh, your brother? He’s out with friends.” She responded calmly as she tried to discreetly
clean up some of the mess on the kitchen countertop.

Ah, that made sense. At the very least, Jongwoo was glad he was out and about and not
spending his time rotting away inside. Good for him.

“Are you guys hungry? I made lunch earlier today, but I can heat up the leftovers.” Mi-kyung
offered sincerely, as she already began to take some of the containers out of the fridge.

But before Jongwoo could reject her offer and tell her that they were just swinging by,
Moonjo stepped in and answered for them.

“That would be wonderful. Thank you, Mi-kyung.” Moonjo accepted.

Jongwoo fought back from rolling his eyes. Moonjo and his darn politeness. Whatever,
Jongwoo knew it was all a sham anyway.

His mother seemed beyond thrilled that they had accepted, and immediately got to reheating
and plating the dishes up. They fell into a comfortable conversation about how life had been
after he had left. Mi-kyung talked about the market, saying she was selling more than usual.
By the time they had moved onto talking about his brother, his mother had finished with the
food and was placing it onto the small table just adjacent to the kitchen.

Taking a seat at the table with Moonjo beside him and his mother on the opposite side,
Jongwoo thanked his mother before absolutely diving into the assortment of dishes.

Jongwoo took his first bite of rice and vegetables, and the taste hit him like a memory. Warm,
familiar, unmistakably home. The kind of meal that settled deep in his bones, reminding him
of late nights at this very table, of quiet mornings before school, of the rare moments when
life still felt simple.

He hadn’t realized how much he needed this. After everything — the sleepless nights, the
blood, the fear — this was what finally unraveled the tension in his body. His mother’s
cooking, simple and familiar, wrapping around him like a blanket against the cold. For the
first time in what felt like forever, he could just sit, eat, and breathe.

Moonjo enjoyed the meal quietly by his side, only speaking up to shower his mother with
compliments about the food every so often. And of course, Mi-kyung bathed in the
compliments from the older man. And just by looking at her slightly reddened face, Jongwoo
knew she was especially flattered because it was Moonjo who was saying it. Typical.

Jongwoo brushed it off, and continued to eat his meal in peace while Mi-kyung and Moonjo
fell into a polite conversation about Moonjo’s job. He conveniently left out the part that he
was a dentist by day and serial killer by night, but Jongwoo was grateful for that. His mother
didn’t need to know she had cooked a meal for two serial killers, or at the very least, had
birthed one. That would send her into a bigger spiral than Jongwoo had been in himself, and
he just wasn’t ready to do that to his mother of all people.

When they finally finished their food, Mi-kyung directed the conversation back at Jongwoo -
curious as to what his son could have possibly gotten up to in his time at Seoul.

“How’s your job? Are you enjoying it?” She asked, blissfully unaware as to what sort of
answer could potentially follow that question.

But Jongwoo lied.

The more he thought about it - his time at Eden and the games - he just couldn’t tell his
mother. Sure, he craved his mother’s affection and comfort, but Jongwoo didn’t want to
burden her with anything else. She was already struggling, and if Jongwoo dropped those
bombshells on her like it was nothing, she’d surely go crazy. So, lying it was.

This was for the better. Plus, would it really be so cruel to spare her from the weight of his
harsh reality? From the blood, the loss, the things he could never take back? No, Jongwoo
didn’t think so.

“Yeah, it’s pretty good. I got lucky.”

Wrong.

“I’m glad things have been going well for you, Jongwoo. How’s Jaeho then?” She asked
next.

Just smile and nod.

“He’s been treating me well. He’s a good guy.”

Wrong. Jaeho was far from it, and not to mention, he wasn’t even alive anymore. But she
didn’t need to know that.

“That’s good to hear,” his mother said warmly. “Jongwoo, I hope you take a page out of
Jaeho’s book. He’s been so kind to you, so I hope you return the favor soon.”

Jongwoo stiffened. A page out of Jaeho’s book? He wanted to scoff at the mere thought but
he somehow held back.

If only she knew. If only she understood the kind of man Jaeho really was — what he had
done, what he had helped Jongwoo to become. His grip on his chopsticks tightened for just a
second before he forced himself to relax, pushing down the prickle of unease crawling up his
spine. He just smiled again. That was all he could do.

So, after clearing his throat a little awkwardly, he accidentally let his eyes drift over to a
rather pleased looking Moonjo to his right. Of course the guy was getting a kick out of this.

Jongwoo ignored him and turned back to his mother, hoping that her questions would end
soon. But even he knew that was an optimistic thought. After all, he had stopped by out of
nowhere. He’d be concerned if his mother didn’t have questions.

And as if it couldn’t get any worse, the conversation shifted to Jieun.

“So then, how’s Jieun? I thought she’d come with you.”

Jongwoo felt his breath hitch at the mention of her name. Awkward.

Out of his peripheral vision, he felt Moonjo’s eyes lock onto him, almost waiting for him to
tell the truth about the status of he and Jieun’s relationship now. Shit, maybe he should have
just left Moonjo at home.

Jongwoo couldn't bring himself to lie about this, and so, he didn’t.

“We broke up.” He bluntly announced.

Mi-kyung let out a shocked gasp as she scanned over him, trying to conjure up a response to
his sudden confession. After some time, she sighed, tutting her teeth in mild disappointment.
“What a shame. I always liked Jieun, she was such a lovely girl.”

Jongwoo flashed her a pained smile. Oh my God, this was agony. But then his mother asked
the dreaded question he hoped she wasn’t going to ask.

“What happened?” Mi-kyung said as she tilted her head inquisitively.

Immediately, Jongwoo hesitated. Was there even a simple way to put this? Without exposing
his murderous tendencies and the fucked up nature of he and Moonjo’s relationship? No…not
really.

But there was no point in prolonging the truth, so it was time to rip the bandaid off. She was
bound to find out anyway.

“Moonjo and I are together.”

The table went deathly silent. It seemed that even Moonjo hadn’t been expecting Jongwoo’s
answer, because he had gone eerily still too.

Oops…?

Mi-kyung darted her eyes between the duo in a mix of confusion and disbelief. And what felt
like an eternity later, she finally voiced the question that had immediately sprung into her
mind as soon as he had confessed it.

“You’re…gay?” Her words weren’t laced with any disgust or anger, but merely curiosity.

In response, Jongwoo gave her an awkward chuckle before he formed what he hoped was an
adequate enough answer for her.

“It’s a long story.” Was what he settled on.

And quite frankly, that had to be the understatement of the century. Jongwoo didn’t even
know if he would be able to explain it to her if she asked. Their relationship was far too
complicated for simple, over-some-dinner conversation.

But rather than following up with many pestering questions as to when exactly Jongwoo had
‘switched sides’, his mother simply flashed them a warm smile.

“As long as you’re happy, Jongwoo. I’m no one to judge.” Mi-kyung confessed as she gave
them a knowing nod of approval.

Jongwoo knew his mother wasn’t homophobic by any means, but her words still made him
feel better. And even though he wouldn’t be able to tell her what happened in the month or so
that he had been in Seoul, he was glad to have her unconditional support regardless.

After the words left her mouth, Moonjo edged in ever so slightly to Jongwoo, knowing that
he no longer had to hide anything. It was strange - seeing Moonjo so complacent and
respectful of his boundaries - holding back until it was safe to show more of his true colours.
Jongwoo could only guess that Moonjo was waiting until Jongwoo made it official to do
anything serious. He wanted Jongwoo to want it too. And while he certainly wasn’t going to
let go of him if he didn’t, Moonjo would have waited until Jongwoo eventually came to that
conclusion. Whether it took days, months, or years, Moonjo would wait. Always.

“But I must ask, I can’t help it. How did you meet?” His mother poked. But it wasn’t aimed
at Jongwoo for once. Her eyes were locked on Moonjo instead. So, Jongwoo turned to
Moonjo and silently encouraged him to go on, hoping that he wouldn’t mess this up and say
something outrageous.

“He was my neighbour at our old studio.” Moonjo politely replied.

His mother immediately made an ‘O’ shape with her mouth, taking in the man’s reply. Then,
after a few moments, she spoke up.

“Ah, I see.” She said, pausing to let her statement sink in, before adding, “I wish you two all
the best.”

Then, a comfortable silence engulfed the trio. While he most definitely knew his mother was
curious as to how her son could have possibly ended up in this situation, Jongwoo was
thankful she didn’t push. She didn’t ask anymore questions after that.

Or well, not about their relationship anyway.

“Well then…was that the reason you swung by?” Mi-kyung eventually asked, her voice soft
and a tad bit hopeful - probably wishing that Jongwoo didn’t need a reason to visit his mother
in the first place.

Oh yeah.

Their conversation had made Jongwoo temporarily forget why they came here - but he
remembered now. Jongwoo held up a finger to symbolise that he wanted her to stay put while
he got the bag of money that was sitting just nearby. Here goes nothing.

“I mean, I can’t say I was planning on telling you that yet but oh well.” Jongwoo humoured
as he made room on the table for the bag. “But I came here to do something else, actually.”

And almost immediately, his mother’s eyes widened the moment Jongwoo unzipped the bag
and revealed the neatly stacked bundles of cash inside.

“Jongwoo,” She breathed, her voice caught between shock and disbelief. “What is this?”

“Money,” He said simply, sliding the bag toward her. “It’s for you, for whatever you need. I
don’t want you worrying about anything anymore.”

She shook her head almost immediately, pushing the bag right back. “No, I can’t accept this.
This is too much—where did you even get all this?”

Jongwoo exhaled sharply, already expecting this reaction. “Eomma, please. Don’t make this
harder than it needs to be.”
“This isn’t necessary,” She insisted, her fingers curling tightly around the edge of the table. “I
don’t need—”

“It’s not about needing,” He interrupted, more firm this time. “It’s about you not having to
struggle anymore. You’ve done enough. Let me do this for you.”

Her lips parted, but Jongwoo could see the hesitation in her eyes. She wanted to refuse again,
to tell him that she was fine, that she had always managed. But Jongwoo wasn’t budging, and
he made that clear as he gently pushed the bag toward her once more.

“Please,” He repeated, quieter this time. “Just take it.”

A heavy silence settled between them before, finally, her shoulders slumped in resignation.
She reached out, her hands hesitant as they hovered over the money. It still felt unreal to her.

“…Are you sure?” She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Jongwoo nodded. “More than sure.”

She still looked a little reluctant, but she brought the bag in closer to herself anyway. Taking a
stack of cash in her hand, Mi-kyung stared down at the seemingly unreal sight and silently
took it in. She exhaled shakily, running a hand over the stacks of money before carefully
placing them back into the bag. A deep sigh followed, her chest heavy with a mix of guilt and
gratitude.

“Thank you, Jongwoo,” She murmured. “You’ve always been there for Jongseok and I.” Her
voice wavered ever so slightly, and then — almost as if something in her broke — she let out
a trembling breath.

“I’m sorry,” She whispered. “I’m so sorry, Jongwoo. A mother should be the one providing
for her children, not the other way around. I should be taking care of you, not relying on you
to—”

“Don’t,” Jongwoo cut in, shaking his head. His tone was firm, but not unkind. “Don’t say
that.”

She looked at him, eyes glassy with unshed tears, but he held her gaze.

“You’re not a bad mother,” He said, leaving no room for argument. “You’ve done everything
for me — for Jongseok. You worked yourself to the bone to make sure we had food on the
table. You sacrificed more than I probably even realise.” He exhaled, his expression
softening. “So let me do this for you. Let me return the favour.”

His mother pressed her lips together, her fingers tightening around the bag’s handles. She
didn’t argue again, but Jongwoo could see the emotions warring in her eyes.

“…Thank you,” she finally whispered. And this time, she let herself accept it.

And before he even knew it, his mother had gotten up from her seat and walked around the
table to bring Jongwoo into a loving, grateful hug. Jongwoo melted into her, feeling his chest
go warm and fuzzy at the thought of helping his family.

It was only when Jongwoo opened his eyes again and heard the shuffling of Moonjo behind
him that he realised that they were not alone. So, he pulled back - albeit a little reluctantly -
before he spoke up.

“We better get going soon, eomma. We don’t want to miss our bus.” Jongwoo relented as he
brought his mother out in front of him.

Well actually, Jongwoo would love to miss the bus. It was a shit box anyway. But he couldn’t
do that, sadly.

“I understand. Thank you for stopping by, it’s always good to see you, Jongwoo.” Mi-kyung
replied, letting a joyful smile curl up from the corners of her lips. “I’m glad you felt safe
enough to share him with me.”

Jongwoo simply nodded in response, not fighting the smile of his own that was creeping up
his face at her words. It felt good to be supported, even if she didn’t know the whole picture.

And so, after helping her with the dishes and various other quick, odd jobs around the house,
Jongwoo and Moonjo were back at the front door, putting their shoes on and getting ready to
leave. And while Moonjo waited on the porch just a few steps away, after Jongwoo had
gotten up and was straightening his jacket, his mother whispered into his ear.

“He’s very handsome. You picked well, Jongwoo.” Mi-kyung jested as she cheekily nudged
him. Jongwoo went to argue that he, in fact, hadn’t chosen Moonjo and it was more the other
way around, but he thought otherwise and closed his mouth before he said something he
regretted. So, he settled on something else.

“Indeed, he is.” Jongwoo agreed, letting a smile creep up his face as he caught a glimpse of
the back of Moonjo’s figure waiting patiently on the porch.

His mother let out a warm laugh, before reaching a hand up to pat Jongwoo’s shoulder softly.

“Now get out of here.” She urged, but Jongwoo knew it was said in good fun.

“Love you, eomma. Goodbye.” Jongwoo dismissed himself, finally stepping through the door
frame and out onto the porch. Then, Jongwoo took the lead and began to lead Moonjo away.
But before he could get too far, his mother yelled out to him.

“Love you too! Make sure to visit lots!” She shouted loudly, before quickly adding, “And
bring Moonjo!”

Jongwoo called out to her one final time, before he eventually turned around and began to
head back down the street they had walked up. Moonjo let out a low chuckle beside
Jongwoo, seemingly amused by his mother’s antics.

And as they continued to descend down the hill, Jongwoo couldn’t help the smile from before
resurfacing on his face. He had done something good — something real. Providing for her,
for Jongseok, it didn’t erase everything else, but it gave him something solid to hold onto. A
reason to believe that maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t completely lost. He hoped the money
would help, that it would ease the burden she carried, even if only a little. And if this was all
he could do for her — after everything she had done for him — then he would do it again in a
heartbeat.

Jongwoo made a mental note to himself to transfer some more money when he got home. He
was almost certainly convinced that his mother didn’t know how to send the money back, so
thankfully, he wouldn’t have to deal with her polite refusals.

But when Jongwoo reached the bottom and began to lean left to head toward the bus
terminal, he stopped when he realised Moonjo wasn’t following him. Instead, the older man
was heading in the completely opposite direction.

“Moonjo, where are you going? The terminal is this way.” Jongwoo declared as he pointed
behind him to emphasise his point.

“We’re not going back via bus.” Moonjo confessed, his tone flat and civil as ever.

“We’re not…?” Jongwoo trailed off as he tried to study the man’s blank expression. What,
did he want them to walk or something? Surely he wasn’t that crazy.

“You didn’t like the bus, so we’re taking the ferry.” Moonjo replied, pausing to let his
statement sink in, before he quickly added, “I thought you’d appreciate the fresh air rather
than being stuffed into the bus.”

And Jongwoo most certainly would. Sure, it would take an hour or two longer because they
were going around Korea and not through the middle, but Jongwoo appreciated the
sentiment. He’d much rather spend that amount of time on a ferry than any time at all on that
wretched bus.

“Oh, wow—okay. Thank you, Moonjo. I really appreciate it.” Jongwoo answered, a little
startled by Moonjo’s accurate observation. But that confusion swiftly dissipated - it was
Moonjo after all. It would be strange if he didn’t know what Jongwoo was feeling at every
given moment.

And so, rather than going left and toward the bus terminal, Jongwoo and Moonjo took a right
and walked to the ferry dock. As they walked, the setting sun in the distance casted warm,
golden rays over them. Jongwoo hadn’t realised he had stayed at his mother’s house for so
long, but he didn’t mind it. Because if they had left any earlier, they wouldn’t have been able
to see this beautiful sunset.

When they arrived at the boat terminal and Moonjo acquired the tickets, Jongwoo found a
bench to sit on while they waited until they were called onto the ferry. Not long after, Moonjo
joined him - sitting down next to Jongwoo who was staring off into the water ahead. And
they very well could have sat in a comfortable silence, but Moonjo decided to speak up.

“That was very noble of you, jagiya.” Moonjo mused, as he followed Jongwoo’s eyes over to
the water.
“Hm?” Jongwoo repeated, seemingly having been a little distracted by the captivating sight
of the glistening sea under the light of the setting sun. He didn’t move his eyes away from the
water though, and neither did Moonjo. So, they both sat there, staring ahead off at the
sparkling sea in front of them.

“What you did for your mother.” Moonjo clarified softly.

“Oh, it was nothing. She’s done so much for Jongseok and I, so it was the least I could do.”
Jongwoo said, brushing off the situation lightly.

Moonjo simply hummed in response, not feeling the need to follow up with anything else.
And so, the duo returned to their familiar, comfortable silence and sat on the bench
outlooking the water until they were called to start boarding.

Once they found a seat, Jongwoo could confidently say that while it wasn’t anything
luxurious, the ferry was far better than the bus. And as Jongwoo stared out the window, he
made a promise to himself that he’d go out on the boat deck at one point. But for now…

Jongwoo let his head drop onto Moonjo’s shoulder, before he let his eyes shut softly. He
doubted that he’d be able to sleep with all the chatter from the other passengers, but one
could only hope. But as Jongwoo snuggled up into Moonjo’s side to try and find a
comfortable position, Moonjo let his own head drop until it was resting gently on top of
Jongwoo’s. Distantly, Jongwoo felt Moonjo take his hand in his, interlocking their fingers
and holding him tightly.

The duo remained like that for the first hour or two of the ferry ride, silently basking in each
other’s warmth and touch. It was only when Jongwoo’s neck really began to ache that he
decided to take a break. Opening his eyes, Jongwoo nudged Moonjo softly, hoping that the
older man hadn’t fallen asleep on top of him. But thankfully, he hadn’t, and quickly lifted his
head up so that Jongwoo could move his too.

“Do you want to go out onto the deck? My neck is hurting like a bitch…” Jongwoo asked as
he brought a hand up to the crook of his neck and rubbed it to try and soothe the ache.

“Of course. I’ll meet you out there, I just have to grab something.” Moonjo answered, and
even though Jongwoo was a little curious as to what he could be planning, he swiftly brushed
it off. Jongwoo just wanted to stretch his legs and get some fresh air.

And so, that’s what they did.

Moonjo went to — well, wherever the hell he was going — while Jongwoo clambered up
some stairs until he was almost blown away by the wind when he swung the door to the deck
open.

After regaining his composure, Jongwoo stepped out onto the quiet deck that was only being
illuminated by the fluorescent light leaking from inside the ferry. But soon enough, Jongwoo
found a spot behind a railing that overlooked the water. Without all the bright city lights, the
stars looked far more prominent in the sky. It was beautiful.
Then, Jongwoo suddenly felt a presence beside him. He knew it was Moonjo, but what he
didn’t expect to see was Moonjo holding two beers. What the hell?

“Where on earth did you get those from?” Jongwoo questioned dubiously as he pointed at the
two cans in Moonjo’s hands.

“There’s a bar inside.” Moonjo casually replied as he held out one of the beers to the younger
man.

Really? Huh, Jongwoo hadn’t noticed.

“Oh…I see.” Was what Jongwoo managed, not feeling the need to dwell on the thought any
longer. Who was he to deny a free beer? And so, Jongwoo took the can out of Moonjo’s hand
and immediately cracked it open.

When he brought the beverage to his lips and took a swig, he instantly felt more relaxed.
God, he really wasn’t beating these alcoholic allegations, was he? Eh, whatever.

The duo simply stood there, looking out to the water that reflected the pale moonlight, taking
sips of their beers in silence. Neither man felt obligated to speak, but rather they just enjoyed
the moment. And in the silence of the night, Jongwoo found his mind wandering.

A long time ago, Jongwoo had believed he could outrun Moonjo, believing he could escape
the pull of the chaos. But now, as he stood next to Moonjo outlooking the alluring water, his
heart steady for the first time in ages, he understood. The whirlpool, the chaos — it was never
something to fight. It was something to embrace. He didn’t need to be saved. He didn’t need
to be fixed. He just needed to exist, to accept the pull that had always been there. Jongwoo
knew that now.

Their story had started on a rooftop, the two of them leaning against a railing, a couple of
beers between them as they talked about everything and nothing all at the same time. It was a
night full of uncertainty, but also the beginning of something Jongwoo would have never
predicted.

Now, here they were again, leaning against the railing, but this time on a boat, cruising
through the night, with the world and all its weight around them. The cold wind was sharper,
the water below quieter, and the stars above felt just a little more distant, but the feeling was
the same — familiar, yet new.

So much had changed, so much had happened. Back then, Jongwoo didn’t know what the
future would hold; he barely knew the other man. But now, there was a sense of knowing —
of things being solid, even in the uncertainty of their lives. The past, the blood, the loss — it
was all still there, but so was the promise of something more.

They were standing under the same stars, but they were different people now. Jongwoo had
changed Moonjo just as much as he had changed him. And as they looked out over the water,
it wasn’t just the stars that felt like a connection to the past. It was the simple, undeniable
truth: they were still together, still fighting, still moving forward. The boat cut through the
 water, the city lights gleaming in the distance. They had come full circle. And for once, it felt
like they were exactly where they were meant to be.

The games, Eden, everything — it was just a distant memory now. Everything they had been
through, all that they had lost but also gained. Their story could have ended a long time ago,
but that wasn’t the case.

This was only the beginning of their journey. Who could say what the future held for them?

THE END.

Chapter End Notes

…And we’re finished! ❤ Holy shit, what a JOURNEY!! Never knew I was capable of
writing such a lengthy fic. And i thought a 15k word fic was a lot to write GODDAMN
I’m going to give myself a pat on the back here as I never I’d be able to join the ranks

Shit, it takes me longer to write a 2k essay for my english assignment 🤡

of being able to write 160k+ fics. And let alone in the span of a little over two months?
Guess writing

an achievement!! I should totally put that on my resume 🤪

does get easier if you’re passionate enough about a subject LMFAOO but honestly, what
Lolol, but on a serious note,
thank you to everyone who followed me in the journey of this fic! Whenever I posted a
new chapter, I always looked forward to reading everyone’s comments because they just
brightened my day SM!! you guys are the nicest people ever and I’m so glad to be a part
of these two fandoms 😭 It’s been a dream writing this fic and i would have never
guessed that so many people would enjoy it too. So much like I always say, thank you
for your support!! You all mean the world to me
Anyway, I've received a lot of comments about whether I plan to write anything in the
future. And to put it simply: YES! Of course I will! I love these two too much to drop
them just like that. But with that being said, I won’t be IMMEDIATELY writing a new
fic. As much fun as I’ve had trying to juggle writing this fic and settling back into

future me will be very happy if I prioritize writing a fanfic over doing my work 🤡
school, I think I should take a lil break. 😅 Plus, it’s assessment season and I don’t think
So…
i can’t exactly guarantee when I’ll be back, but it shouldn’t be TOO long. But I do need
your guys’ opinions! Just so i can get an idea of what people would like to see in the
future, please type in the comments:

🏠 = if you want that (potentially) explicit rated fic that is basically a “where are they

📱
now?” type thing.
👁 = if you want to see an unlocked x sfh crossover ;))

But I think that just about calls it. I’ll still be active on my tiktok acc @loutstatclub (yes,
i’ll shout it out until the day i die idc), so feel free to message me on there! I’m happy to
become moots too, just hmu 😍 And omg?? 30k hits and like 1.5k kudos? OMG? 830
COMMENTS? OMG i feel so famous haha. But seriously, thanks for all the love y’all.

edit: Was going to write a little something about the ao3 author curse being real because
after my whole 17 years on this planet, my city had been avoided by weather
phenomena but ALL OF A SUDDEN a category 2 cyclone popped up outta nowhere
and began to head for my SUBURB. YEAH. my SUBURB. Was literally in the direct
line of the damn thing ☠ HOWEVER, i’m saying “was” for a reason. It was meant to
hit this morning at 11am, but uh…at 9am i was informed that it had dwindled down to a
tropical low storm or whatever it’s called and that we should only expect medium rain
and wind. So……is it safe to say that i dodged the curse this time around? 😭

Other than that, this is iz4hyun signing off.

(for now…)

EDIT: Okay, i’ve started the 📱👁 (unlocked x sfh) crossover, and you can read it here!
2025 JULY EDIT: i’ve started another sfh x sg fic, but this time it only covers mjjw in
the game Keys & Knives. if u liked this work and want to see more check it out here
Please drop by the Archive and comment to let the creator know if you enjoyed their work!