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The corridor that led back to their room was no longer beautiful. With the horrid truth they found out about this facility, if they could even call it that, tainted this place's walls and floors with faint memories of blood and gunshot wounds. This place was probably built with dead bodies. Sweat and blood-soaked, sitting on the beds of where they first awoken, too had become uncomfortable, and so were the empty spaces in between. It took a moment for Hae Young to realize that both 100 and 098 had been eliminated in the first round. Although she did not cry, she instead soaked in the grieving silence of whatever the fuck that was.

Everyone was quiet. Somehow, they had all found themselves huddled in groups of the people that brought them the slightest bit of comfort in this version of hell on earth. "Sang-woo..." Gi-hun whispered in the mourning silence of the room. "Thank you."

Sang-woo just nods stiffly, fiddling with the sleeve of his jacket. "You too, Hae Young."

She doesn't acknowledge him though as her mind drifts elsewhere. She thought about what it would be like if she had died in that field today. Maybe no one in Seoul would care. Not her former coworkers, not the loan sharks. But maybe her father in Gangwon, and Nabi, the cat her father had promised to take care of when she said she couldn't afford to take care of him in Seoul anymore. What would her uncles and aunts in Gangwon say once they find out that his only daughter never called back and never came home anymore? If, somehow, her picture is randomly being scattered in the alleyways of Seoul. Some single soul out there would be waiting for her to come home miraculously, and that one soul was enough to keep her alive in this hellish game.

"And you--" Gi-hun turned to the foreign man sitting quietly by them. "You all saved my life."

"I'm glad you're alive." 199 softly speaks.

The buzzer goes off, the doors once again open. All pink soldiers file in the room circle-masked soldiers replaced with triangles armed with guns , soaking in the players' knowing silence. Everyone had something in their minds that they wanted to say.

"All of you had made it through the first game. Congratulations." The soldier with the square mask led. "And with that, let me announce the results of the first game."

The screen before them that displayed the number of players gradually decreased, from 456 down to 201. 255 people died all in all. No one was proud of this crowning achievement.

In the heat of desperation, seeing the numbers of all 255 dead players, one takes center stage to plead for freedom.

"Sir! I'm so sorry! I'll make sure I pay off my debts." Player 212 cries out. "I'll make sure to pay them at all costs."

She even had her hands clasped in front of her and all.

"Please, sir. I have a child. I haven't even registered my baby's birth because I haven't named my baby yet." She pleaded, though the soldier was not moved. More people filed in to kneel and plead, asking for mercy or throwing empty promises of paying off their debts in every way possible.

"There seems to be a misunderstanding. We are not trying to hurt you or collect your debts. Let me remind you that we're here to give you a chance."

"You call this a chance?" 119 steps forward, seething. "You kill us while making us play a kid's game. How is this a chance?"

"We may be in debt, but that doesn't mean we deserve to die." 271 cries.

"This is just a game."

"You killed all those people! Yet you call this a game?"

"They were simply eliminated for breaking the rules of the game. If you just follow the rules, you can leave this place safely with the prize money we promised."

EGOIST (Sang Woo x Fem!OC) [COMPLETED]Where stories live. Discover now