GAME OVER | SQUID GAME

🔺 CHAPTER 20 🔺

Except young Sang-woo.

"I want to believe you when you say that but...I always think you'll do it anyway. You have other people, hyung, I don't." Sang-woo replied, trying to prevent more tears from falling down his face. But they were stronger than he was.

"That's not true! What about the other guys we play Squid Game with? Those guys are your friends." Gi-hun said in more of a worried tone now, gently stroking the younger boy's back.

"Those guys are your friends, Gi-hun. When I hang out with you all, I come to hang out with you, not them." Sang-woo said, his voice breaking more than he would've liked Gi-hun to hear. Gi-hun then pulled Sang-woo into the tight hug he loved so much, allowing Sang-woo to break down into tears.

"I'll never leave your side, Sang-woo, whether you want to believe me or not. That's a promise." Gi-hun said with determination, truly letting Sang-woo know he was serious.

~ PRESENT DAY ~

"A promise I vow to keep..." Gi-hun quietly recited the words he said to Sang-woo so long ago. It wasn't like he was lying; cooling down their relationship didn't mean he'd be leaving him for good. It was only until Sang-woo could reshape himself.

And that vow would've meant nothing if Gi-hun let Sang-woo die.

The loud sounds of car horns behind Gi-hun were enough to snap him out of his thoughts as he heard the loud protests of angry people. He saw the traffic light turned green and hurried to move along on the street.

- SQUID GAME: GAME OVER -

Sang-woo stood alone in his room, rummaging through anything he managed to bring with him from his old apartment. He hoped he'd be able to throw some trash away, or just things he knew he didn't need anymore. He found an old bag he used to carry around a lot when he was young, surprised he still had it altogether. For old times sake, he opened it and found a bunch of sheets of paper that were all too familiar to him. Most of them were folded nicely and the rest of them were tightly crumpled into balls.

He unfolded one of them and silently read it to himself; a letter he planned on sending to Gi-hun while he was away at SNU, a letter confessing to Gi-hun, to be more specific. He never sent it, thought it was a bad idea and that Gi-hun would reject him.

Seong Gi-hun,

I'm not really sure how you would start one of these. It seemed so simple to write "Hi Gi-hun!" when we were little. For some reason, I can't bring myself to put that on paper. SNU is pretty much how I imagined it, I think this could be good for me. I hope you're doing okay back home, and say hi to your mother for me, okay? And let my mother know I'm fine, too.

I actually have something really important I want to say to you, and I'm lucky to even have the time to write to you. This is something I've had on my chest for a long time and I hope it doesn't change anything between us, as this could end either really well or really bad. Bad for me, at least. I know you're a good person from the inside out, always understanding and comforting, and I mean that.

I like you, a lot. I want to say I love you, but I feel like that's too much to say right now. I know that's how I feel, but I'd hate to scare you.