Another V.I.P ⋆ Squid Game

4

The second game. She wondered which one it would be. With each annual Squid Game, they would change what games would be played. Whatever it is would be a surprise to her, she wasn't sure about her father though. He likely knew what game it was. Hell, he probably had the whole thing planned out. As they made their way to the game hall, she looked at In-ho, seeing him in the distance. He already made a friendgroup.

They all made their way up the stairs, and as they went, she could see Thanos slipping a pill inside of his mouth. She kept following behind him on the bright staircase.

Finally, they walk into a large space. It was practically empty, only with a small table set up at a certain part in both sides of the room. The tables were by a huge rainbow circle that seemed to resemble a running track, one on both the left and right side of the room. The walls were light blue with cloud designs. As she stepped, she noticed the crunchy texture of the floor beneath her.

She had an idea of what this was.

"This game will be played in teams. Please take the next ten minutes to divide into groups of five." the female voice announced. This confirmed her idea, it's one of those team games where you have to complete all the mini-games within a time limit to pass. Thanos and Nam-gyu stood, looking around, she went over to them. "So, we're gonna need one more person." Nam-gyu said, counting himself, Thanos, Hwa-young, and Gyeong-su as part of the team.

"I'll look." Hwa-young spoke, and walked around. Eventually, she found a woman with short hair and 380 as her player number. "Hey, do you want to join our team?" she asked, and the woman turned. "Sure, if he can join too." she stepped to the side, revealing a guy that was behind her. He seemed a little nervous, "If it's okay with you." he said.

"Uh..." She knew that went over the team number, so she looked back to her group, and attempted to wave them over. Only Thanos responded, since the others weren't looking. He came over, and she gestured to the two people she found. "She said she'll join if this guy can, too."

Thanos nodded. He looked at them, "What are your names?" he questioned. "Se-mi." the woman replied, and the guy said, "Min-su."

"Nice to meet you, señorita, and my brother. Welcome to the Thanos world." Thanos responded, looking at the two of them, and directing the first name at Se-mi, and the second at Min-su, then spoke again. "We'll just get rid of Gyeong-su. Let's go, my team!" he put his arm on Hwa-young's back, walking with her and the other two as they go over to Nam-gyu and Gyeong-su.

"Gyeong-su, we can team up again after." Thanos told him, making the other guy confused. "Huh?"

"Yeah. Shoo!" the purple-haired man gently nudged him with his arm, Gyeong-su seemed sad but walked away. "That was kinda mean." Hwa-young stated, Thanos looked at her, and shrugged. "Okay, I'll be nicer for you, my flower." he said it as if it was simple to do (but it seemed it wasn't for him when he's on drugs). Unexpectedly, he leaned in closer to her, almost as if he were going to kiss her, and her eyes widen in surprise.

Nam-gyu let out an irritated exhale, clearly not amused. "Guys, we have to focus. We don't know what they'll have us do." Thanos pulled away.

Se-mi raised her eyebrows, chuckling and whispering something to Min-su. Soon, the time limit for them to select team members reached zero. "The team selection period is now over." the female voice announced. "The game you will participate in today is a Six-Legged Pentathlon."

She went on to explain how it worked, "Team members will begin with their legs tied together. At each ten-meter interval on the track, one member of the team will play a mini-game. If that player wins, the team can move on to the next challenge. The mini-games are as follows: Game one: Ddakji. Game two: Flying Stone. Game three: Gong-gi. Game four: Spinning Top. And finally, game five: Jegi. You will have five minutes to finish. To win, you must complete all mini-games and cross the finish line before the time runs out. Please decide which player will be assigned to each mini-game."

The five of them were sitting together side by side. "So who is doing what game?" Se-mi asked. Hwa-young tried to think about which one she would be best at, she glanced over at the two guys on her left, while Min-su said which one he would do. Thanos was moving around a lot while being sat, and she heard Nam-gyu asking him for some of his stash.

At first, he refused to give him any, but then he saw his teammate's hands shaking. It would get rid of his nerves, and ultimately help the team. Finally, he gives him one of the colorful pills stored in his necklace. Hwa-young watched Thanos go back to doing finger guns and dancing to nonexistent music.

It was decided between them that Hwa-young would do Ddakji, Se-mi would do Flying Stone, Min-su would do Gong-gi, Nam-gyu would do Spinning Top, and Thanos would do Jegi.

After a while, it was their turn. They had watched plenty of teams get shot for not crossing the finish line in time, and other teams making it just before the time ran out. The gun that the guard was holding was pointed to the ceiling, before a loud bang rang throughout the room, meaning that the timer would begin.

As soon as they heard that sound, they walked as quick as they could together, which proved difficult because all of their ankles were connected. "One, two. One, two. One, two." they said the numbers as a group, so they would be more in sync with their steps. Right, left, right, left.

The first mini-game they arrived at was ddakji, and Hwa-young watched as the guard in front of them offered her a box. Inside of it were the red and blue folded tiles. "Whoo! You got this, my flower!" Thanos cheered, waving his arms a little. She flinched from how loud he was. It would be embarrassing if it wasn't somewhat cute. She glanced at him with a small smirk before she grabbed the blue tile out of the box.

The guard took the other card and placed it on the track. Hwa-young concentrated on the colored square, making sure she was in the right angle before throwing the blue tile in her hand onto the red one. She held her breath in, it felt like everything was in slow motion as it crashed against the red tile.

It flipped onto the other side. Huh, I have never played ddakji before! Beginner's luck. She put on a confident smirk, as if the result was expected, and the guard raised his arms, forming an O shape above his head. There was a short celebration before their team started to walk forward.

They got to the next mini-game. Se-mi took the stone out of the box the guard showed her. She didn't appear too nervous. The stone she had to hit was set up in front of them, and she leaned forward before tossing the stone in her hand, successfully knocking it over.

Now it was onto the next one!