(Y/N) quickly got herself wiping the sand off her ass, before following the other players that had also gotten through the game. They all headed back to the original room where (Y/N) saw that Sang-woo along with player 199 were already there. Both of them just stood around and chatted. (Y/N) eagerly walked up to them being upbeat that both came out alive from that consuming game.
"Good to see you're both alive." (Y/N) Said.
"I'm glad that you are too." Player 199 responded to her.
"Same here. How much time is there left?" Sang-woo asked.
"Not much, there are still many people back there." (Y/N) told them.
That's when they all heard many gunshots being fired, causing everyone to know that the game had officially ended. There were still players coming back to the room with a bunch of players starting wondering if their comrades got out alive or had perished. (Y/N) kept looking for the old man and Gi-hun where luckily they had come walking in last. (Y/N) and Sang-woo were both shocked that Gi-hun had even come out alive, especially that he had chosen the most difficult shape to cut out. Sang-woo went to talk to Gi-hun to apologize, while (Y/N) and player 199 went up to the old man to see if he was alright. The old man smiled at her then explained that Gi-hun had helped him find a way to get his shape out of the honeycomb much faster.
"We will now announce the results of the second game. Out of 187 players 79 have been eliminated." The PA system told them.
The gold piggy bank was lowered back down, with vast amounts of money pouring in the piggy bank making it rise up more. Each one of the players stared at that money piling again, encouraging them all to continue on playing the games. And certainly they all were going to. As soon as they stopped showing off the money, it was time for their lunch to be served. (Y/N) waited in line right behind player 199 ready to see what they had prepared for them this time. That's when (Y/N) turned around to see how long the line was, where she saw Wang was right behind her.
"You're really good at staying alive for a math teacher." (Y/N) randomly said to him.
Wang looked down at her "Really? First thing you said to me after escaping death again?" He said feeling insulted.
"Fine. Fine. I'm glad you're still alive. After all, I still need my favorite teacher to assign me an awful amount of work."
Wang playfully scoffed at her. "Favorite teacher?"
"Obviously. " (Y/N) evidently revealed to him.
She turned back around to see it was her next to grab her meal. (Y/N) walked up to them and was handed the same thing as last time. She didn't bother to question it again even though it bothered her a lot. (Y/N) joined back at her group to sit by the old man this time. She shared some of (F/F) with her teammates since she felt they all deserved it after coming out alive from the honeycomb game. While everyone was eating, there was a heated argument between player 271 and Deok-su with player 271 having enough dealing with Deok-su shit. Player 271 rightfully was pissed off that Deok-su and his teammates had stolen their food for themselves.
For this reason player 271, attempted to grab the drink that Deok-su was holding as he was supposed to be his. It backfires, with the bottle shattering on the floor causing Deok-su knockout player 271 onto the ground. Then proceeded to kick him repeatedly without a second thought of mercy. The moment Deok-su was done kicking him, he casually went back to his group if nothing had happened. Every single body was waiting for player 271 to get back up from the ground, but he did not move. Sang-woo walked over to player 271's body to wake him back up, with no avail, he checked his pulse.
Gi-hun also went up to see what was happening, while (Y/N) stayed back with old man and player 199. Sang-woo waited for a couple of seconds, to not feel any rhythm of his heart beating. Player 271 was dead.
"He's dead." Sang-woo said to Gi-hun.
After Gi-hun heard what Sang-woo had said he started yelling at the guards to do something to Deok-su since he had killed someone. Unexpectedly, the screen that showed the amount of money went up. And the amount of players went down. Everyone looked back up the piggy to see that it was filling up money all over again. After the money was done pouring, every player at that instant knew killing a person in that room would bring more money if they eliminated them. The guards brought the box in, putting player 271 inside of it before walking away with him to someplace else.
This caused every player that had a group, stick closer to their teammates more than previously. With Deok-su not liking (Y/N) one bit, (Y/N) will definitely stay nearby to her team knowing anybody could strike at any moment.
"Anything can happen after the lights go out. Those guys are definitely up to no good. If anyone gets attacked, we have to stick together and fight." Sang-woo looked at player 199. "Come over to our side if anything happens."
"Alright." Player 199 said.
"(Y/N), same with you. I know you can fight with the times you dodged Deok-su hits. But we can't risk that tonight, understand?" Sang-woo told (Y/N).
"Understood." (Y/N) agreed.
(Y/N) noticed that the old man was falling asleep, and she and Gi-hun started to get the old man to wake up. Luckily the old man arose, however, it was clear that he was confused. Gi-hun explained to him that it wasn't safe to sleep and to be papered if anything happens. The old man nodded understanding what Gi-un had said. (Y/N) looked around the room where she saw player 067 sitting all alone on one of the steps. Player 067 seemed to be frightened or could have also been a mix of concern. (Y/N) knew that player 067 didn't get along with Deok-su for obvious reasons, so she thought why not let her join them. (Y/N) got herself up and walked over to player 067 as she stood over her.
"Hello, my hero." (Y/N) said to her with a weak smirk.
Making Player 067 looked at her with her eyes seemed to be on the edge.
"Are you okay?" (Y/N) asked.
player 067 ignored her.
"Welp. If anything happens after the lights go out, we're all meeting at Gi-hun bed. If you want to join us."
"I don't trust people." Player 067 stated. "Especially people who crawled into a place like this."
"Funny you're saying that considering you also crawled here. And you don't need to have to trust us completely, but trust my word that I'll do my best to make sure that Deok-su doesn't hurt you. After all, he doesn't like either of us." (Y/N) let player 067 know.
(Y/N) left player 067 sitting by herself, and started walking back to her group. She stuck by her group until she saw there were thirty seconds left on the timer before the lights would be shut off. (Y/N) went back to her bed and watched as the timer slowly counted down until the lights got turned off. It was now pitch black with not a single light source showing. (Y/N) didn't dare lie down on her bed, in the event someone was ready to ambush her. Instantaneously, a loud brutal scream was heard resulting in many players panicking while others began killing.
That's when a flash started appearing every two seconds showing (Y/N) the chaos that was happening. Some of the bunk beds were falling onto each other, with a cluster of people fighting or running for their lives. For a second (Y/N) thought about just staying on her bed till a hand grabbed her by the hair and dragged her onto the floor. As soon as (Y/N) got a good look at who had dragged her, she noticed it was player 074 who had stared at her a day earlier. Player 074 got one hit on (Y/N) however (Y/N) kicked player 074 off her then got on top of her and started beating her forcibly straight to the face. A Tremendous amount of blood started leaking from player 074 noise although her mouth was dripping rapidly.
(Y/N) only stopped when in the corner of her eyes, she saw Deok-su choking player 067 by the throat. (Y/N) ran straight in their direction, leaving player 074 in the dust not caring what would happen to her. As soon as (Y/N) was near Deok-su, she jumped on him causing Deok-su to lose his grip on player 067. Player 067 was able to collect her breath again, with air filling inside her lungs. Player 067 barely had any strength to stand up or to even help (Y/N) out against Deok-su. Deok-su had his hands around (Y/N) throat ready to strangle her to death until Deok-su was kicked in the head by Wang.
Wang immediately grabbed (Y/N) arm forcing her to get on her feet, not letting them waste another second for Deok-su to get back up. Wang, (Y/N) and player 067 all started running to Gi-hun bed with (Y/N) leading the way for them. When they all arrived at the location, Player 199, Sang-woo, and Gi-hun were all already there. All except for the old man. (Y/N) didn't have time to question where the old man was, with Deok-su ready to swing at (Y/N) head before Wang quickly pulled her out of the way once Gi-hun yelled.
Gi-hun started fighting off Deok-su, so (Y/N) got her arm out of Wang's grip and ran to Deok-su to kick him away from Gi-hun before she was struck by a glass bottle from another player. Forcing (Y/N) fall down to the ground feeling that agonizing pain from her head, where player 067 straight away helped her get up while the men protected them both from Deok-su group.
"Hey, Ssangmun-dong, what are you doing? Were just helping cull of heard." Deok-su laughed.
"They're both our teammates, you got that?" Gi-un stated as he stood his ground.
"Teammates?"
Right when both groups were in the preparation, to fight each other. The old man started yelling with terror in his voice, grabbing some players' attention. On cue, the frontman told his workers to end it, who of course complied. All lights were turned on, with the guards now entering the room raising their weapons up to the players. They told all the players to keep their hands up to their heads where the guards made sure their pockets were emptied. (Y/N) slowly raised her hands on her head where the manager was walking towards her. Unknowingly by (Y/N), that manager that was walking towards her would be her uncle Jun-ho.
At first glance, Jun-ho didn't realize that his niece was there but saw Gi-hun so he started walking towards him. Once he got closer to the Gi-hun group, that's when he noticed player 026 looked exactly like his niece. That couldn't be (Y/N), Jun-ho told himself. He walked in front of her to see it was (Y/N), with blood on her head, hand including on her clothing. (Y/N) seemed to be in pain and as much, Jun-ho wanted to help (Y/N), yet he couldn't dare blow his cover. Jun-ho took a couple of steps to Gi-hun addressing him quietly.
"Player 456. Is there a man named Hwang In-ho here?" Jun-ho asked.
(Y/N) mind suddenly became clear, when hearing her father's name from her uncle's voice. (Y/N) slightly turned her head towards the manager, looking at him to see if she heard correctly. Jun-ho looked at (Y/N) with her eyes now clearly looking at him as if she knew who he was. Either way, Jun-ho couldn't be too sure.
"We don't use our names in this place." Gi-hun told him.
The second all the guards were occupied looking at the player's pockets, Jun-ho slightly walked forward to (Y/N) whispering to her, "Hwang."
Jun-ho backed away from his niece seeing that (Y/N) slowly nodded her head, understanding that it was her uncle in the suit. (Y/N) continued to act the way she was earlier, making sure she didn't give away Jun-ho cover. (Y/N) waited for the guards to finally check her so she can be fully clear like the others players were. (Y/N) watched as they took the last box out with the guards and her uncle walking out of the room.
"How bad does it hurt?" Wang asked (Y/N).
(Y/N) looked up at him. "Bad as looking at one of your assignments." She made fun of.
"Jesus Christ. That's bad huh?" He chuckled now accepting her humor.
"Unfortunately."
After Wang made sure it was safe to leave (Y/N) with her teammates he headed back to his group that was waiting for him. Meanwhile, Gi-hun and player 199 express to the old man how worried they were about him when they were unable to find him. The old man said nothing, who was clearly ignoring them but acted as if he was zoned out. (Y/N) sat right next to player 199 with her head luckily stopped bleeding. (Y/N) pondered how her uncle could have possibly be here? She already knew he would never volunteer at a place like this. In light of him being a cop and him always never disobeying the law.
"How's the head?" Sang-woo interrupted (Y/N) process of thought.
"Could be better but I'll live." (Y/N) assured him.
"That's good to hear." Player 199 said. "Who is that guy that helped us?"
"That's Wang. I know him outside of the games."
"I see. Also, Why don't we take this opportunity to exchange names?" Gi-hun suggested, "Come to think of it, we don't know each other's names." He pointed out.
"What's your name?" Sang-woo asked player 199.
"Ali." He said proudly with a cheerful smile.
(Y/N) looked back up player 067 to see if she was going to share her name with them.
"Do I have to say?" player 067 said.
"Technically you don't. HOWEVER, it would be nice if you did. So we can have some trust." (Y/N) said.
"Kang Sae-byeok" she quickly said.
"Beautiful name." (Y/N) said. "However, it doesn't really suit you. anyways my name is (Y/N) if you don't know."
Player 067 almost felt offended but decided to let go considering (Y/N) did save her life. The old man attempted to remember his name when Ali asked him, instead, he faked to be tuned out.
"Attention players the games will begin momentarily. Please follow the staff instructions and proceed to the game hall."
Everybody started walking in line to where the guards were leading them to another part of their sector. Entering the place, the PA system disclosed to the players that they will be divided into groups of tens for the next game. (Y/N) group gathers together, with Gi-hun trying to think of a game that involves ten players. On the other hand, Sang-woo thought it is best for the rest of their teammates to be only men since they had two females and an older man that possibly weighed them down.
Sae-byeok and (Y/N) were undoubtedly aggrieved as both of them looked at each other with Is he serious? Look. Everyone went ahead to look for another player for them to join, which (Y/N) tag along with Sae-byeok. While looking for a player, Sae-byeok finally spoke up.
"Thank you." She softly said.
"It's all good. " (Y/N) paused. "May I ask why did you help me against Deok-su back when he wanted my glasses?"
Sae-byeok observed (Y/N) expression being that she couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not. Seeing that (Y/N) was not at all being sarcastic, Sae-byeok definitely knew that (Y/N) didn't have a single clue who her grandfather was. Giving concentration, that's why Sae-byeok helped (Y/N) in the first place even though Sae-byeok was interested in her. (Y/N) waited for an answer from Sae-byeok until a girl came up to both of them wondering if she could join them.
(Y/N) didn't hesitate to accept her and let her join after all she was willing to ignore Sang-woo's rule for only bringing men to the team. Yet (Y/N) wanted the answer from Sae-byeok but she immediately started walking back to where they will meet the rest of the group. All three waited till the rest of their teammates came back together where Gi-hun counted each player to see that they were all missing one person. The old man admitted that he didn't bring one person back, causing Gi-hun to feel so much pity for him. Sang-woo on the other hand was not pleased that more females would be joining them.
Especially when player 212 casually let herself in the group without a person saying a word. The guards showed all the players into the next area, which looked more alarming but was notably unnerving for (Y/N) to look at. All the players were standing on a platform, with two pathways up that led onto separate platforms that were much higher above all of them. One guard told all players to sit down as he presented the next game to all of them.
"I would now like to welcome you all to the third game. Today's game is Tug-of-war. In order to win, you must pull the rope towards your platform in an attempt to drop your opponents down below." The manager told all of them.
(Y/N) clearly saw that teams of all-male stared at the groups that had females in them. Since all of the men assumed the teams with females in it were much weaker compared to the ones with all males in it. For that period the guards started selecting what team would be going against each other where he pulled out a ball that said number one on it. The first team was Deok-su group. When selecting the next team, (Y/N) hoped that it wouldn't be her team or else they were definitely dead. The next guard pulled out the ball that said number seven on it.
Both teams went up to the separate platform with them tightly holding the rope up to the gun shot being fired forcing the two teams to pull the rope back. (Y/N) watched Deok-su team to see that they weren't struggling one bit although the other group was freaking out. They didn't have any more strength to continue on where their whole team was hanging off the platform until the saw cut the rope, causing the players to fall down to their deaths. Deok-su team was escorted back to the bunkbed room after surviving and completing the third game. The workers pulled out the next two numbers that would be playing against each other which turned out to be team four and five.
(Y/N) looked at the team right next to her, to see it was all men. I should have listened to Sang-woo. She muttered to herself. Sang-woo was in front of (Y/N) and hearing her say that wanted him to tell her he told her so. He decided against that for the reason being he didn't want to deepen (Y/N) confidence, even more lower when going against a team full of men. (Y/N) team walked till they reached the elevator that started to lift them up. The dead air filled around them was noticeable that every single one of them believed that they were about to die. Despite that, the old man didn't.
"Come one. Don't lose your spirit. Tug-of-war needs more than just raw of strength." The old man said.
"Well then, what is it about? We just go out and speak to them?" Player 196 criticized the old man.
"All you need is a good strategy in Tug-of-war and combined with good teamwork you'll be able to win when you are against stronger teams." The old man explained.
"Only one thing can help us now. It's the lord himself, I know it." player 244 said.
"You can barely stay standing, old man. so shut up and keep your strength, okay?" Player 196 said in a rasping tone.
"Why don't you shut up?" (Y/N) threw back at him. "AT least this old man is helping us to find a way to win while you aren't."(Y/N) looked back at the old man. "You may continue to speak."
"Okay, when I was young, we always like Tug-of-war. It's a game I know well. And back then I would always win, even if there was a wrestler on the other team, and it seemed the odds were struck against us. Listen closely and I'll tell you how my team and I were able to win even if it seemed impossible."
The old man quickly explained to his team how they would be able to win before they reached the platform. Every player got in their position of where they were going to pull the rope from. (Y/N) was decided to be the leader after the old man suggested that she should. They all grabbed the rope from the floor, already holding it tightly making sure it didn't slip from their fingers. When the shot was fired, the whole team leaned back where they were all facing up the sky for ten seconds until (Y/N) felt that the team was pulling the rope much less. She moved her head downward, to see that their leader from the group was slipping down. Now was our chance! (Y/N) realized.
"PULL!" (Y/N) yelled.
Now the team was pulling in rhythm, which caused the other team to pull even harder on their side to force (Y/N) group towards their direction. At a single moment, their plan was working until the other team finally decided to pull together, causing their strength to take over (Y/N) team. Who's stamina was now failing.
"We're losing! Goddamn it! Do something!" Player 212 blurted out.
"Get yourselves together and listen! Let's try something. Take three steps up when I and (Y/N) signal." Sang-woo shouted.
"UP? What now? But that's the edge!"Player 212 shrieked.
"LOOK, just trust me and they'll fall." Sang-woo attempted to assure her.
"There's no way I'll do that!" Player 212 exclaimed.
"SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO THE ONE WHO WENT TO SNU!" (Y/N) shouted.
"No way! I can't do that!" Player 212 said.
"Move up or you'll die!" Sang-woo yelled.
(Y/N) shouted. "Will move on count of three! One!"
"Two!" Sang-woo yelled.
" Three!"
Right on (Y/N) and Sang-woo yelled three together, the team started advancing forward as they all crossed their fingers that Sang-woo's plan would work. If not well death was expecting them on the other side.
Hopefully this wasn't a bad chapter.
Published: 11 / 14 / 21