Chapter Text
Young-mi woke up in a haze.
The lights flashed in that same garish pink color and the sounds of screams and gunshots rang loud in her ears, her body flinching each time despite her lagging mind. After a moment, her brain caught up with her and she opened her eyes wide.
…What?
Her last memory is burned into her; the eyes of her unnie, desperate and helpless and divided by a door that felt as wide as a canyon. Seconds that felt like hours as she waited for what they all knew had to come. A gunshot wound directly to her abdomen, killing her not as quickly as she would’ve hoped.
She got up and looked around. The pink guards were shooting down the last of the unlucky players that didn’t make it in a door. However, among the bloodied bodies on the ground were…other players walking around? She watched in both horror and awe as a player walked through a guard, not a care in the world. Another small group walked through a wall, to who knows where. She saw a woman’s corpse in front of her, and like from a movie, a ghostly clone of the woman arose from it. It was unnerving to watch. It was like they were splitting yet it looked painless. How could this be?
Trembling, Young-mi looked down and gasped. Underneath her, caged between her arms, was her. A version of her. She was leaking blood onto the ground, and had lost the life in her eyes.
Suddenly, guards surrounded her, and grabbed her body by the arms and legs. She made a noise of panic, but paused when she realized she couldn’t feel a thing. The guards carried on as if they hadn’t heard a sound. Her body was lifted into those cursed coffins, pink bow mocking her as her body was hidden from view. Somehow, she was both there, and still on the ground.
Time was moving too fast. The doors began to open, and her friends slowly trickled out. There was a squelch as Player 333, the first one out, stepped on her blood. Dae-ho flinched at the sound, and tightened his fist. Geum-ja looked away while Yong-sik held her a bit tighter than before. Hyun-ju was silent, staring right through Young-mi at the puddle. Her eyes were distant, not noticing Gyeong-seok gently guiding her out. She flinched as 333’s foot came down on her… only for the foot to pass right through. She froze as one by one, the group phased through her as if she didn’t exist. It felt…odd.
As people phased through her, it began to settle in for Young-mi that she was dead. Fully and truly dead. Not only that, she wasn’t even able to go to a higher place and move on. She was still here, in this horrid place. Would she never be able to leave? Before she knew it, her throat was closing up and her eyes welled in tears. She leaned against the wall, head in her knees, as she began to sob.
“I just…” she choked through her sobs, “I want to…go home…”
“U-Um,” A voice cut through, close to her. “Are you alright?”
Young-mi looked up, and through her teary eyes saw a man crouching in front of her. He was pretty young, like her, with short swept hair parted down the middle. There was a faint mark on his forehead. She took a quick look down, noting the 256 on his jacket…as well as a blue circle patch.
At first she said nothing, opening her mouth only for more choked noises to come out. His eyes widened in panic, shaking his hands. “Sorry-it’s clear you’re not-I didn’t mean to-“
Her eyes then furrowed. “You…can see me?”
He then chuckled awkwardly. “Yeah, I got eliminated a few rounds back. I’m just hanging out to see how my group does, y’know?” He sticks a thumb back, and her eyes follow only to see him pointing to the intimidating purple-haired man and his friends. Him and player 124 seemed to be giddy with excitement, hands all over each other as the centerpiece began to spin. What was his name…Thanos? She knows it’s because of drugs, but his eagerness and delight in the games made her want to vomit.
“Thanos?” She whispered.
He smiled, but it seemed strained. “Yea, I was a huge fan of his…” He trailed off. Was? There was clearly something more to his statement, but Young-mi decided it wasn’t yet her place to prod.
“So…we’re both…” She couldn’t bring herself to finish.
The other man sighed. “Yea…”
”I wish I could tell unnie it wasn’t her fault,” Young-mi said, feeling tears begin to well up again. “I was the one who fell, and 333…”
The man’s eyes widened. “333? You mean-“
The music suddenly stopped, and a voice announced “Two”. People scattered. Young-mi’s eyes went to Hyun-ju, who to her horror was making no attempt to move or find anyone. Thankfully, a second later Gyeong-seok grabbed her and hurried her to a door. Thanks, Prince Charming. Naturally, Yong-sik took his mother, which made Young-mi smile. At least they would be safe. She decided to finally stand up, wincing as two people ran through her into the room behind. She stood next to the unnamed man as they watched the chaos.
”Are your friends alright?” She asked over the noise. She fidgeted in place, not wanting to be rude but desperately wanted to check in on Hyun-ju.
“I guess…Thanos and Nam-gyu went together obviously-” He winced. “They just threw some people to get into a room. Min-su went off with a random, same with Se-mi.”
Young-mi turned. “Not together?”
”Seems they got into a fight because Min-su chose Thanos and Nam-gyu over her in the ‘three‘ round.” Gyeong-su frowned. ”Seems like team Thanos might not be a team much longer.”
“Maybe they’ll make up?” Young-mi offered. It was hard to stay hopeful though. In a game like this…
“Here, let’s go into a room,” the man changed the subject. “It’s better to be in a room when they…y’know.”
Young-mi’s eyes widened in understanding, and she nodded hurriedly. “Can we go in unnie’s room?”
“Sure, I don’t want to know what Thanos and Namgyu are doing anyway…”
As they hurried over, trying to ignore the screams of doomed players, Young-mi asked, “What’s your name, by the way?”
“Gyeong-su,” He said simply. “Yours?”
They stepped into the room. “Young-mi”
They stopped before Gyeong-su (it felt nice to finally have his name) could reply, taking in the scene in front of them. Gyeong-sok had his back to the door, as if he was just holding it shut. Now, however, he was holding Hyun-ju, tentatively rubbing her arms as if she was made of glass. “You’re not hurt, are you?”
Hyun-ju slowly shook her head. “Uh…thank you.”
”For what?”
”For taking…for saving me.” Hyun-ju smiled weakly. “I had no intention of moving on my own at that moment, but you…why did you take me?”
Gyeong-seok stood still for a moment, taking in her statement. “In that moment… seeing you, I thought… that you deserve to live. You’re a good person, Hyun-ju.” he said, slow but firm.
She looked up at him, finally meeting his gaze. There was a shine in her eyes, with an emotion Young-mi had seen in her only a few times. To be accepted…
They were cut off by the sounds of gunshots and more screaming. Youngmi closed her eyes, holding herself as she shook. It was a sound she’d never get used to. She felt Gyeong-su grab her arm, a slight tremor in him as well. It seemed both of them needed the company of another, despite how easygoing he appeared at first.
Then, there was silence. Young-mi peeked through, and saw more ghosts start to awaken, though none of whom she recognized.
“Where are they going?” She asked as she watched a ghost yet again walk through the main entrance.
“Try and escape, I guess.” Gyeong-su said. “No one would want to stay here…”
Something then caught her eye. “Hey…there wasn’t a uh… foreign man in our group, right?”
Gyeong-su looked over, confused. “What do you mean?”
”Come look, there is a small group of people outside one of the doors, and one of them is…maybe Indian? But I never saw him.”
Gyeong-su joined her, poking his head through the door itself. “Woah, holy shit! Yeah no way was he with us…who is he?”
As the doors opened and people began to leave the rooms, the two caught up with the other group. A girl in the group, with short messy hair, shot them a glare that made Young-mi shiver. Thankfully, she wasn’t the one who had to speak up. Gyeong-su laughed nervously, wringing his hands. “Ah-hello! Sorry but um-we didn’t uh…recognize you, so we wanted to ask-“
”Oh!” The first man, Player 199, turned and smiled. “Hello! I’m Ali. We are friends of Gi-hun.” The explanation was curt and sounded rehearsed, as if this was far from the first time he’d had to explain this.
Young-mi gasped. “456?” Gyeong-su then recalled a man, player 456 as she’d said, in the first game. What he said…
He gasped, turning to Young-mi and grasping her shoulders. “The crazy guy! He wasn't lying?” The short haired girl rolled her eyes, and a man with short cropped hair sighed.
”But…he said that was years ago.” Young-mi said, turning to the others. “You’re still here?”
At that moment, Gi-hun and Dae-ho walked out of the door, right through them. Rather than answer immediately, the group began to walk behind Gi-hun, so Young-mi and Gyeong-su followed them.
Young-mi and Gyeong-su gasped.
While the winding hallways and stairs were once mostly empty, were now crawling with teal tracksuits. People ran, sat on the edge while chatting, or slept in corners as far as their eyes could see.
“What the hell? Gyeong-su exclaimed.
“From what I’ve gathered, this game has gone on for a few decades,” Ali said. “While the oldest have faded and others have disappeared, a good chunk of the players are stuck on the island where they have the games.”
The short haired girl spoke up. “Gi-hun is going that way.”
As they caught up, Young-mi found herself next to the scary girl. “So…you really competed with Mr. 456? And he won?”
The girl looked over, silent for a moment. “…Yes.”
Gyeong-su spoke up from behind. “Why on earth did he come back then?”
An unfamiliar voice spoke up. “Because he’s an idiot who thinks he can save everyone,” They turned to see the short-haired man from earlier. He was a bit older, around Gihun’s age. “He should’ve just moved on from all this.”
The girl clenched her fist, a look in her eye told Young-mi this wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation. “Maybe you could, but you weren’t the one who saw his best friend bleed out, Sang-woo.”
Woah. What? There was some intense history with this group. Young-mi and Gyeong-su shared a wide-eyed look. The man, Sang-woo, only scoffed and kept walking.
-
Gyeong-su stayed with Young-mi while the group of three split to stay with Gi-hun. A girl with bangs waved her hand over, yelling “Sae-byeok!” For the first time, Young-mi saw the short-haired girl smile.
She turned to Gyeong-su. “Ah… I’m sure you’re going to your group then-“
”Actually.” Gyeong-su forced a smile. “I was hoping to stay with you for a bit.”
”You… don’t want to be with them?” The two looked over. Thanos had his head in his hands, mumbling something, while Nam-gyu rubbed his back. Min-su, like a true yearner, only had sad puppy-dog eyes for Se-mi, who was off on her own and didn’t spare the trio a glance. “Oh, I see.”
Gyeong-su wanted a distraction from how the only stable thing he’d found was falling apart, Young-mi realized. She could do that.
They found an empty bed, close to where Hyun-ju and the others were, and just began to talk. As it turned out, once prompted, Gyeong-su was a real talker. Very excitable. He talked about how he used to go to all of Thanos’ shows, leading him to invest in MGCoin and get scammed right along with him, coupled with other familial issues. But he only said this briefly, quickly moving onto all of these other musical artists Young-mi didn’t recognize and their concerts. It seemed like Thanos was a sore subject…did he…?
They stayed together when voting played out. Hyun-ju switched, Young-mi noted with a sad smile. When Se-mi and Min-su also switched teams, Youngmi’s smile grew. “Maybe they’ll win!” She exclaimed. Gyeong-su looked down, cringing at his own blue patch. He wished he could tell her ‘I’d do it differently if I was still alive’ but… if he was still alive he’d probably still be following Thanos’ every move like an excited puppy….
Speaking of, he looked over to where Thanos and Nam-gyu stood. Oh, they were pissed. Min-su was looking anywhere but at them, sending hopeful glances to Se-mi.
In the end, there was a tie and a vote was scheduled for the next day. Tensions had never been higher. They heard whispers of riots from the blue side. Gyeong-su watched a group of guys, blue and red, head into the bathroom. Min-su was with them. He saw Nam-gyu and Thanos spare each other a heated glance, then follow behind them. He had a bad feeling about that.
The two walked around, finding themselves back with Gi-hun’s group. It seemed like Hyun-ju, Gyeong-seok, Geum-ja, and Yong-sik had now joined them as well. Gi-hun’s entourage wore an array of emotions.
“They’re planning a rebellion,” The girl with bangs whispered to them as they arrived. “After the riot at lights out.”
”What? But how?” Young-mi asked, nervous already. If Hyun-ju got hurt, or worse…
“Ambushing the guards and taking their guns,” Sang-woo explained. “It’s…ballsy. Hyung was never the best at planning ahead.”
Before they could say any more, a woman with wild hair ran up to them, wheezing through her giggles. She was reminiscent of Nam-gyu in a way, a dangerous glint in her eyes that made Gyeong-su uneasy.
Bangs girl sighed. “The hell do you want, Min-yeo?”
“Oh shut your mouth Ji-yeong, you’ll want to know this,” she snapped. There’s a big-ass fight happening in the men’s bathroom, no joke! They’re like wild animals.” She laughed.
Jiyeong leaned in, intrigued. The rest of the group followed. “What? What happened?”
”That purple idiot and his boyfriend tried intimidating their little recently-gone-red friend, and the other reds got pissed.” She said as if they were at a sleepover. Young-mi looked over to Gyeong-su, whose uneasy expression only worsened.
The speaker then came on, only to say something none of them were expecting.
“Player 230, eliminated.”
The group began looking around wildly in confusion. A death? When? Where? They hadn’t heard anything. Young-mi turned to Gyeong-su, who was stock-still in shock.
“Player 230…there’s no way…Thanos can’t be…” It was only then Young-mi was able to recall the bright-haired man’s number, and gasped. But he was…
Gyeong-su immediately ran off to the bathrooms, and Young-mi followed, feeling some sort of obligation to support him. They’d known each other for a very short while, but he had been kind, and was more familiar than the other in this place. Min-su passed them on the way there, shaking.
“There’s no way,” Gyeong-su muttered to himself as they approached the bathroom door. “I can’t have died just for this…” Youngmi frowned. What did he mean?
They walked through just in time to see a group of blood-splattered men stepping away as guards set down a coffin next to Thanos’ body. A fork stuck from his neck, still spurting blood. As the guards lifted his body into the box, Youngmi looked around. Player 333 seemed to be the killer, based on the blood marks, looking down at Thanos wide eyed. Others were shaking, hands over their mouths. Then there was Namgyu, watching the movements of Thanos’ body with distant eyes as he clutched something in his hands like his life depended on it. Upon further observation, Youngmi realized it was the cross necklace that Thanos wore. He…took it off of the corpse? Youngmi shivered. While the man had not been present mentally a good chunk of the time due to drugs, it was… different this time. It was like a part of Namgyu was lost with Thanos.
It was then that Thanos’s ghost awakened, the man falling from the guards grips with a shout. He sat up, wide eyed. “What the hell?” He exclaimed, looking around. Immediately, his eyes went to 333, standing up and walking towards him. “Oi! MG Coin, you got some real fuckin nerve. You see these-“ He gestured around the room, and that was when he locked eyes on the two of them. While Thanos’ eyes lit up in recognition, Gyeong-su stilled. Suddenly, he was a few feet from them.
“Gyeong-su, is that you my brother?” He laughed. “Man, why didn’t you come around sooner?”
Gyeong-su took a step back, eyes wide. His demeanor had completely changed, Young-mi noted. He was…scared. “What…do you not even remember…”
“Can you believe that fucking MG Coin? Nearly got me in the neck…with that…” Thanos trailed off, the gears in his head turning slowly. Young-mi could see the moment he remembered… something, because he looked at Gyeong-su in horror. “Wait…Gyeong-su…“
Suddenly Gyeongsu was backing away at a more rapid pace. Thanos rubbed his eyes deeply, as if his vision was off. When he opened his eyes again to the same scene, his breathing quickened. He looked to Youngmi. “Miss, uh-you! What the fuck is going on, yo? I saw that guy fucking die a few hours ago? I-I-” He started pacing. “It’s that fucking MG Coin, that fight I-“ he stopped, remembering what he was doing before. He looked at the men, now filling out the room. At the closed box the guards were carrying out. He went to Nam-gyu, reaching for his shoulder with a “Nam-su-“ only for the hand to go through. He looked at Youngmi, horrified and confused.
“U-Um…” Youngmi stuttered, hating being the focus of this unstable man’s attention. “You sort of um…died…”
Thanos looked at her for a moment. One last time, he tried to reach out to Nam-gyu, to no avail. He started to shake in place, covering his face with his hands as he muttered curses. She was trying to figure out how to leave when he screamed “FUCK!” causing her to jump. “Fuck! Fuck…I can’t… I was supposed to go further, what the fuck! I didn’t even die in a game, how shitty is that?”
“I’m sorry,” Youngmi said, and it was sincere. He wasn’t a great person, but they were all victims of these games, she supposed.
He rubbed his face again, then looked up, a new expression on his face. Guilt. “Gyeong-su.”
No response. Gyeong-su avoided eye contact, his face conflicted. Thanos grabbed onto his shoulders, a desperate expression on his face. “*My brother*, I’m so sorry my brother! I didn’t- I didn’t mean to push you! I did you so dirty man!”
Something then seemed to snap within Gyeong-su. “Did me dirty? You fucking pushed me to my death without a second thought! Can you not even take that seriously?” Gyeong-su took a deep breath, blinking back tears. “And to think I was so excited to meet you, be in your presence… shit…I can’t man. At least Minsu gave a shit about me dying.”
Thanos pulled at his hair. “I am being serious man! I-I was high! I wasn’t thinking straight! I never would have-“
“No! No…you would have,” Gyeong-su sighed. “ I was never gonna last long, just some fifth-wheel superfan, it’s… it’s whatever.” He stormed out of the bathroom, with Thanos trailing behind him with a shout of his name and fidgety hands.
Suddenly, Youngmi was alone in the men’s bathroom, a terrible, sinking feeling in her stomach. Gyeongsu…
Thanos rubbed his face, clearly distraught. His hand reached for his chest as if to grab something, but it came up short. He palmed his chest, a desperation rising in him as he couldn’t find whatever he was looking for.
“My necklace,” he said. “Where-Where the hell is my-shit I need a hit so bad, j-just something to clear my head-“
“Um, that guy took it,” Young-mi said before she could stop herself. “Nam-gyu? After you died-“
“Of course that little junkie-“ Thanos snarled, before he seemed to realize what he said and snapped out of it, but his distress was still evident. He then turned to Young-mi, a smile on his face. “Well, guess that’s it then.”
Young-mi blinked. “I-I’m sorry?”
”My goal here was to either win a shit ton of money or finally die and be free of my shitty life and my shitty decisions,” Thanos laughed. “But now I’ve died and I’m still here having to deal with my shitty decisions, and I’m stuck being fucking sober!” His hands were shaking, and not from his wheezing as he laughed. Young-mi gasped as he suddenly raced to a wall. He tried to bang his head against it but went right through. He came back, looking defeated and a bit sheepish.
”You won’t tell anyone about that, right señorita?” For the first time, Young-mi was able to see something in Thanos. He had been stripped raw; without the drugs and with no choice but to let every real emotion through unfiltered. And not just his usual unfiltered self, it was…more human. And…though Gyeong-su was hurt, she felt bad for him. Despite the failure, he’d just tried to bang his head open… that was an indicator of a lot of things she wasn’t sure how to handle but knew shouldn’t be dealt with alone.
“It’s…It’s Young-mi,” she started with. “Would you like to go find Gyeong-su? I think… you guys should talk.
Thanos’ eyes lit up at the idea, his entire demeanor changing as he nodded his head excitedly. He grabbed her hand as they walked out of the door. “Let’s gooo, Young-gi!”
”I-It’s Young-mi-“