#005play

It was over.

Any hopes of getting the remaining players off this island alive were dashed. Jung-bae was dead. Shot right in front of him. Gi-hun had been powerless to do anything to prevent it.. even more powerless now cuffed up and forced back into that bunker— waiting around for the next game to be announced. In all honesty? Any optimism he had left had diminished. Hell, he didn’t even care if he succumbed to whatever torture the next round held. Gi-hun had nothing left to give. He was done. With the O’s taunting him and the vast majority of the X’s already having hung their heads in defeat? There was nothing left to fight for. Not even the shuffling of sneakers against the cold marble ground was enough to pique Gi-hun’s interest enough to have him lifting his gaze from where it remained glued to the ground.

“Leave me alone, please. This is all my fault. I’m a monster.” He truly believed that with his entire soul. If they’d stayed put and did nothing, would more people have survived in the end..? ‘Okay, so you’re a monster. So am I. Let’s be monsters together.’ The proposal was one he hadn’t been expecting, the feminine voice familiar. He recognised it as the young lady who’d joined his alliance along with Jun-hee and the others.

Reluctantly shifting his emotionless stare to look right through her, Gi-hun spoke again, voice barely audible this time. “I know what you’re doing, but there is no together anymore. I can’t help you. I know I said I could, but.. I’m sorry..” His lips threatened to tremble, cuffed hand clenching into a fist. Why hadn’t they just killed him along with Jung-bae..? At least then all this pain and suffering would be over. He wouldn’t have to face the consequences of his actions.

“Leave me..”

What the hell was she doing here? The whole thing was some kind of Hail Mary attempt at—what, exactly? At living a life like everyone else? At normalcy? Tying up loose ends and paying off debts? And then what? Disappear to some quiet countryside, sit outside, and live out the rest of his days in peace? It sounded as good as someone like him could hope for—better, even.

But, of course, life was never going to be kind to people like him.

She wasn’t supposed to be here. She was supposed to have her normal life, far removed from this nightmare—not standing in front of him, covered in blood. The game had turned into a bloodbath, a fucking nightmare. And while both of them had survived, dozens of others hadn’t. Their bodies now lay scattered where they’d fallen, the sand soaking up the blood from bullet wounds. Guards moved methodically, carrying in boxes and packing up the corpses like cargo.

He didn’t move or speak at first, just stood there watching, trying to make sense of it all.

“You shouldn’t have been here in the first place.”

He wanted to shake her, hold her, throw her over his shoulder, and carry her out of this place. Anything to get her away from it. But then the speaker crackled to life, ordering everyone to form lines and head down the stairs to the main hall where the beds were.

Gil-ho wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close and half-guiding, half-carrying her as they moved together.

“Why are you here?” he asked, his voice low and strained.

They shuffled down the stairs, slow and unsteady, until he found an empty bed in the back and dragged her to it. The announcement told them they could vote to leave. He already knew how this would go. These people—desperate, broken—wouldn’t vote to leave. At least, not the majority.

He had to make a plan. He had to protect her.

She was doing that thing again, that thing she always did. Like some kind of stubborn play at power and control. It was fear, he knew that - she knew that. But they played along - or at least he did. But now, she thought that he had grown APATHETIC! Now that had not been a word that anyone had ever used to describe him, of course, she’d be the first. She had been the first for almost everything else, so why the hell not this too? “ Why do you N E E D me to hate you? ”

Because under all that armor she had wrapped around herself, he could see who she was, that little girl scared of the life she had found herself in - abandoned, alone. Both of them were like that, no ties to anything or anyone so they had tied themselves to each other, so tight that the connection was resembling a noose. “

You want to leave, why would I stop you? You want someone else? Why would I hate you? ” Maybe because he knew that there wouldn’t be any family, home-cooked meals, and retirement plan for people like hi,m and if she can get that elsewhere, she should. “ I’m not going to hate you just so it’s easier for you to leave. ”