Somewhere out there is a beautifully tragic universe where the stars are aligned and the timelines matched up to where In-ho and Gi-hun experienced their first games together. No "Young-il," no lies, no deception. Not between them, at least. The two of them meeting at their lowest. In-ho being a bit on the reclusive side, keeping to himself mostly at first, simply observing from afar, but he can't help but be drawn in by Gi-hun, the latter's trusting nature balanced by In-ho's suspicious tendencies, and vice versa.
In this universe, Il-nam still presents In-ho with the knife the night after the dinner. In-ho still goes through with it, kills everyone while they're asleep in their beds. Well... almost everyone. He saves Gi-hun for last out of a foolish sense of sentimentality, but he hesitates too long.
Gi-hun wakes. They struggle, fighting until the guards intervene and separate them. (Il-nam pitting his two favorite players against each other.) Gi-hun stares at In-ho with hatred burning in his eyes, but In-ho doesn't try to justify what he's done. He deserves the full extent of Gi-hun's wrath. Part of him welcomes it even.
Then, during Squid Game, Gi-hun proves more resilient than he anticipated. Once he gains the upper hand, In-ho is bracing for him to deliver the killing blow, except it never comes. Gi-hun calls to end the games like he does in canon.
And when Gi-hun offers his hand out to him, something inside In-ho shatters.
Because he's seen the worst in In-ho. He's been betrayed by him. In-ho knows that forgiveness is not on the table, yet Gi-hun still chooses to believe that there is good in him nonetheless. There's that familiar spark in his eyes, that stubbornness that In-ho mentioned reminded him of his wife. Gi-hun isn't giving up on him. And for a moment, he's blinded by this man, this light in the darkness. In-ho knows he should take advantage of the moment, that he should turn the tide and kill him. Victory is so close that he could almost taste it.
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Can you please write the moment from your AU where they were in Gihun's first games together, after they get home and realise they've bith lost their lived ones, and they meet up off the island for the first time? 💖💖💖
Ask, and you shall receive! This AU has so much potential, both on an emotional level and in terms of conflicts that might arise. In-ho really did the one meme here and went, "I've only had Gi-hun for a day and a half. But if anything happened to him, I would kill everyone in this room and then myself."
Calling in a favor with some old colleagues down at the station left a bitter taste in his mouth, yet In-ho couldn't complain when he got what he wanted at the end of the day. Holding the scrap of paper out in front of him, he squinted at the address he jotted down, his rush evident in the sharp lines of his messy scrawl.
There was no mistaking it, though. This was the place.
Bracing himself, In-ho took a deep breath, released it slowly, then raised his hand.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Gi-hun?" he called out, but only a stone-cold silence answered him. Another attempt yielded the same results. Common sense would have told anyone else to take a hint and get out of there, but In-ho wasn't exactly in the right mindset to listen to reason.
He tried the doorknob, his breath catching in his throat when he met no resistance.
Concern constricted around his heart, his chest tight.
Oh, this was a bad idea. This was a very bad idea. He was breaking into someone's home for fuck's sakes, yet that didn't stop him from easing his way inside.
Closing the door behind him, he studied the space and tried again. "Gi-hun?"
This time, there was a sharp intake of breath, followed by a quiet, "In-ho?"
Before he could second-guess himself, In-ho's feet carried him forward, following the sound of Gi-hun's voice into the main living area. There, he found the man seated upon the floor, his legs stretched out in front of him, a couple of empty bottles of soju at his side and a full one in hand.
Puffy, bloodshot eyes trailed up to meet his, the dark circles underneath a stark contrast against his sickly pale skin.
"What are you doing here?" Gi-hun croaked out.
That was the big question, wasn't it?
Swallowing past the lump in his throat, In-ho shuffled forward.
"I had to see you." To know that you were real. "I had to know that you made it back safely." Ignoring the slight cracking of his knees, In-ho lowered himself onto the floor beside him. "I couldn't leave things between us like we did."
For a while, neither of them said a word, Gi-hun staring at a spot on the floor, and In-ho staring at Gi-hun.
Eventually, In-ho mustered up the strength to try and broach the topic that loomed over them.
"Your mother…"
"Gone," Gi-hun muttered, short and curt. He tipped the bottle of soju back and took a heavy swig. As he wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve, his weary gaze shifted towards In-ho, a resigned curiosity simmering within. "And your wife?"
In-ho clenched his jaw.
He could have stayed silent, just let the matter be, but it felt wrong to ask Gi-hun to expose his wounds, only to shy away when he expected the same in return.
Reaching out, In-ho's fingers grazed along Gi-hun's where they were curled tightly around the neck of the bottle.
"May I?" he asked, to which Gi-hun nodded, relinquishing the soju to him.
Safe to say, In-ho took a page out of Gi-hun's book. Swallowing past that sweet, burning ache in the back of his throat, he took a long pull of the liquor straight out of the bottle, and then drank a second time for good measure. He grimaced, the alcohol not working fast enough for this particular conversation, but he knew that there was no need to prolong the inevitable.
"She was declared brain dead some time during the games," he stated, setting the soju down onto the floor between them. "Doctors said she took a turn for the worse. Acute liver failure, something about her ammonia levels, I don't know." He shrugged helplessly, lower lip wobbling. "By the time they were able to stabilize her, she was already gone. I–I—"
His voice cracked while his heart laid broken, the shattered pieces scattered across the floor.
"I was her healthcare proxy. I had to be the one to make the call. To take her off of life support." Tears stung at his eyes, each breath tearing through his body with a vengeance. "They were waiting on me. She—" He clutched at his chest. "She was waiting on me."
Gi-hun opened his mouth, then snapped it shut.
Both of them knew that nothing he could say would lessen the pain, the grief, the mourning, so Gi-hun offered him more than sympathy. He offered his presence. He offered understanding.
Without looking away from the floor in front of them, Gi-hun stretched out his hand to In-ho, palm up, and allowed the gesture to speak for him.
You're not alone. You don't have to be.
"I found her on the floor right there," Gi-hun revealed, and suddenly his intense fixation on that spot made perfect sense. "No matter how much time has passed, I can still see her laying there, all alone." He sniffled, wiping at his teary eyes and snotty nose with his free hand. "She was waiting on me, too, but I guess I had to let her down one last time."
Watching him closely, In-ho eventually turned to look at the same patch of flooring that demanded his attention. He eased closer to Gi-hun's side, a comforting warmth emanating between their bodies, and slid his hand into his.
Their fingers tangled together and locked into place. Seconds ticked by, yet their hold only tightened, as if they were the lone force keeping each other from falling apart at the seams.
"You should leave me here to waste away," Gi-hun whispered. "I only have a few weeks to pay off my debts anyways before they come to collect."
In-ho pursed his lips.
"Maybe you shouldn't have spared me then."
"Why not?" Gi-hun frowned, stroking his thumb along the back of In-ho's hand. "I don't regret what I did."
"In that case, you're even more foolish than I gave you credit for."
They shared a sharp, bitter laugh.
"Yeah," Gi-hun sighed. "I guess so. Although, thinking back on it, maybe I shouldn't have fought back that night. Maybe I should have let you—"
"Don't," In-ho warned, his voice ice cold at the thought of Gi-hun staring up at him, the life slowly leaving his eyes. "We both know now that the money wouldn't have changed a damn thing about this situation." Not for the two people who depended on them most, at least. "All things considered, I'm glad you survived."
Because In-ho knew one thing for certain. In that moment, life would have been a lot lonelier, a whole lot darker, without Seong Gi-hun in it.
It was that thought that brought him to a sole conclusion.
He couldn't let the world's cruelty consume Gi-hun. If nothing else, between the two of them, he had to survive at all costs. That spark of goodness in him was worth preserving, more so than anything In-ho had left to offer.
In-ho could feel the weight of the dagger pressed against his palm again. In spite of Gi-hun's best efforts, In-ho was afraid that his intervention came too late. Most of his humanity died with his victims that night, and whatever was left would be buried alongside his wife. All except one final thread, which bound them together the second Gi-hun offered him his hand on that rain-soaked field.
There was no untangling their fates from each other, but In-ho would take on whatever burdens necessary to ensure that Gi-hun wouldn't have to carry them alone.
There was already so much blood on his hands. What was a little more, if it meant protecting him?
Unable to hold back any longer, In-ho blurted out, "Who's the loan shark that's after you?"
A beat of silence passed between them. Gi-hun's hand clenched around his, his fingernails biting into In-ho's skin.
Caught off guard, Gi-hun blinked owlishly at him, his brow furrowed.
"What?"
In-ho gritted his teeth.
"His name, Gi-hun," he explained, nice and slow. "I need a name."
"In-ho," Gi-hun hissed, "these guys aren't the type you want to make an enemy out of."
"You let me worry about that."
They stared deep into each other's eyes, searching one another's expressions, until Gi-hun finally relented.
"Kim Jeong-rae," he mumbled under his breath. "Most people call him Mr. Kim."
Easy enough. In-ho nodded.
"I'll take care of it," he swore.
"But—"
"I said that I'll take care of it." When Gi-hun ducked his head, In-ho nudged him gently with his elbow. "Hey. Trust me, please. I won't let anything happen to you, not on my watch."
Wetting his lips, Gi-hun considered that, his voice small and quiet when he answered, "I don't want anything to happen to you because of me."
"It won't," In-ho lied, if only to ease his mind for the moment.
His safety wasn't guaranteed, after all. And honestly, as much as he hated to admit it, part of him could care less what happened to himself in the process. The only incentive in surviving another day was in knowing that, so long as he lived, he could continue to protect Gi-hun. If that was to be his new purpose, then so be it.
"What are you going to do to him?" Gi-hun asked.
Do you truly want to know?
"That'll depend entirely on this Mr. Kim," In-ho said instead, and they both left it at that, finishing off the soju in silence while they stared at that spot on the floor together.
In-ho's thoughts drifted back to his wife, to how he failed to be there for the one person who needed him most.
Thinking about the same games AU, and I just love these two so much.
Consider In-ho and Gi-hun move in together ridiculously fast because ~codependency~. Once they sort through Mal-soon's and Ha-eun's (In-ho's wife) belongings and pick out what they want to keep of their own possessions, neither of them really wish to stay at their old places anymore. Too much pain, too many memories. Plus, without the prize money to cushion them, they figure it would be cheaper to find a place for both of them and split the rent. It's definitely an adjustment period. In-ho is very clean, structured, organized. Whereas Gi-hun... is not. They'll bicker like an old married couple because either Gi-hun left some dirty socks on the floor again or In-ho moved his keys from where he last set them down. Regardless, they always wind up sprawled out together at night, watching movies at each other's side until one or both of them fall asleep. They help each other job hunting. In-ho ends up working security. Gi-hun working as a mechanic or a cook.
However, one of Gi-hun's biggest struggles is that he's back on limited time with Ga-yeong before she moves to the States, so naturally he takes every opportunity that he can to spend time with her. One weekend, he forgot that he had promised to go out with In-ho in their off time, so he suggests he tags along with Gi-hun and Ga-yeong for the evening. Although things start off a little awkward between Ga-yeong and In-ho, they eventually relax around each other as the three of them spend time at an arcade together, laughing, joking, having a great time. In-ho winning as many prizes as possible for those two.
Then, when they take Ga-yeong home that night, Eun-ji is not pleased to see In-ho to say the least. From an outside perspective, understandable. After all, Gi-hun disappeared out of nowhere, then returned with this stranger, attached at the hip, and he brought him around their daughter without even properly introducing him to Eun-ji first. And since Gi-hun isn't exactly unbiased in the matter, he and Eun-ji argue over it as soon as Ga-yeong goes inside. By the time he and In-ho head home, whatever was said clearly got to him, his whole mood soured, Gi-hun uncharacteristically quiet.
Of course, determined to get him out of his bad mood, In-ho decides the next day that Gi-hun needs a distraction. Takes him to a cat cafe, and the way he's beaming and cooing over all of the cats is the most breathtaking view in the world to In-ho. Gi-hun points out a cat and tells In-ho it looks like him, and In-ho looks over to see the grumpiest feline he ever laid eyes on. He rolls his eyes, gives a sarcastic "haha very funny" but truth is he would put up with a lot more than just teasing to keep that smile on Gi-hun's face.
On break and I've had this vivid scene playing out in my mind for the AU where In-ho and Gi-hun played in the games together. Of course, the aftermath and how they navigate it and their relationship is what compels me most about this AU's potential, and there's some context that leads up to this point but long story short Gi-hun ends up attending the funeral for In-ho's wife. Keeps to himself, but In-ho spots him immediately. After the ceremony, In-ho pulls him aside and confronts him about being there. And look, it's overall a serious and emotional moment, but I can't help but find some humor in the thought that Jun-ho is on In-ho's case about it the second Gi-hun leaves because who was that? That conversation looked intense. So you go missing while your wife was sick, and now you're back and there's some weird guy hanging around? What's that about? 🤨 Feel like it would take In-ho a moment to register what Jun-ho is hinting at, and he's just so frustrated going, no, no, no. It's not like that!
